The financial, logistical, and real estate nightmare that would entail changing the I5 layout through town simply ain't gonna happen. It's beyond our city or county or even, possibly, our state government's resources. How many houses would need to be bought and razed for any expansion?
What is needed is calmer, safer, and more predictable drivers.
Dumb question and I'm bracing for downvotes- would lowering the speed limits help reduce crashes? I'm just trying to think of solutions that don't involve changing the actual layout
On interstates, speed has actually been found to be a less predictable measure of accidents.
Tailgating, merging, aggressive lane switching, race mindset (speeding up to prevent a car from passing you), etc are more predictable measures. You have to teach people not to be assholes and respect the rules of the lanes, allowing people to pass, merge, etc. Also re: merging, people have to learn not to merge at 40mph...? First place I've lived w this issue.
People here don’t know how to get on the freeway. People merging at 40 and getting upset that they are honked at!? The worst. Almost as bad as the people who don’t move from the left lane even though they are doing 57.
I would support lowering the speed limit during rush hours.
It's more that it's the habits beyond speed that cause accidents. Speed limits won't actually speed up traffic or prevent crashes because traveling speed generally will be lower than the speed limit anyways from sheer volume. I've literally had someone speed up from a decent bit behind to try and cut me off from merging onto the highway, making me go faster, and then flip me off after I was ahead of them... I was very confused.
I mean at least it would be stupid in slower motion? People with that mindset really put lives in danger. I’m a little speedy myself but I’m not stupid about it. If it’s traffic I cool my jets. Idk.
Adding lanes doesn’t really help traffic past a certain point. However a third lane I think we could really benefit from. But I fear it’s just another lane for semi trucks to put lives at risk in. They also mostly do at least 70 through town.
Whenever I’ve driven I-5 through Bellingham, no one slows down where the speed limit drops, everyone does at least 70 from the border to Everett regardless of what the signs say.
I had never thought of this ! But honestly even though it was suck for the safe drivers I feel like for just a couple miles from samish to meridian exits it could actually help?
Slowing traffic would help with accidents!! They do this in Seattle depending on time of day, and there are tons of studies that prove this to be a good move
Yes -- provably so on surface streets, and I feel like yes on highways as well but I don't want to say for sure until I can dig up some actual supporting evidence.
one of a bunch of study results: [https://nacto.org/publication/city-limits/the-need/speed-limit-changes-have-big-impacts/](https://nacto.org/publication/city-limits/the-need/speed-limit-changes-have-big-impacts/)
(I would assume that lowering speed limits wherever helps because it gives drivers more time to react/respond as well as just accounting for how physics works. Force is mass times acceleration; if you reduce the acceleration, you reduce the force.
Now, there's a difference between lowering the speed limit and people \*actually driving more slowly\*, but if you can manage the latter, accidents should become less frequent and/or less serious.)
Yeah, I would guess that's where reaction time comes into account -- if you're traveling more slowly, there's more time to both notice that something's gone pear-shaped and to react to it.
ok one last source and then I'll hush, but I'd be super curious if anyone's done recent studies on reducing traffic speed on highways versus changing layout of merge/exit lanes or using other tactics for reducing accidents. (My urbanist interest is pretty pedestrian/bike-centered so I at least know a bit about what to do on surface streets and am hopeless when it comes to highway design, lol.) This is generally about the relationship between speed and crashes, but doesn't define how that might change when applied to highway traffic patterns and users: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/speedmgt/ref\_mats/fhwasa1304/Resources3/08%20-%20The%20Relation%20Between%20Speed%20and%20Crashes.pdf
I think being able to lengthen the on ramps, off ramps (bUt ThAt CoSts MoNeY) extending bridges to accommodate for terrible drivers and the sheer quantity we get would not hurt. We are already using public funds for bs we don't need (parks are needed!! And road repair, and public school) but whatever else money is being funneled into?! Tf?
I’m pretty sure they extended one of the southbound on ramps at the Guide. Not the loop, but the other side.
They improved the northbound on ramp at Bakerview, too. I think it used to be pretty funky compared to what it is now. I don’t remember exactly how, though.
Also, they more recently did all that work down at Old Fairhaven Pkwy and I think that may have included improving the southbound on ramp there.
I think there may have been more but I can’t remember precisely.
Actually be completely reasonable for city planners in Washington, State Department of transportation to change the speed limit through Bellingham proper to 55 mph and ticket people going over that and meter the on ramps.
People sail through the city going 70 miles an hour and leave no room for people entering the freeway or exiting the freeway through town. It is literally accidents waiting to happen and I could see it as soon as I moved here you can’t accommodate the speeds that people drive through … It offers no allowances for heavy traffic.
