Video: Seattle's I-5 speed limits could vary

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SEATTLE - The speed limit on a 6-mile stretch of Interstate 5 in Seattle will change several times a day when the Transportation Department installs new overhead electronic signs

Four signs will be installed in the northbound lanes next year between Boeing Field and I-90. Drivers near the airport might be held to 30 mph or 40 mph to reduce the chance of them running into stop-and-go traffic downtown.

Some drivers have doubts.

"If you have to go 30 for part and you can't go 60 the whole way, what do you gain? It just takes longer," said one driver.

Good question. The problem is that congestion is often caused by car wrecks. When a driver who had been going 60 mph suddenly encounters a backup and rear-ends a car in front, that can make traffic even worse.

So, the goal is to gradually slow down traffic before the backup to prevent more fender benders.

"What the Europeans have found is they get a 30 percent reduction in accidents," said Craig Stone, Washington State Department of Transportation.

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A DOT project manager, Carol Hunter, says the $25 million project is one of the programs meant to relieve congestion during the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. If it works, it could also be implemented on I-90 and I-405.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.