Traffic engineer John Tatum was recognized as the City of Marysville's Employee of the Month for January, based on his work in channelization and signal timing revisions that helped ease traffic congestion at Lakewood Crossing shopping center during the holiday shopping rush last December.

Tatum has supervised the traffic, signs and signals division within the engineering division in Public Works for the past three years.

"Since his hire, John has made it his personal goal to increase capacity and traffic flow within the city, decrease signal wait times, and improve signal timing with the state Department of Transportation, Snohomish County and developers to ensure the city's best interests are met," said Mayor Dennis Kendall at a January City Council meeting.

Tatum went "above and beyond" in December when he successfully took on the challenge to optimize traffic flow at Lakewood Crossing and the 172nd/Interstate 5 interchange during the busy holiday shopping season.

Excessive wait times for drivers along both 27th Avenue NE and 172nd Street prompted several citizen complaints. With little time to react, Tatum proposed and implemented channelization changes and coordinated signal timing revisions with the state Transportation Department. The end result was increased capacity and a significant decrease in wait times to both enter and exit Lakewood Crossing, said Kevin Nielsen, Public Works Director.

Tatum spent several of his evenings and weekends monitoring and observing traffic trends to ensure ultimate success, Nielsen added.

"These actions and John's innovative thinking enabled the city to ensure that citizens had the opportunity to shop locally in Marysville and enjoy the experience," said Nielsen.

Tatum also turned his sights on another transportation initiative that will be beneficial in the future to residents in the Sunnyside/Whiskey Ridge area in southeast Marysville.

He was instrumental to the state Department of Transportation's granting of a "break in access" at SR 9 and SR 92. Tatum's traffic analysis and continued work with state transportation staff has enabled the city to move forward with this project.

"Due to John's humble nature, he is quick to point out that numerous people were involved with these projects and ultimate success," says Nielsen. "However, credit is due to the quick thinking and foresight that John has displayed and continues to display in his job as traffic engineer."

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