Fix finally coming to Everett ‘roller-coaster’ road
Jun 1, 2017, 5:36 AM | Updated: 9:47 am
If you’ve ever wanted to drive on a roller coaster, the perfect road can be found in Everett. A stretch of 128th Street, just east of I-5 in South Everett, is one waviest roads in the region.
James Tremayne asked me if there are any plans to fix this road. As he puts it, the road “reminds me of the Wild Mouse ride at the Seattle Center Fun Forest.”
He’s right. The road is incredibly uneven and not the best for a major arterial with a 45 mph speed limit. There is a temporary sign that lowers the speed limit to 35 mph, but nobody goes that slow.
“A roller-coaster would probably be the best way to describe what we have,” said Justin Fujioka, spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Transportation.
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The stretch of 128th along McCollum Park develops these dips every few years, and there’s a very specific reason why.
“McCollum Park was actually a landfill,” Fujioka said. “That ground continues to settle. It’s not the most stable ground, and part of that street is built on that former landfill site.”
The road is safe. Fujioka said it’s not at risk for a big sink hole. Every year the state goes out and grinds down the worst spots to make sure it stays that way.
“We spend $25,000 to $30,000 a year kind of smoothing out that area,” he said.
But that maintenance is just an annual Band-Aid. Fujioka said the state needs to rebuild the road.
“What this area really needs, and we don’t have the funding for right now, is a complete redo and a stabilization under the highway there,” Fujioka said.
For James, and other regular drivers of 128th east of I-5, there is a major paving project coming up that should make the road as smooth as it can be.
“(The state) will be resurfacing, grinding, and repaving from I-5 to about the Seattle Hill Road area and then we’ll continue on and do chip-seal for the rest of the length to Highway 9,” he said.
That’s a six-mile paving project on one of the busiest arterials in South Snohomish County. It’s set to begin early next year and take about six months. Fujioka said there will be nightly lane closures and other disruptions during the project, but at least one lane will remain open.
So enjoy the Wild Mouse while you can. It’s going away, at least for a few years.
Tell Chris about a Chokepoint or ask a traffic question @kirotraffic via Twitter.
