Mercer Program

A long-awaited solution to the Mercer Mess

It’s called the Mercer Mess for good reason. It divides neighborhoods, clogs city streets, and stalls traffic on I-5 and Aurora. Every day the Mercer mess makes it difficult for more than 80,000 people -pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, truckers and motorists - to connect to the places where they live, work and socialize.

The Mercer corridor stretches from Interstate Five (I-5) to Elliott Avenue West. Improving this vital east/west corridor is critical to keeping people, goods and services moving in Seattle and throughout our region.

For more than 40 years, the Mercer Corridor has been one of the City’s most significant transportation challenges. Past efforts to fix the Mercer Mess have been unsuccessful, and the problem has only gotten worse. Seattle is continuing to grow and, unless we fix the Mercer Mess now, we can all expect the problem to get worse with even longer delays and bigger hassles -- especially during Alaskan Way Viaduct construction.

Now is the time to act . The need is clear. The longer we wait, the more it will cost us in time, convenience and dollars.

The city of Seattle, in partnership with Washington state and King County, is committed to fixing the Mercer Mess by 2012. With community collaboration, the Mercer Corridor team has identified a number of improvements that will both increase capacity and improve mobility for all users throughout the Mercer Corridor.

Mercer Corridor improves mobility for all modes of transportation

• Create an efficient and direct east/west transportation corridor between Elliott Avenue West, Aurora Avenue and I-5
• Keep traffic moving by increasing capacity and improving circulation
• Improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety and access
• Strengthen connections among area neighborhoods
• Improve access to and from the Seattle Center
• Accommodate and encourage future transit investments
• Help shape growthand encourage the creation of new jobs
• Provides a vital east/west connection during Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement

The Mercer Program is divided into two segments . Making improvements to both is critical to keeping improving connections and keeping people, goods and services moving. To learn more, click below:

• Phase I – Fairview to Dexter Avenue
• Phase II – Dexter Avenue to Elliott Way West