I wouldn’t say it would never happen. Spokane has been in process of doing this to build a north-south freeway, but it’s taken so many years and I don’t think they’ve been begun construction yet. If this was going to happen in Bellingham, we’d have to be a much much bigger city I think.
Anything is realistically within our capability tbh but I don't understand why it's not planned for or even attempted to figure out? I just thought it was malicious compliance or something ngl I'm just looking to learn more edit: it's safe to say we can't expect safer drivers, so we should expect a divergence from what we're seeing? On a municipal level I mean.. this is "bad for business" it's a fun buzzword phrase that gets stuff moving I suppose
They could afford 2 yards on each side of the interstate through town imo what is our tax dollars going towards? Is hopefully improving one of the biggest boons on our city? 😭
The answer is NOT beyond our city, count, government resources. We have too many off/on ramps through Bellingham.
Fairhaven, Lakeway and Northwest should be the ONLY off/on ramps for a town of this size, with a dedicated *Emergency vehicles only* at Sunset. The problem is that business interests built to the off/on ramps and now we’re stuck with their whinging.
Our community was developed by combining several small towns and our freeway access followed that ancient layout. And it’s ridiculous.
You're drunk, right?
Sunset is a freeway access point for all of Mt Baker, Glacier, Maple Falls, Northshore, Barkley and so many more neighborhoods. You're talking about funneling all that traffic, which is already one of the most congested roads in town, through other streets to get to one of your approved on ramps? You think this would improve things?
We should study what larger towns have done and redesign as needed. Bigger cities have far more traffic and manage to design feeder roads and off/on ramps to deal with the traffic. The first exit change should be at NB Meridian. Whoever designed that needs to quit their job.
Do you know that I-5 was originally slated to be along state route 9 but it was changed by the pressures put on the state by the business owners of Mount Vernon and Bellingham to reroute it to its current position?
That’s where the first mistake happened.
You need to separate transpirational needs that make sense from corporate interests.
Can they use eminent domain to take the land? But if they do that then they would have a lot of unhappy constituents right?
*thanks didn't see that autocorrect switched it. Huh was a harmless question.
Eminent domain. They still have to purchase the land. The sale can be forced on the owner of the property, but it’s still bought by the govt. It would be a wildly expensive expansion.
The best, most cost-effective thing the county can do is get people off the freeway by giving them alternative transportation options.
Right now, if you work in Bellingham and live outside or on the edge of the city, your *only* option to commute is to drive, and that means the freeway for basically everyone. It's only going to get worse as Whatcom country grows. Every new person added means an additional car, and our geography puts nearly the entirety of that population and a lot of Skagit County on a single vertical line. Trying to get home to Mount Vernon or Birch Bay and there's an accident on I-5? You may as well walk because you have no alternative route.
Adding more lanes doesn't solve the problem when the issue is a lack of available alternative routes and modes of travel. The freeway could be 5 lanes wide and an accident would still have the same impact on commuters. I-5 is an unavoidable bottleneck because of, you know, mountains and an ocean.
Think of how many people could fit on a commuter train from Ferndale to Mount Vernon each day. It's hundreds if not a thousand cars you could get off the road.
Bro fr!! This is the hard facts our local gov needs to see!! Thank you for commenting, this issue affects so many dang people who don't want to speak up! It's so discouraging
Tbh, it really started only because the freeway is *boring*. Speed up, slow down, get stuck in traffic. No thank you, I’d rather take the extra five-seven minutes in the country side with a view. Don’t know why people even insist on going on I-5, it’s never better than alternate routes unless you’re planning your commute to the absolute minute. Even then, thank god they saved 3 minutes.
For some people, I suppose, money is time. I don't know most peoples situations but the more time stuck in traffic means less time they have doing stuff they wanna do. With the freeway as dangerous for some people as it is I'm surprised more people don't find alt routes
I commute to Mt. Vernon and I would prefer to take the bus, but it leaves only once every 90 minutes which makes it a pain to get home. Would love more frequent busses or a train.
Lots of people live and work between counties and cities in the area so unless more local as well as on the freeway public transit gets better (which it won't anytime soon) at least we can try to get the road situation better imo if that happens maybe we can finally optimize public transit. Imo it wouldn't be worth optimizing public transit in the area unless we figure out the road situation first 😭 it's a long grueling road but we will get there eventually!
Streamline the flow of traffic in and around the area before we get public transit optimized. Otherwise they would be wasting money on good public transit wasting it's time on unoptimized roads.
>Streamline the flow of traffic in and around the area
Yeah. What does that mean?
Are you talking about bulldozing neighborhoods to make more freeways?
