Hah hah hah hah hah! They're going to fix the Mercer Mess with....landscaping. And some pointless jiggery-pokery with lanes and whatnot. Reduce congestion? There's NO SUCH THING. The only way to reduce congestion on Mercer is to mow down a city block on either side and make it into a freeway, which would just create a whole new kind of backup when I-5 was no longer able to absorb the load.

The only way to reduce congestion on Mercer is to burn down 3/4 of the buildings downtown so no one wants to go to or from there. Congestion is caused by demand. "Too much" congestion is the amount that drives people towards a different route. But the equilibrium of congestion doesn't change.

This is like changing the concentration of a chemical solution by yelling at it.

Another prediction: a good chunk of the money will go to a clusterfuck of 12-15 confusing and contradictory newly-designed road signs at every intersection. This seems to be the new style in Seattle. My (least) favorite is the stop sign that's not a stop sign; it says "Stop here for pedestrians" and has a picture of a stop sign on it, but you don't have to stop if there are no pedestrians -- but half of everybody does anyways, thereby screwing traffic flow.

Damn it, I hate when Fnarf and Mr. X are so right.

The "fix" will make it take LONGER - by WSDOT and SDOT metrics - to go to/from Seattle Center or SR-99 to I-5.

But at least it's not as disastrous as the Billionaires Tunnel. That will actually reduce freight capacity, reduce car thruput and bankrupt the city, county, port, and state all for the vanity of a few individuals.

Does anyone actually KNOW anyone voting for Rossi over Murray? If they're not a died-in-the-wool Republican, WTF is their problem?

"This is like changing the concentration of a chemical solution by yelling at it."

Isn't that the whole basis of homeopathy?