No big changes planned for U.S. 2 trestle

Jacob Steelsmith of Lake Stevens writes: Are there any plans to replace the existing single on-ramp from Highway 204 to the westbound U.S. 2 trestle?

Virtually no one yields at that intersection, and it backs up heavily in the morning.

Bronlea Mishler, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: The interchange of U.S. 2, Highway 204 and 20th Street SE is quite busy, especially during the morning and evening commutes, and we know that the merge onto westbound U.S. 2 can be frustrating.

Population growth to the north and east has only added to the number of people using the ramps from Highway 204 as well as 20th Street SE.

Though Snohomish County has made improvements to the 20th Street corridor nearby, those improvements end east of the U.S. 2-Highway 204 interchange.

Unfortunately, we currently do not have funding to widen the trestle, but we have been working with local agencies to look at possible near-term solutions to help improve traffic flow.

We are also nearing completion of a list of other potential improvements as part of a route development plan on U.S. 2.

Information about the route development plan can be found here.

Closures for rock blasting this week

Drivers headed to and from Monroe Tuesday through Friday should plan for full closures of Highway 522 near the Snohomish River Bridge.

Crews plan to close both directions of the highway between Fales Road (also Echo Lake Road) and 164th Street SE from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m. all four days while they blast and remove rock next to the westbound lanes.

Drivers may choose alternate routes or follow a signed detour using Highway 9 and U.S. 2. The detour will add 10 miles and about 20 minutes of travel time, depending on a driver’s destination and traffic conditions.

Drivers also should plan for full closures of Highway 522 on Oct. 9 and 11 for more rock blasting.

Crews will blast and remove about 300,000 cubic yards of rock next to the highway to create room for two new lanes.

This work is part of the $129 million project to widen Highway 522 from the Snohomish River to U.S. 2.

For more information visit the state’s project page here.

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