Another early morning commute option during the Seattle viaduct closure is on the way.

Seattle’s free waterfront shuttle will begin operating four hours earlier in the day starting Monday.

The north-south loop, which currently runs 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, will begin offering service at 6 a.m. on weekdays to offer commuters and tourists another option during the approximately three-week viaduct closure. Weekend and holiday service will still begin at 10 a.m.

That loop runs from the Seattle Center to King Street Station making stops along Alaskan Way. There's usually three to four shuttles on the north-south loop.

The east loop, which makes stops from the waterfront to Pike Place Market and the Seattle Public Library’s Central Branch, will still operate daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. There's usually two shuttles on the east loop.

The shuttles come every 15 minutes. You can track the location of shuttles live at downtownseattle.org.

The shuttles were launched in July 2018.

The addition of the free waterfront shuttle is just the latest way to get more people out of their cars when they visit downtown after the Alaskan Way Viaduct closes.

The first part of the closure begins January 4 when two major State Route 99 ramps in SODO that carry 23,000 vehicles a day by Seattle’s stadiums shut down. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) knows how many cars use the ramps and other roadways, but can’t track where those vehicles are coming and going.

It’s believed a lot of people who use I-90 use the SR 99 ramps as I-90 ends just a few blocks away.

“I can't speak to how it's going to play out, any more than you guys can,” said David Sowers, deputy program administrator for the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program.

We can get a clue of what traffic will be like from the 10-day closure of the viaduct in 2016, a precaution as Bertha the tunneling machine dug underneath the viaduct in early May of that year. That shutdown not only boosted ridership of the West Seattle Water Taxi, trains, and other forms of public transportation, but we also saw commute times increase.

Remember, that’s nearly three years ago, and since then WSDOT says Seattle’s population alone has swelled by another 40,000, not to mention significant growth around the metro area.

The Alaskan Way Viaduct will close for good January 11 at 10 p.m. State Route 99 will not be an option for drivers for about three weeks until the new tunnel under downtown Seattle is expected to open in early February.