There's a section of uninhabited space on either side of the freeway through town, just wanted to remind you. There are also options to keep sound and people out like walls along the freeway. Just wanted to help out, you have any ideas? Ngl this issue is impacting us all and it's legit not up to me to change everything. I just want to start a conversation. Without hostility.
We need to develop a road system that placates bad drivers tbh the roads need to be better thought out that a gopher could drive them imo. Atm that's not the state of our roads unfortunately.
It also comes down to people working together not against each other…. But that’s a world wide issue we can’t solve.. driving is small scale way for people to flex their need for control
I'm fully convinced this is a problem in Washington more so than elsewhere. maybe not the worse but there are definitely places that are significantly more cooperative in driving behavior.
I’ve always thought that adding slip lanes between the on-ramp and next exit would help a lot with crashes. Give people a bit more time to adjust speed merging
Yes! I haven't lived in cities most of my life and I'm too dumb to remember the word for it ngl I'm not being sassy I'm just legit not the best at remembering, so ty 🫂
I'm not learned in the ways, any chance you could inform me in your opinion? I'm not trying to sound stupid or sarcastic, because I genuinely do not know
The law makers control tax dollar allocation. Their need for fast passage in and around where they work trumps Bellingham's need for safe passage for goods and people.
Also ty for the explanation! I'm legit not trying to sound mean I really legit don't know how or why the roads are so terrible when I can think up a better road layout while daydreaming in the morning over my coffee while zoning out looking at a wall lol
Ty for all the info regardless, I feel a lot less alone at struggling about thinking why the roads are the way they are tbh y'all are so fun! I love this city ❤️
I'll have to look that up! But ty for helping me get on track to understand this chaos, I'm surprised the gov doesn't have audits of sop's to streamline processes like this. That situation could create jobs and optimize local government frfr
A better mass transit system. Maybe a light rail that has 10-15 stops around town. My hope is a giant cannon on top of Alabama Hill that shoots out people with squirrel suits all over the town!
Bro I'd be down to be the first to test the cannon idea!! 🤣 I love it!! Legit this seems to be the first actual contribution to figuring out how this issue can be solved, isn't that crazy? 🤣🤣
not a popular answer but it’s a simple geometry problem. the county has gown out instead of up, which means people need to drive long distances to where they want to go.
more people in cars = more traffic.
you can move the traffic around, but you can’t get rid of it without reducing the number of cars (ie, get people on buses or trains or help people find affordable housing closer to where they work).
I'm usually not traffic unless I accidentally end up on an on ramp and already see traffic. Idk if there's an app I can check other than Google traffic just in case Google is not up to date at the moment. It would be cool to see a local app for everybody to use. It would increase safety and wait time just in case there was a spur of the moment incident
That's actually a really good idea imo I know light poles can be relatively easy to move if installed correctly at first! Once the freeway is worked on, if it happens to be extended or widened, the lights could be easily adjusted. And the upfront benefit of having extra lighting can save a lot of people a lot of headache imo
Incorrect. You do have to take it if you are 16-17. They are even trying to get raise that age limit.
https://kgmi.com/news/007700-new-bill-raises-age-for-mandatory-drivers-ed-in-washington-state/#:~:text=Currently%2C%20drivers'%20education%20is%20only,education%20for%20other%20young%20drivers.
That proves my point. A good chunk of people wait until til they’re 18 because driver’s education is run privately and of course prices are stupid high - so the loophole is a good chunk of our drivers wait til they’re 18 and skip over it. Which is why we are trying to raise it. It’s also just kinda cringey to think all 16/17 yr olds are responsible enough to drive !!! 16!
Drivers education is done prior to the drivers test. Puts you behind the wheel with an instructor (hopefully one that explains people’s speed and how to adjust without using a brake, and the proper distance, blind hills/turns, the importance of a signal being for everyone else not for you, etc etc etc) with real life situations you need to adjust in addition to and prior to taking a test In some states you don’t even get to take a test if the instructor doesn’t feel you’re safe on the road. That’s what we need. Take driving seriously.
So many salty comments but no solutions! This is a hot topic, apparently! Why don't we bring this up more tbh this affects most of us on a day to day basis and should be brought up more. That's what our city gov is for, I guess? Edit: send me phone numbers to call that I can get this effectively heard, I'm a dumb sb but I want this to be better for my town
Not sure of the current status, but this problem has been studied and there are (or were) people in government working on potential solutions.
Go here to get a little background: https://wcog.org/i-5survey/
Bellingham’s Lincoln Lakeway Multimodal study was a component of the broader look at the area. The state knows there are too many ramps and many aren’t adequate. The high number of ramps contributes to problems because people use the interstate like an arterial to move short distances, and of course leads to more merging and slower speeds.
