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The Interstate 205 Mill Plain Exit project has successfully reduced congestion at a bottleneck in Vancouver, Wash., according to .

In the $11 million project – completed in February 2010 – WSDOT partnered with the city of Vancouver to connect 112^th Avenue from the northbound I-205 off-ramp to Mill Plain Boulevard in an effort to smooth traffic patterns that were often clogged during rush hour.

Before the project, “high volumes of traffic leaving northbound I-205 onto Mill Plain during peak travel times resulted in traffic backups on I-205’s off-ramps, impeding traffic flow on northbound I-205 and westbound (State Road) 14,” the report said.

After completion, the agency found that the project reduced rush-hour travel times by about one to two minutes per trip, according to the report.

WSDOT evaluated traffic data during morning and afternoon peaks – from 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m. both in June 2008 before construction began, and in June 2010, after the project was complete.

During those two years, afternoon traffic in the area increased by 18 percent – or by about 450 cars. Despite that, the average travel time through the spot dropped from 3.8 minutes to 1.9 minutes after the project was completed.

In the morning peak period, the average travel time also dropped, from three minutes to 1.9 minutes.