According to a source familiar with the subject, an Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) warehouse in Renton will open this month, more than a year after it was initially postponed due to traffic concerns. The Seattle-based tech giant filed plans last year to renovate a 126,600-square-foot warehouse at 1905 Raymond Ave. SW in an industrial district where it already owns two other structures.
The SWA2 facility will be utilized by Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Flex delivery service. According to city planning records, Flex is the company’s foray into the gig economy, in which contracted drivers pick up goods using their vehicles.
Traffic Concerns Delay Amazon’s Plans
Last summer, the city placed Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) plans on hold due to the Washington State Department of Transportation’s concerns about the area’s increased traffic. According to a traffic impact report submitted to the city, approximately 3,000 additional daily journeys are anticipated in the vicinity, primarily affecting the exit ramps for state highways 167, 515, and 181. Hundreds of trips would be taken during morning and afternoon rush hours.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) was required to submit mitigating measures that would be met when the facility opened following the analysis. The company contended that the research was irrelevant to the project since it utilized data collected before the epidemic. A revised traffic assessment revealed that the area’s traffic had decreased by 10% to 30% compared to 2019.
The company stated that the mitigation measures, which included widening a section of Southwest 19th Street near Raymond Avenue, adding a roundabout at Raymond and Southwest 16th Street, and adding a traffic signal at Lind Avenue Southwest and Southwest 19th, would be completed by the time it fully occupied the facility in 2025. Permits for these projects were filed in advance.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has failed to respond to our request for comment. According to city documents, the project was put on and off hold multiple times over the past year before receiving final State Environmental Policy Act approval in July.
The online retail giant has one more Flex delivery location in the Puget Sound region, the SWA1 facility in Everett. For its warehouses and fulfillment facilities, Amazon employs three-letter, one-digit codes.
The news comes after the dispute over wages and working conditions worsen and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) employee get ready to launch a wave of strikes at its British warehouses.
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