South Puget Sound Interstate 5 - Dashboard


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Performance indicators for I-5 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/)

Performance highlights

In 2023, annual GP person miles traveled increased from 2022 and surpassed pre-pandemic levels due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volumes in the wake of COVID-19. Approximately 1.67 million person miles were traveled in the GP lanes on I-5 between Olympia and Federal Way, 3.7% more than the 1.61 million person miles in 2022.

Travelers on this corridor experienced 771,000 hours of vehicle delay in 2023, down 30.0% from 1.1 million in 2022. This reduction in delay could be attributed to the completion of construction in Tacoma, which opened new northbound lanes and a southbound HOV lane on I-5.

In 2023, 37.3% of parking spaces at park and ride lots on this corridor were occupied, up 18.8% from 31.4% in 2022.

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.

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