COMMENTS

TIRED OF GRIDLOCK ON HWY 162 AKA ORTING VALLEY HWY?

By: Kristi Berrier August 20, 2008

Do you ever wonder if the person driving in front of you is paying attention to the speed limit sign? Ever wonder why there is so much gridlock on HWY 162? My family has lived in Orting for the past five years. We all hear everyone in the community complain about all the traffic and how it takes so long to drive down HWY 162. We all chalk it up to more people moving into the community and the amount of people driving down the highway heading in and out of Orting. I chalk it up to the slow person driving in front of me. We all understand the speed limit driving in and around town varies from 25mph to 35mph. Well, once you get passed the light at Williams Ave (the light at Villiage Green) the speed limit changes to 50mph. The speed limit stays at 50mph for 6 miles until you get to 87th Ave which is almost to the light at Pioneer Ave. Day after day I follow behind a driver who is not paying attention to all the posted 50mph speed limit signs along HWY 162 and decides to drive 35mph the whole way down the highway. This slows down traffic tremendously as there are usually 10 cars following behind me. It should only take around 12 minutes to get from Orting to HWY 410. Time and time again I have to leave earlier than normal to assure I have enough time to get to my destination because I know I will be following behind someone who is not paying attention to the speed limit. So, please be a courteous driver and start driving the speed limit and stop contributing the the slow stop and go traffic on HWY 162.