Mercer Street in downtown Seattle has a new look Monday morning now that it's open to traffic in both directions.

The hope is that the new configuration will relieve congestion on both Mercer and Valley Street.

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, a third stage of construction will begin that will include:

• One northbound travel lane on Fairview Ave. N between Harrison and Valley streets
• No access to Fairview Ave. N via Republican St. and no southbound access at the I-5 off-ramps at Mercer St.
• One southbound lane on Fairview Ave. N from Aloha St. that connects to westbound Valley St.
• Valley St. closed to eastbound traffic east of Terry Ave. N
• Access maintained to Lake Union Park and businesses in Chandler’s Cove

This temporary configuration will be maintained during stage 3 of construction as crews complete work on Fairview Ave. N and Valley St. in early 2013.

For a more detailed map of  Mercer Street traffic flow during stage 3 construction see the SDOT website.