EDMONDS — At $7.8 million, it’s called the city’s biggest capital improvement project in 15 years, easing east-west access across Highway 99.
The project completes a missing link of about 300 feet of roadway on 228th Street SW from Highway 99 to 76th Avenue W.
The goal was improving safety in an area of the city where about a quarter of all collisions in the city occur.
“The reason we started the project is a collision issue,” said Bertrand Hauss, a city transportation engineer.
The new signal at 228th Street SW has left-turn arrows for both north and southbound traffic on Highway 99.
Work on the project began last summer. It involved repaving nearly a mile of roadway in Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace, adding pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, bicycle lanes and improvements to storm water drainage.
It connects the east and west sides of the street, divided by Highway 99, and links to the Interurban Trail just west of the project, Hauss said.
The project grew out of a city study in 2007 of Highway 99 that identified improvements that could be made to improve safety, said Phil Williams, the city’s public works and utilities director.
The city applied for grants and was awarded $5.4 million from the federal government and $1.5 million from the state.
Completion of the project not only provides a key east-west connection along Highway 99, it also gives people living in Edmonds better access to the park-and-ride lot in Mountlake Terrace, Williams said.
About 2,000 cars use 228th Street daily. That number is expected to nearly double when the roadway opens. The city plans to celebrate the opening of the roadway during a ceremony scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
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