Commuters get more space to move in major Everett intersection

A six week construction project is underway to fix a chokepoint at one of Snohomish County’s busiest intersections.

The Highway 99 and Airport Road intersection is part of a major non-freeway route into and out of Boeing’s Everett plant. That stretch of Highway 99 handles more than 35,000 cars a day.

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When the road was designed, giant traffic islands were put into the north and southbound lanes of SR 99 to force drivers to make a right hand turn onto Airport Road. The lane then continued after the intersection.

The state is now reducing the size of those traffic islands so the lane will actually continue through the intersection. Cars and trucks will still have to take a right onto Airport Road, but buses will be able to continue through.

The Washington State Department of Transportation said it’s not just a fix for buses. Drivers won’t have to dodge the 150 buses a day that currently have to move over into the other lanes.

“Those buses on 99 would have to shift from the right lane into the regular lanes of traffic and then pull out almost immediately to hit the bus stop on the other side of the intersection,” said WSDOT’s Tom Pearce. “Moving buses in and out of traffic is not the most efficient thing to do.”

Forcing drivers to navigate around swerving buses is not a good idea either.

There will also be improvements for pedestrians at the intersection.

“We’re going to put in new curbs that are up to current Americans with Disability Act standards,” Pearce said. “There will be new pedestrian signals with audible tones, and there’s going to be better lighting at the intersections, especially in the evenings, so people can see the pedestrians better.”

There have been 11 car-pedestrian collisions at this intersection in the last five years, two of them fatal.