SEATTLE — It’s day 2 for Amazon workers going back to the office 5 days a week and one of the areas already seeing the impacts of all the foot traffic is Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. Businesses like Rubinstein Bagels tell KIRO 7 that Monday was arguably one of the busier days they’ve had in a while.
“And even this morning we had more people come in right at open than we’ve had in a while. Coming in and getting their precooked breakfast,” Brinn Jury with Rubinstein Bagels said.
KIRO 7 crews also saw plenty of restaurants and other businesses packed with people, most of which were Amazon employees. Jury says the foot traffic they have seen the past two days is something many businesses have been waiting for.
“But now that everyone is coming back to in-office 5 days a week, we are all really looking forward to all of that traffic coming in and helping boost business,” Jury said.
Although businesses are eager for that foot traffic, it may come with a price and that price is way more traffic on the road.
“We have a few who live in Shoreline and one of them takes public transit and the other drives and they are nervous about the traffic,” Jury said.
Bob Pishue with INRIX, a company that analyzes traffic data across the country, says in 2024 the Seattle area saw a 9% increase in traffic congestion, meaning more people were stuck in traffic for extended periods. He says while it may be more noticeable in big metro areas like Seattle, the ripple effects of more people returning to in-office work will be felt throughout Western Washington.
“And if two lanes on I-5 are gone from the morning commute due to a collision or something else, that really has ripple effects all throughout the transportation network up and down Everett to Tacoma,” Pishue said.
Pishue says that while the headache of bumper-to-bumper traffic is never fun, seeing more people in the world is a sign of better things to come.
“That means more goods being delivered by freight, more deliveries happening. More semi trucks…so on and so forth,” Pishue said.
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