Tens of thousands of more vehicles hit the road in the Seattle metro area on Monday after Amazon workers had to return to the office for the first full week in years.

Business owners neighboring Amazon were beaming on Monday following a return to the office for thousands of the tech giant’s employees.

Amazon has demanded that all of its employees return to the office full-time, five days a week. Now, as those workers head back to the office, officials in the company’s home base of Seattle are warning that the policy may clog up local traffic routes.

State transit officials are urging drivers to prepare for gridlock as an estimated 50,000 Amazon corporate workers heed CEO Andy Jassy's directive.

Beginning Thursday, Amazon employees will be required to work in the office five days a week. CEO Andy Jassy sent out a message to employees about the change Sept. 16. Like many other companies, Amazon’s corporate employees worked remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are pros and cons to Amazon’s return-to-work rule that takes affect this week, both for those working at the Seattle-based company and for for others in regions where offices are

Tens of thousands of Amazon employees will return to work in Seattle for their first required in-person Monday shift in years. Now the traffic in Seattle is expected to seriously ramp up, especially in the South Lake Union neighborhood.