I-90 lane changes will be studied

Things are heating up...
I-90 lane changes will be studied: "The state Department of Transportation and Sound Transit said yesterday they will spend the next few months studying how proposed changes to the layout of lanes along the Interstate 90 floating bridge might affect traffic, and how much such changes would cost.

Sound Transit's board of directors will use the results as it decides whether to send light rail or a high-speed bus system over Lake Washington as part of its program to connect the region by buses, trains and other types of mass transit.

Mercer Island residents are especially interested in what type of transit eventually will flow over I-90, the only road on and off the island. A 1976 agreement allows solo island drivers to use the bridge's carpool lanes. If Sound Transit picks light rail, however, those lanes would be replaced by train tracks. Leaders from Mercer Island, Seattle, Bellevue and King County have asked the state to allow solo island drivers to use future carpool lanes planned for the bridge."