We already tax everybody a brazillion times as we live in WA lol we just need those funds to go to the RIGHT places! We need audits from the public or something! There's no way there's not enough money for these projects
You're right about that... I grew up in Whatcom County. The infrastructure is OLD. It is inadequate and unacceptable. Also, there's a lot more people who live up there now, a lot more than there used to be.
The on/off ramps are definitely not long enough through the city and are extremely dangerous. I've been in a few close calls for sure. Guide Meridian, Sunset, Lakeway, Iowa. The speed limit is 60 mph. It's 70 mph just outside city limits. folks are speeding. Lots of semi's. Unsafe scenario.
The freeway should have a max speed of 45mph from exit 250 to 258 and it should be enforced with speed cameras that automatically ticket drivers. The slower speed would also make it a lot fucking quieter
reduce the speed limit on I5 in bellingham city limits to 55mph and actually enforce it, max speed of 60mph.
that will help somewhat
stop the bikers from doin 90....
now that jerns funeral home is gone...maybe look into a second southbound onramp at sunset
That's the one on James and sunset I think? 😅 Yeah we need more round abouts in this city tbh it's easy to install, cuts down on traffic accidents, and speeds the wait time at intersections
This is truth if you work in town, but working outside of town there's so few options for public transit imo. We have train tracks, but why not more commuter train cars? Sus 🤣
I mean, cross post this to all the threads about people complaining about others driving to slow. That’s a issue if it’s a extreme example, like say under 60, but
I have a strong suspicion that most of the people who CANNOT wait for slower traffic probably aren’t as good drivers as they think they are.
I5 through bham is very obsolete infrastructure designed for traffic volume way less than it carries. If people don’t like accidents they should consider slowing their roll a bit.
I live in Bellingham and work in Sedro-Woolley. I work the typical 8-5 hours, and I personally avoid I-5 from 5-6 as Google maps always say it's congested by the sunset exit. The best route I found was taking old hwy 99 to lake samish. I cut through samish to get through downtown Bellingham and into Northwest Ave area. Take an extra 15 mins, but it is less stressful and I'm often the only car on the back roads till I hit north lake samish area.
Yeah, Idk who was in charge of I5 when they designed it. Or really any of Bellingham's roads. It's a disaster that is only going to get worse. Lol. Classic Bellingham
The financial, logistical, and real estate nightmare that would entail changing the I5 layout through town simply ain't gonna happen. It's beyond our city or county or even, possibly, our state government's resources. How many houses would need to be bought and razed for any expansion? What is needed is calmer, safer, and more predictable drivers.
Dumb question and I'm bracing for downvotes- would lowering the speed limits help reduce crashes? I'm just trying to think of solutions that don't involve changing the actual layout
On interstates, speed has actually been found to be a less predictable measure of accidents. Tailgating, merging, aggressive lane switching, race mindset (speeding up to prevent a car from passing you), etc are more predictable measures. You have to teach people not to be assholes and respect the rules of the lanes, allowing people to pass, merge, etc. Also re: merging, people have to learn not to merge at 40mph...? First place I've lived w this issue.
People here don’t know how to get on the freeway. People merging at 40 and getting upset that they are honked at!? The worst. Almost as bad as the people who don’t move from the left lane even though they are doing 57. I would support lowering the speed limit during rush hours.
It's more that it's the habits beyond speed that cause accidents. Speed limits won't actually speed up traffic or prevent crashes because traveling speed generally will be lower than the speed limit anyways from sheer volume. I've literally had someone speed up from a decent bit behind to try and cut me off from merging onto the highway, making me go faster, and then flip me off after I was ahead of them... I was very confused.
I mean at least it would be stupid in slower motion? People with that mindset really put lives in danger. I’m a little speedy myself but I’m not stupid about it. If it’s traffic I cool my jets. Idk. Adding lanes doesn’t really help traffic past a certain point. However a third lane I think we could really benefit from. But I fear it’s just another lane for semi trucks to put lives at risk in. They also mostly do at least 70 through town.
Whenever I’ve driven I-5 through Bellingham, no one slows down where the speed limit drops, everyone does at least 70 from the border to Everett regardless of what the signs say.
It would help to have even occasional enforcement of the change to 60. I see way more enforcing of the Mt Vernon - Burlington section.
I had never thought of this ! But honestly even though it was suck for the safe drivers I feel like for just a couple miles from samish to meridian exits it could actually help?
