15 months of construction about to start on US 2 between Monroe and Gold Bar
Sep 29, 2026, 6:01 AM | Updated: 12:03 pm
The cones will start going up next week on this corridor.
The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has a laundry list of improvements for the corridor, including new sidewalks, new pedestrian crossings, new signs, rumble strips, and a new roundabout in Sultan. Work starts Monday on a new bypass lane that will take traffic past the roundabout construction at Old Owen Road, just west of Sultan.
“That’s going to help divert traffic around the construction zone so they don’t have to fully close the road,” WSDOT Communications Consultant Elizabeth Mount said.
The corridor will have nightly closures while the new bypass lane is built. They will be in place Sunday night through early Friday morning.
“They’re going to use a temporary signal,” Mount said. “It’s going to feel very similar to how it is right now during the day. The biggest impact is going to be westbound U.S. 2. The left-hand turn lane onto Fern Bluff is going to close, and Fern Bluff Road will have a long-term closure right there at the intersection.”
A detour route will be in place for that closure.
The goal is to make U.S. 2 safer and work better, especially on those busy Sundays during the summer.
“You know how backed up that intersection gets, and one of the things that’s really great about roundabouts is people aren’t having to stop for a light,” Mount said. “This roundabout is going to help improve that traffic flow through that intersection.”
The roundabout should be completed by the end of February, but work on the corridor will continue throughout 2027. WSDOT is also changing some no-passing zones on the highway and adding center-lane rumble strips.
“That will help with people kind of crossing that center line,” Mount said.
Head-on crashes on that dark highway are all too common. WSDOT is hoping this simple addition will help prevent them.
Drivers should expect daytime and nighttime closures on the highway throughout the entire project.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
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