Q: Snohomish resident Dennis Coons is curious to know if after the Interstate 5 improvement project in the Everett area is done, will the state transportation department's online traffic congestion map show traffic flow in the Everett area?

It would be nice, says Coons, if the map (see: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/) was expanded to include the area at least up to Highway 2, the road the locals call The Trestle, the main connector between Everett and Lake Stevens in Snohomish County.

A: When I-5's Everett HOV freeway expansion project is finished, it should be easier for people to plan trips through Everett because the project not only expands the freeway and adds carpool lanes, but it also adds new cameras and other traffic monitoring equipment, said Connie Lewis, spokeswoman for the project's contractor.

By next summer, the traffic flow map on the state's Web site should display an expanded area, from north of Highway 526, the Boeing Freeway which starts near Everett Mall, to just north of Highway 2. There are plans to install 18 new traffic cameras along I-5 in that area, Lewis said.

Traffic management center staff expect to be able to monitor cameras to locate stalled vehicles, debris in the roadway and blocking accidents, and pass that information to maintenance and incident response crews and to the public.

Some of those cameras can be selected on the map to show a picture of real-time road conditions. The system is scheduled to be up and running next summer, she said.