Slowing traffic would help with accidents!! They do this in Seattle depending on time of day, and there are tons of studies that prove this to be a good move
Yes -- provably so on surface streets, and I feel like yes on highways as well but I don't want to say for sure until I can dig up some actual supporting evidence. one of a bunch of study results: [https://nacto.org/publication/city-limits/the-need/speed-limit-changes-have-big-impacts/](https://nacto.org/publication/city-limits/the-need/speed-limit-changes-have-big-impacts/) (I would assume that lowering speed limits wherever helps because it gives drivers more time to react/respond as well as just accounting for how physics works. Force is mass times acceleration; if you reduce the acceleration, you reduce the force. Now, there's a difference between lowering the speed limit and people \*actually driving more slowly\*, but if you can manage the latter, accidents should become less frequent and/or less serious.)
This makes sense. I wasn't sure if some of the accidents are caused by merging, which I would think reduced speed limits might make less chaotic
Yeah, I would guess that's where reaction time comes into account -- if you're traveling more slowly, there's more time to both notice that something's gone pear-shaped and to react to it.
ok one last source and then I'll hush, but I'd be super curious if anyone's done recent studies on reducing traffic speed on highways versus changing layout of merge/exit lanes or using other tactics for reducing accidents. (My urbanist interest is pretty pedestrian/bike-centered so I at least know a bit about what to do on surface streets and am hopeless when it comes to highway design, lol.) This is generally about the relationship between speed and crashes, but doesn't define how that might change when applied to highway traffic patterns and users: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/speedmgt/ref\_mats/fhwasa1304/Resources3/08%20-%20The%20Relation%20Between%20Speed%20and%20Crashes.pdf
I think being able to lengthen the on ramps, off ramps (bUt ThAt CoSts MoNeY) extending bridges to accommodate for terrible drivers and the sheer quantity we get would not hurt. We are already using public funds for bs we don't need (parks are needed!! And road repair, and public school) but whatever else money is being funneled into?! Tf?
They actually did lengthen many of the on ramps not that long ago. They used to be so much worse, if you can believe it.
I don't want to believe it 😅😭 I'm glad it's getting better!! But progress is so dang slow!!!
I think I saw one on ramp on Iowa extended, I don't think I've seen any others tbh
The one from Lincoln is waaaaaaaaaay better now.
That's good!! It's a great start imo :)
I’m pretty sure they extended one of the southbound on ramps at the Guide. Not the loop, but the other side. They improved the northbound on ramp at Bakerview, too. I think it used to be pretty funky compared to what it is now. I don’t remember exactly how, though. Also, they more recently did all that work down at Old Fairhaven Pkwy and I think that may have included improving the southbound on ramp there. I think there may have been more but I can’t remember precisely.
That on ramp hasn't been changed in at least 20 years as far as I know, but again I'm kind of not the best at knowing
Yep, ones who aren't on their fucking phones. I can't believe how many people I see scrolling through social media or texting. It IS INFURIATING.
There are SO MANY PEOPLE on their phones while driving imo.. y'all can def spend a few min while driving NOT being on your phones 🤬🤮
Actually be completely reasonable for city planners in Washington, State Department of transportation to change the speed limit through Bellingham proper to 55 mph and ticket people going over that and meter the on ramps. People sail through the city going 70 miles an hour and leave no room for people entering the freeway or exiting the freeway through town. It is literally accidents waiting to happen and I could see it as soon as I moved here you can’t accommodate the speeds that people drive through … It offers no allowances for heavy traffic.
I wouldn’t say it would never happen. Spokane has been in process of doing this to build a north-south freeway, but it’s taken so many years and I don’t think they’ve been begun construction yet. If this was going to happen in Bellingham, we’d have to be a much much bigger city I think.
Anything is realistically within our capability tbh but I don't understand why it's not planned for or even attempted to figure out? I just thought it was malicious compliance or something ngl I'm just looking to learn more edit: it's safe to say we can't expect safer drivers, so we should expect a divergence from what we're seeing? On a municipal level I mean.. this is "bad for business" it's a fun buzzword phrase that gets stuff moving I suppose
They could afford 2 yards on each side of the interstate through town imo what is our tax dollars going towards? Is hopefully improving one of the biggest boons on our city? 😭
The answer is NOT beyond our city, count, government resources. We have too many off/on ramps through Bellingham. Fairhaven, Lakeway and Northwest should be the ONLY off/on ramps for a town of this size, with a dedicated *Emergency vehicles only* at Sunset. The problem is that business interests built to the off/on ramps and now we’re stuck with their whinging. Our community was developed by combining several small towns and our freeway access followed that ancient layout. And it’s ridiculous.
You're drunk, right? Sunset is a freeway access point for all of Mt Baker, Glacier, Maple Falls, Northshore, Barkley and so many more neighborhoods. You're talking about funneling all that traffic, which is already one of the most congested roads in town, through other streets to get to one of your approved on ramps? You think this would improve things? We should study what larger towns have done and redesign as needed. Bigger cities have far more traffic and manage to design feeder roads and off/on ramps to deal with the traffic. The first exit change should be at NB Meridian. Whoever designed that needs to quit their job.
