Tens of thousands of Amazon employees were set to return to the company’s Seattle headquarters full-time on Thursday — a development that is likely to bring more headaches for drivers in the Emerald City.
State transit officials are urging residents to prepare for gridlock in the new year as Amazon’s roughly 50,000 corporate employees reluctantly heed CEO Andy Jassy’s directive to return to the office five days a week .
“There’s going to be more people on the road, and that’s when the extra travel time is going to play a role in where people have to put in the extra time to get there,” said Aisha Dayal of the Washington State Department of Transportation. for Fox. 13 televisions.
Vera Akolo, who drives to work in Seattle, said she is preparing for the worst.
“Yeah, this is a reminder that it’s not going to be good,” Akolo told Fox 13.
Amazon maintains its headquarters in downtown Seattle, as well as satellite offices in nearby Metropolitan Park and the Urban Innovation Center.
The company also has offices in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle where Jeff Bezos founded the e-commerce giant.
Amazon’s influence on local traffic is significant. When the company first called its workers back to the office for three days a week in 2023, it led to a 35% reduction in speeds on I-90 — the main east-west highway that stretches from downtown Seattle to the state east of Washington.
Dayal said commuters should plan ahead by downloading the WSDOT app, which offers several route options for high-traffic periods.
Amazon workers returning to the office should have a positive impact on small businesses that have lost foot traffic as the coronavirus pandemic forced employees to stay away.
Data from the Census Bureau released last month showed that Seattle led the nation in the share of the workforce — 31.3% — working remotely among the 20 largest cities from 2019 to 2023.
The 31.3% figure represents more than 140,000 employees — most of whom are in technology and other knowledge industries — who worked primarily from home during the four-year period.
Remote working has been devastating to brick-and-mortar stores in the city. According to the Downtown Seattle Association, there are more than 500 vacant storefronts in the area.
In recent months, however, there are signs that the trend is reversing.
The latest Census data shows that just over one in five workers in the Seattle metro area worked from home in 2023 — down from nearly 50% three years ago.
Despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic, the Seattle area saw the fastest economic growth in 2023 among large US metropolitan areas.
The region that includes Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue saw its gross domestic product increase by 6.2% in 2023 — translating to $487.8 billion, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The Post has sought comment from Amazon.
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