WSDOT looking for fixes to congestion near Lake Stevens
Sep 6, 2016, 5:54 AM | Updated: 8:05 am
Highway 9 in Snohomish County continues to burst at the seams as more people move to the area looking for affordable housing. One of the busiest intersections along the highway is near Lake Stevens.
A listener texted me last week about the Highway 204/Highway 9 intersection in Lake Stevens. If you aren’t familiar with the area, 204 is the road people use to access Highway 2 and the trestle to get to I-5 in Everett.
New signs recently went up on that route, telling about a potential construction project.
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Officials at the Washington State Department of Transportation told me that they are working on a plan to redesign that intersection to better handle the traffic. It has nearly $70 million from the Legislature, but the state isn’t quite sure what to do. WSDOT just began meeting with businesses and local leaders to get their ideas.
Cathy George, an engineering manager with the WSDOT, says that intersection has a lot of problems because of the traffic volumes.
“We have really long queues out there, which means people are taking a while to get through the intersection and that congestion is impacting access to the businesses,” she said.
The intersection “T’s” right at the shopping center, which has big-box stores all around. George says the state wants to hear from daily drivers to get their ideas.
“In October, we’re going to be having an open house where the public can provide comments and input on what the problem is out there and what things they’d like to see improved,” she said.
And, at this point, anything is on the table. George says they really aren’t sure what will work best — maybe a round-about, maybe new signals, maybe widening the roads.
“What we need to do is look at how each alternative that you could possibly do out there improves the congestion and access to the businesses out there,” she said. “It could be one alternative or it could be multiple alternatives.”
Once they get all their ducks in a row, shovels could start turning in less than two years.
“We’re projecting that construction would probably start in 2018 or 2019 but, really, it depends on what the solution is out there, or what the solutions are,” she said.
And out in the distance — the far distance — WSDOT is going to start work on what to do with the Highway 204 and Highway 2 interchange. That’s something that will really help the drive out of Lake Stevens. That merge creates a daily chokepoint.
Send Chris a traffic tip at @KIROTraffic on Twitter or email him.