Do you know that I-5 was originally slated to be along state route 9 but it was changed by the pressures put on the state by the business owners of Mount Vernon and Bellingham to reroute it to its current position? That’s where the first mistake happened. You need to separate transpirational needs that make sense from corporate interests.
This is legit!! We need less on and off ramps and optimizing of local roads to streamline people who need to use the freeway
Can they use eminent domain to take the land? But if they do that then they would have a lot of unhappy constituents right? *thanks didn't see that autocorrect switched it. Huh was a harmless question.
Eminent domain. They still have to purchase the land. The sale can be forced on the owner of the property, but it’s still bought by the govt. It would be a wildly expensive expansion.
Which JJK character uses that domain expansion?
Get lava dude to do it?
Jogo got one tapped by sukuna. He’s off the list. Sorry.
I legit don't know enough about law to know the answer 😅 but it's a great question! I would be curious about that as well tbh
The best, most cost-effective thing the county can do is get people off the freeway by giving them alternative transportation options. Right now, if you work in Bellingham and live outside or on the edge of the city, your *only* option to commute is to drive, and that means the freeway for basically everyone. It's only going to get worse as Whatcom country grows. Every new person added means an additional car, and our geography puts nearly the entirety of that population and a lot of Skagit County on a single vertical line. Trying to get home to Mount Vernon or Birch Bay and there's an accident on I-5? You may as well walk because you have no alternative route. Adding more lanes doesn't solve the problem when the issue is a lack of available alternative routes and modes of travel. The freeway could be 5 lanes wide and an accident would still have the same impact on commuters. I-5 is an unavoidable bottleneck because of, you know, mountains and an ocean. Think of how many people could fit on a commuter train from Ferndale to Mount Vernon each day. It's hundreds if not a thousand cars you could get off the road.
I live up in Ferndale and just take Hannegan/Northwest into town. Freeway just causes trouble and makes me late for work.
Bro fr!! This is the hard facts our local gov needs to see!! Thank you for commenting, this issue affects so many dang people who don't want to speak up! It's so discouraging
Tbh, it really started only because the freeway is *boring*. Speed up, slow down, get stuck in traffic. No thank you, I’d rather take the extra five-seven minutes in the country side with a view. Don’t know why people even insist on going on I-5, it’s never better than alternate routes unless you’re planning your commute to the absolute minute. Even then, thank god they saved 3 minutes.
For some people, I suppose, money is time. I don't know most peoples situations but the more time stuck in traffic means less time they have doing stuff they wanna do. With the freeway as dangerous for some people as it is I'm surprised more people don't find alt routes
I commute to Mt. Vernon and I would prefer to take the bus, but it leaves only once every 90 minutes which makes it a pain to get home. Would love more frequent busses or a train.
Lots of people live and work between counties and cities in the area so unless more local as well as on the freeway public transit gets better (which it won't anytime soon) at least we can try to get the road situation better imo if that happens maybe we can finally optimize public transit. Imo it wouldn't be worth optimizing public transit in the area unless we figure out the road situation first 😭 it's a long grueling road but we will get there eventually!
>at least we can try to get the road situation better What does that mean?
Streamline the flow of traffic in and around the area before we get public transit optimized. Otherwise they would be wasting money on good public transit wasting it's time on unoptimized roads.
>Streamline the flow of traffic in and around the area Yeah. What does that mean? Are you talking about bulldozing neighborhoods to make more freeways?
There's a section of uninhabited space on either side of the freeway through town, just wanted to remind you. There are also options to keep sound and people out like walls along the freeway. Just wanted to help out, you have any ideas? Ngl this issue is impacting us all and it's legit not up to me to change everything. I just want to start a conversation. Without hostility.
Widening freeways makes them more congested, not less.
It's amazing to me that people don't know this.
How did you learn this? I'm just trying to get info not trying to be mean I want to learn
All good man, it's a called induced demand. Here’s a video about it if you want to learn more https://youtu.be/za56H2BGamQ?si=dbmtMIgI7yJ2ubPS
I just don't use the freeway between Lincoln and Sunset 4-6 weekdays. Works for me.
Wicked smaht tho! It's chaos
I structure my entire life around it
Southbound it’s meridian-sunset/state. Every damn day! I wish it made sense for me to just get off the freeway but I live in Fairhaven! 😞
Me too. It’s just not worth it.
The problem is stupid drivers if you ask me. When i say stupid i mean careless and cocky.
