By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A major concern of residents and merchants is traffic.

Part of the problem is state Route 520. At a recent concert in neighboring Woodinville, Seattle-born saxophonist Kenny G joked about the freeway's famed backups. But those living and working in Redmond can rarely avoid 520. The city is fed and framed by the freeway, which narrows into one lane each way before ending at the city's southeast border.

Early city planners of the self-proclaimed Bicycle Capital of the Northwest laid out the city's streets like the spokes of a wheel, designed to bring people into the town's old center of brick businesses and shops. The design failed to anticipate that Redmond would become home -- seemingly overnight -- to leading-edge technology industries and so many of their employees.

Like many merchants, Ernie Estrin, co-owner with his wife Linda of Redmond Cycle, is concerned about traffic and parking. His business was started by his brother 30 years ago when there was only one blinking light at the corner of Redmond Way and Leary Way.

"The traffic is a problem," Estrin says. "But to us, Redmond is still a small town. It's not nearly as fast-paced as Seattle."

Estrin and others plan on going with the flow. After all, as one resident pointed out about Redmond, "a river runs through it."