South Puget Sound Interstate 5 - Dashboard


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Performance indicators for the I-5 corridor in the south Puget Sound region

Indicators

This dashboard shows three multimodal performance indicators of highway performance for Interstate 5 in the south Puget Sound region:

  1. Annual general purpose (GP) lane person miles traveled
  2. Annual GP vehicle delay
  3. Percentage of park and ride spaces occupied.



For details on methodology to calculate person miles traveled and vehicle delay, refer to WSDOT's Handbook for Corridor Capacity Evaluation (PDF 5.9 MB).

Sources: WSDOT Transportation Safety and Systems Analysis Division and WSDOT TRACFLOW (https://tracflow.wsdot.wa.gov/)

Multi-year trends

In 2022, annual GP person miles traveled continued to increase compared to 2021 due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19. In 2022, the annual person miles traveled reached the pre-pandemic levels, while vehicle delay was still significantly lower than the pre-pandemic level.

In 2020, the statewide response to the COVID-19 mitigation policy, such as increased telework and no large gatherings of events, resulted in reduced traffic. This significantly reduced the annual person miles traveled and vehicle delay compared to previous years.

On the I-5 corridor in the south Puget Sound region, annual person miles traveled and vehicle delay were both higher in 2019 than in 2018.

Annual highlights

In 2022, annual GP person miles traveled increased from 2021 and reached the pre-pandemic levels due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volumes in the wake of COVID-19. Nearly 1.61 billion person miles were traveled in the GP lanes on I-5 between Olympia and Federal Way, 3.8% more than the 1.56 billion person miles in 2021. Delay decreased from 2021. Travelers on this corridor experienced 1.1 million hours of vehicle delay in 2022, down 26.5% from 1.5 million in 2021. This reduction in delay could be attributed to the completion of construction in Tacoma, opening new northbound lanes and a southbound HOV lane on I-5. 31.4% of parking spaces at park and ride lots on this corridor were occupied in 2022, up from 25.0% in 2021.

In 2021, annual GP person miles traveled and vehicle delay increased from 2020, due to the recovery of traffic volumes in the wake of COVID-19. However, annual GP person miles traveled and vehicle delay in 2021 were still lower than the pre-pandemic levels. Nearly 1.6 billion person miles were traveled in the GP lanes on I-5 between Olympia and Federal Way, a 11% increase from 1.4 billion in 2020. Travelers on this corridor experienced 1.5 million hours of vehicle delay in 2021, up 135.4% from 0.6 million in 2020. Approximately 25% of parking spaces at park and ride lots on this corridor were occupied in 2021, down from 29.1% in 2020.

In 2020, the statewide response to COVID-19 resulted in a significant reduction in GP person miles traveled and annual delay. Nearly 1.4 billion person miles were traveled in the GP lanes on I-5 between Olympia and Federal Way, a 13% decrease from 2019. Travelers on this corridor experienced 618 thousand hours of vehicle delay in 2020, down 74% from 2.4 million in 2019. Approximately 30% of parking spaces at park and ride lots on this corridor were occupied in 2020, down from 80.5% in 2019.

In 2019, nearly 1.6 billion person miles were traveled in the GP lanes on I-5 between Olympia and Federal Way, the same as in 2018. Travelers on this corridor experienced 2.4 million hours of vehicle delay in 2019, up 24% from 1.9 million in 2018. Approximately 81% of parking spaces at park and ride lots on this corridor were occupied in 2019, up from 76% in 2018.

In 2018, nearly 1.6 billion person miles were traveled in the GP lanes on I-5 between Olympia and Federal Way, the same as in 2017. Travelers on this corridor experienced 1.9 million hours of vehicle delay in 2018, the same as in 2017. Approximately 76% of parking spaces at park and ride lots on this corridor were occupied in 2018, down from 86% in 2017.

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