Mercer Island — During the public‑comment section of the June 3 council meeting, resident Daniel Thompson called on the city to commission a coordinated study of three island intersections he said form "systemic" choke points and are already showing congestion as development resumes.

Thompson, a Mercer Island resident since 1970 who identified his remarks as a private citizen rather than as a planning commissioner, told council the three locations of concern are the Island Crest Way corridor near 80th Avenue SE, the North Mercer Way segment where construction is underway, and the east‑west approaches through the town center. "Each of these intersections are looking at significant future development and traffic, and congestion on any one of these intersections spills over to the other," Thompson said, urging the council to gather stakeholders and seek realistic traffic studies now rather than waiting until conditions become intolerable.

Context and request: Thompson referenced the city's previous appeals to state rules around concurrency and said the traditional concurrency tool may be insufficient for systemic intersections that are interdependent. He suggested the council put the item on the city work plan and involve the city engineer and one or two council members to move the issue forward. He told the council he had written previously about the issue and urged action before traffic levels return to pre‑pandemic congestion.

Council response: Councilmembers acknowledged the comment and staff noted the city’s ongoing capital planning work. Planning and transportation staff will review the suggestion and consider whether to add a coordinated intersection study to the work plan or to commission traffic modeling that addresses spillover effects among those nodes.

Ending: Thompson asked the council to act now; the council did not take a formal vote at the meeting but staff accepted the suggestion for follow‑up review.