Has the recent opening on the Yelm Bypass already created unintended consequences?

Two things have been very apparent:

1. Any morning & evening commuter is now aware that the traffic using Stevens St, Coates Rd & Cullen to access the Bypass has now mushroomed. Last Friday as an example, the wait at Stevens to cross 1st Ave. was over a block long & I have noticed this is the case each morning & evening, especially when the Schools are in-session.
People are using the “Inner Loop” and Cullen though neighborhood & residential streets in large numbers. I have witnessed few using the wider Killion, since the access between Killion & the Inner loop is through a development.
This writer wrote many times about the high numbers of vehicles that would use Cullen & warned the city & county about this, so that this issue became very prominent on Yelm’s 6-year Transportation Plan.

2. I heard last week a multi-national “chain store” on Yelm Avenue East say that vehicle counts now on that road are much less than normal & less than expected. What was mentioned is that due to the desire to get-around Yelm’s notorious traffic bottleneck, the volumes once experienced on that section of road have diminished and not passing by their commercial businesses to/from work. And, as people use the Inner Loop to bypass the commercial core, they tend to not to come onto Yelm Ave to shop from/to their homes.

3. Will we see businesses now buy land out on the Loop, as has happened wherever a bypass is located?

HMMM!

Stay tuned.