Mercer Street (Seattle)
| Mercer Place | |
 Looking west on Mercer Street from I-5 towards the South Lake Union neighborhood | |
| Namesake | Thomas Mercer |
|---|---|
| Type | Arterial street |
| Maintained by | Seattle Department of Transportation |
| Length | 1.9 mi (3.1 km)[1] |
| Location | Seattle |
| West end | Elliot Avenue West in Interbay |
| Major junctions | Westlake Avenue in South Lake Union |
| East end |  I-5 in Cascade |
Mercer Street is a major east–west thoroughfare in the Lower Queen Anne and South Lake Union neighborhoods of Seattle, Washington. It travels 2 miles (3.2 km) and connects Elliott Avenue to the west and Interstate 5 to the east, serving as one of several downtown exits on the freeway. The street carries an average weekday volume of 38,000 vehicles on its central section.
Street description
Mercer Street begins as Mercer Place, at an intersection with Elliot Avenue West between the
Queen Anne Hill. The narrow road travels southeast up a short hill to 5th Avenue West, where it turns due east onto West Mercer Street. The street passes through the built-up Lower Queen Anne neighborhood and widens to four lanes at Queen Anne Avenue.[1] Mercer Street continues east through the north part of the Seattle Center, passing the Seattle Repertory Theatre, McCaw Hall, and Memorial Stadium.[2]
The street then passes the headquarters of the
Washington Park are also named East Mercer Street but are discontinuous from one another.[8]
The downtown section of Mercer Street is classified as a major arterial street and is part of the
protected bicycle lane under Aurora Avenue that carries an average of 700 bicyclists per day.[12]
History
Mercer Street, named for settler
wagon road along what is now Mercer Street was constructed between Lower Queen Anne and Farm Street (later Aurora Avenue) in 1885.[13]
During construction of Mercer Street's interchange with Interstate 5 in the 1960s, a tooth belonging to a Woolly mammoth was found by a bulldozer operator. It was estimate to be 12,000 to 14,000 years old at the time of its discovery.[14]
In the 2010s, the
Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel project.[19]
On April 27, 2019, a
construction crane collapsed onto Mercer Street near its intersection of Fairview Avenue, crushing several cars in the eastbound lanes.[20] At least four people were killed by the collapse.[21]
References
- ^ a b c Google (September 9, 2017). "Mercer Street" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Seattle Center Campus Map (PDF) (Map). Seattle Center. July 18, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Mercer West and North Portal (SR 99 Tunnel) Improvements (PDF) (Map). Seattle Department of Transportation. 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Lindblom, Mike (August 23, 2012). "Mercer gets 6 lanes, two-way traffic Monday". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Lerman, Rachel (March 24, 2016). "Google plans big expansion in South Lake Union". The Seattle Times. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ Corr, O. Casey (August 17, 2007). "The $29.6 million semi-secret on the shores of Seattle's Lake Union". Crosscut.com. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ "SR 5 - Exit 167: Mercer St/Lakeview Blvd" (PDF). Washington State Department of Transportation. February 29, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ a b Seattle Roadway Classification (Map). Cartography by ArcGIS. Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- ^ "National Highway System Routes – Washington State". Washington State Department of Transportation. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- ^ 2016 Seattle Traffic Flow Map (PDF) (Map). Seattle Department of Transportation. October 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- ^ "2017 Traffic Report" (PDF). Seattle Department of Transportation. December 2017. pp. 34, 41. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
- ^ "2019 Traffic Report" (PDF). Seattle Department of Transportation. December 2019.
- ^ Lentz, Florence K.; Sheridan, Mimi (October 2005). "Queen Anne Historic Context Statement" (PDF). Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. pp. 4–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
- ^ "Bulldozer Finds Ancient Tooth". The Seattle Times. June 29, 1963. p. A2.
- ^ Lindblom, Mike (February 18, 2010). "Work on 'Mercer Mess' to start soon". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Lindblom, Mike (September 8, 2010). "Construction of 'Mercer Mess' makeover ready to start". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Heffter, Emily; Sullivan, Jennifer (August 27, 2012). "First day of new two-way Mercer Street still a mess". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Lindblom, Mike (May 30, 2014). "Lots of summer roadwork planned, and it's already started". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on June 1, 2014. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ "Section of Seattle's Broad Street permanently closed; Mercer now a 2-way street". Seattle: KIRO-TV. June 2, 2014. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Sailor, Craig (April 27, 2019). "Construction cranes collapses onto busy Seattle street". The News Tribune. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- ^ Shapiro, Nina (April 27, 2019). "Fallen crane kills four in South Lake Union: 'It was terrifying'". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mercer Street, Seattle.