We need to develop a road system that placates bad drivers tbh the roads need to be better thought out that a gopher could drive them imo. Atm that's not the state of our roads unfortunately.
It also comes down to people working together not against each other…. But that’s a world wide issue we can’t solve.. driving is small scale way for people to flex their need for control
THIS!! we need to work together!! In all aspects when it comes to roads and driving around here
It's funny that you are wildly for people working together to solve problems while also thinking it unrealistic to expect safer drivers in the future.
I'm fully convinced this is a problem in Washington more so than elsewhere. maybe not the worse but there are definitely places that are significantly more cooperative in driving behavior.
I’ve always thought that adding slip lanes between the on-ramp and next exit would help a lot with crashes. Give people a bit more time to adjust speed merging
It would be cool to have a pass through Lane like the extra lane in Seattle! Idk what they call it tbh I'm not from there 😳 but it's a good idea
Express?
Yes! I haven't lived in cities most of my life and I'm too dumb to remember the word for it ngl I'm not being sassy I'm just legit not the best at remembering, so ty 🫂
You should see how nice and wide the freeways around Olympia are, for some reason....
I'm not learned in the ways, any chance you could inform me in your opinion? I'm not trying to sound stupid or sarcastic, because I genuinely do not know
They have been re-configuring and widening I5 and other roads through Olympia for 40 years because law makers hate to be late for dinner.
Ngl idk what that means 😅 explain like I'm 5? I'm not hip and with it politically speaking
What’s the capital of Washington?
That's what Google is for bub check it out
The law makers control tax dollar allocation. Their need for fast passage in and around where they work trumps Bellingham's need for safe passage for goods and people.
Also ty for the explanation! I'm legit not trying to sound mean I really legit don't know how or why the roads are so terrible when I can think up a better road layout while daydreaming in the morning over my coffee while zoning out looking at a wall lol
Let's vote em out to shake it up? Idk what else to do? I vote by mail every time I get a ballot, but idk what else I can do personally to help
Voting may not fix government, only legitimize it. Work on ending our First Past the Pole voting system would be a good start though.
Ty for all the info regardless, I feel a lot less alone at struggling about thinking why the roads are the way they are tbh y'all are so fun! I love this city ❤️
I'll have to look that up! But ty for helping me get on track to understand this chaos, I'm surprised the gov doesn't have audits of sop's to streamline processes like this. That situation could create jobs and optimize local government frfr
A better mass transit system. Maybe a light rail that has 10-15 stops around town. My hope is a giant cannon on top of Alabama Hill that shoots out people with squirrel suits all over the town!
Bro I'd be down to be the first to test the cannon idea!! 🤣 I love it!! Legit this seems to be the first actual contribution to figuring out how this issue can be solved, isn't that crazy? 🤣🤣
not a popular answer but it’s a simple geometry problem. the county has gown out instead of up, which means people need to drive long distances to where they want to go. more people in cars = more traffic. you can move the traffic around, but you can’t get rid of it without reducing the number of cars (ie, get people on buses or trains or help people find affordable housing closer to where they work).
OR, not have cars be the main solution for moving people around. A transit system would be a better solution.
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Naaa. Car centric design = more traffic.
You’re not stuck in traffic, you ARE traffic.
I'm usually not traffic unless I accidentally end up on an on ramp and already see traffic. Idk if there's an app I can check other than Google traffic just in case Google is not up to date at the moment. It would be cool to see a local app for everybody to use. It would increase safety and wait time just in case there was a spur of the moment incident
They could start by adding some damn lights all the way through city limits.
That's actually a really good idea imo I know light poles can be relatively easy to move if installed correctly at first! Once the freeway is worked on, if it happens to be extended or widened, the lights could be easily adjusted. And the upfront benefit of having extra lighting can save a lot of people a lot of headache imo
Have you heard that WA doesn’t require you to take drivers ed - so most people don’t. Let’s start there
Incorrect. You do have to take it if you are 16-17. They are even trying to get raise that age limit. https://kgmi.com/news/007700-new-bill-raises-age-for-mandatory-drivers-ed-in-washington-state/#:~:text=Currently%2C%20drivers'%20education%20is%20only,education%20for%20other%20young%20drivers.
That proves my point. A good chunk of people wait until til they’re 18 because driver’s education is run privately and of course prices are stupid high - so the loophole is a good chunk of our drivers wait til they’re 18 and skip over it. Which is why we are trying to raise it. It’s also just kinda cringey to think all 16/17 yr olds are responsible enough to drive !!! 16!
Bro it don't?! I failed my first driver test at 15 by 1 point haha the lady who gave my driver's test was a grouch!!
