But What About the Traffic? (Premium)

As Mehedi reported earlier today, Microsoft has unveiled its plans to raze 12 of the oldest buildings on its Redmond campus and replace them with larger, more efficient offices. There’s a lot to discuss here. But when I think about Microsoft and Redmond, it’s impossible to not immediately consider the single biggest issue with this plan.

I’m referring, of course, to the traffic.

And if you thought the traffic in and around Redmond was grueling already. Just wait until 8,000 more employees come streaming into this already over-stressed area when this expansion is completed.

I don’t live in Redmond, of course. But I have a long history with the area: I first visited Microsoft’s corporate headquarters in December 1995, and I’ve come back dozens and dozens of times since.

During those two-plus decades, I’ve watched as Microsoft’s campus has spread out and out, has in fact broken well past the boundaries of that campus to include many ancillary campuses in the area, like Red West and the Millennium campus. Today, the campus—really campuses—look like a sprawling patchwork of facilities intermingled with offices for other companies, local homes and neighborhoods, and, of course, the highway system.

I love Redmond. It’s a pretty, leafy place, with a gorgeous and old-fashioned Western-style downtown area. I like the color schemes that most local builders have chosen for their increasingly humongous properties, and I love the access you have to interesting local places like Seattle, of course, and even Bellevue, which has evolved into an interesting little city of restaurants and attractions.

I could see living in Redmond, have often considered it, but for one thing: Thanks largely to Microsoft, which for decades reversed the normal commute directions thanks to its location well outside of, and across a lake from, Seattle, traffic has gotten worse and worse and worse. There’s been work to fix this, most notably the recent 520 floating bridge update, but the area is too thickly-settled for a real fix. Gridlock is king.

During my two-plus decades of visiting Redmond, I’ve stayed with friends on both sides of Lake Washington, in Seattle, north of Seattle, in Redmond, in Bellevue, and elsewhere. So I’ve approach and left Redmond, and the Microsoft campus, from every conceivable direction, and have experienced the soul-killing traffic issues that make this beautiful but over-built area almost unbearable. And it’s gotten much worse over time.

People who live there develop strategies for traveling to or from work. Depending on the location, if you can’t leave in the morning by a certain time, you should just wait two hours since you’d be sitting in traffic anyway. Ditto for the return home: You’re better off staying at work or just grabbing dinner locally and waiting out the traffic.

Incredibly, the traffic in this area is already worse than the traffic in Boston, the city from which I traveled to Seattle/Redmond for the previous 18 years. And that is saying something: The traffic in Boston is horrific. But Redmond, a tiny place, puts it to shame.

So.

When I heard about Microsoft’s plans, I was intrigued. I am somewhat saddened, in a nostalgic way, that Microsoft’s oldest and quirkiest buildings will be destroyed, but I understand the need. I am curious how they will retain the college-like atmosphere of this low-to-the ground and tree-filled campus. And I see minor issues which have always been problematic, like parking. (I was literally almost killed because of the parking situation here. That’s a story for another day.)

But what I mostly think about is the traffic. So I was curious to see if Microsoft addresses this concern in its announcement or its dedicated website for the expansion.

The word “traffic” does not appear in either resource. There is only a quick mention of Microsoft’s efforts to provide employees with transit cards, carpool, and bus commuting options.

And that concerns me. It should concern everyone who already works at Microsoft, and those who may in the future. It should absolutely concern those who live in and around this area, too, and I suspect that many would like to fight this expansion. Microsoft, for the area, must be a double-edged sword that mixes economic prosperity with escalating housing prices and, yes, the never-ending traffic. That’s a tough one, for sure.

Anyway, I don’t live there. And I’m still very interested, excited even, to see how the changes will impact the campus. Really.

But my God. The traffic.