Yesterday afternoon Jennifer and I hopped on I-5 and headed to Lynnwood. On the way, we saw the otherside of the freeway (southbound) was suddenly empty. Then came a slow moving motorcade of ambulances and police vehicles. Behind that, a massive traffic jam.
Given that the motorcade was for the Edmonds Police Chief, who died suddenly of a aneurysm Tuesday, I wasn't going to mention it here. But the Seattle Times beat me to it. And it turns out this motorcade was the doing of the Edmonds police, and came as a surprise to WSDOT and the State Patrol.
A police motorcade from Edmonds to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and back to transport the body of Edmonds Police Chief David Stern snarled the I-5 afternoon commute for about two hours Wednesday and startled state transportation officials.The motorcade consisted of several dozen motorcycles, police patrol cars and a medic van.
It traveled below freeway speeds, and traffic saw delays from about 3:15 p.m. until about 5 p.m. as cars were stopped while the motorcade passed.
The state Department of Transportation was caught by surprise when the motorcade began, and learned of it through its I-5 traffic cameras on the freeway.
The State Patrol hadn't been contacted either, spokesman Jeff Merrill said.
Well, that wasn't very nice.