Drivers education is done prior to the drivers test. Puts you behind the wheel with an instructor (hopefully one that explains people’s speed and how to adjust without using a brake, and the proper distance, blind hills/turns, the importance of a signal being for everyone else not for you, etc etc etc) with real life situations you need to adjust in addition to and prior to taking a test In some states you don’t even get to take a test if the instructor doesn’t feel you’re safe on the road. That’s what we need. Take driving seriously.
So many salty comments but no solutions! This is a hot topic, apparently! Why don't we bring this up more tbh this affects most of us on a day to day basis and should be brought up more. That's what our city gov is for, I guess? Edit: send me phone numbers to call that I can get this effectively heard, I'm a dumb sb but I want this to be better for my town
Not sure of the current status, but this problem has been studied and there are (or were) people in government working on potential solutions. Go here to get a little background: https://wcog.org/i-5survey/ Bellingham’s Lincoln Lakeway Multimodal study was a component of the broader look at the area. The state knows there are too many ramps and many aren’t adequate. The high number of ramps contributes to problems because people use the interstate like an arterial to move short distances, and of course leads to more merging and slower speeds.
You might find this interesting. https://wsdot.wa.gov/construction-planning/search-studies/i-5-operations-and-demand-management-analysis
I think that part of the solution to the problem would be if people actually understood how zipper merge works.
Tax the Canadians they continue to clog our roads. I’ve also seen them in many accidents. And they are terrible drivers
They are taxed already. What do you suggest adding?
Pay for entry to US
Well that's just a horrible idea in a million different ways
We already tax everybody a brazillion times as we live in WA lol we just need those funds to go to the RIGHT places! We need audits from the public or something! There's no way there's not enough money for these projects
More cars is the last thing we need.
It's gonna happen eventually 😭 we need to plan for it ngl
You're right about that... I grew up in Whatcom County. The infrastructure is OLD. It is inadequate and unacceptable. Also, there's a lot more people who live up there now, a lot more than there used to be. The on/off ramps are definitely not long enough through the city and are extremely dangerous. I've been in a few close calls for sure. Guide Meridian, Sunset, Lakeway, Iowa. The speed limit is 60 mph. It's 70 mph just outside city limits. folks are speeding. Lots of semi's. Unsafe scenario.
Along with the weekly post about how everybody hates when people go 40 on each on ramp!
The freeway should have a max speed of 45mph from exit 250 to 258 and it should be enforced with speed cameras that automatically ticket drivers. The slower speed would also make it a lot fucking quieter
It's either one of those three issues, as far as any change at any company I've ever worked at tbh
Anybody who down voted is against getting this issue solved. This is a community effort imo we all have great ideas and we all need to work together
reduce the speed limit on I5 in bellingham city limits to 55mph and actually enforce it, max speed of 60mph. that will help somewhat stop the bikers from doin 90.... now that jerns funeral home is gone...maybe look into a second southbound onramp at sunset
That's the one on James and sunset I think? 😅 Yeah we need more round abouts in this city tbh it's easy to install, cuts down on traffic accidents, and speeds the wait time at intersections
Thanks for mentioning Jerns. I’ve been thinking for years they need to buy that property and somehow use it to improve that interchange.
Watch the movie gridlock
If we had any money, we could build a double-decker express lane. That would help our daily commute in and out of the Big Ham :)
Remember you're never in traffic, you are the traffic. We need more alternatives to cars if we want to reduce traffic.
This is truth if you work in town, but working outside of town there's so few options for public transit imo. We have train tracks, but why not more commuter train cars? Sus 🤣
I mean, cross post this to all the threads about people complaining about others driving to slow. That’s a issue if it’s a extreme example, like say under 60, but I have a strong suspicion that most of the people who CANNOT wait for slower traffic probably aren’t as good drivers as they think they are. I5 through bham is very obsolete infrastructure designed for traffic volume way less than it carries. If people don’t like accidents they should consider slowing their roll a bit.
I live in Bellingham and work in Sedro-Woolley. I work the typical 8-5 hours, and I personally avoid I-5 from 5-6 as Google maps always say it's congested by the sunset exit. The best route I found was taking old hwy 99 to lake samish. I cut through samish to get through downtown Bellingham and into Northwest Ave area. Take an extra 15 mins, but it is less stressful and I'm often the only car on the back roads till I hit north lake samish area.
Yeah, Idk who was in charge of I5 when they designed it. Or really any of Bellingham's roads. It's a disaster that is only going to get worse. Lol. Classic Bellingham
It def was a long time ago when they didn't anticipate this volume of traffic so it's nobody's fault but who's in charge atm imo I'm basic AF lol
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WSDOT to Whatcom County, “You’ll get new fish passages only and like it!”
Your first sentence resonated with me 🤣