Fixing Frontier Village
Published 4:35 pm Tuesday, November 30, 2010
LAKE STEVENS — City officials know that drivers face daily challenges around the intersection of Highway 9 and Highway 204.
At peak times, the intersection near Frontier Village and others around it are often packed with vehicles that are trying to get to businesses or travel along the Highway 9 corridor.
That’s why the state and the city are hoping to hear from drivers who have ideas on how to fix the area’s congestion problems, according to Mick Monken, the city’s public works director.
Meetings between state and city officials, business owners and those who have expressed an interest in fixing the traffic problems will occur first, Monken said. Those meetings will be followed up with a public planning meeting, possibly in late January, to discuss possible solutions and share more information.
The city is working with the state to find ways to improve access on and around Highway 9, Monken said. The state’s Department of Transportation is focused on designing improvements to the intersection and the city has started preliminary work on a central Lake Stevens circulation plan to improve business access and traffic circulation around the shopping center.
“For us, it’s about economic stability and helping the businesses do good business,” Monken said. “The state’s concern is basically moving vehicles.”
Traffic troubles in the area have gotten worse as the county’s population continues to grow and traffic on Highway 9 increased by 25 percent from 2001 to 2006, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation website.
The Legislature provided $500,000 this year to the Department of Transportation to begin work on preliminary designs for the intersection. A design workshop for improvements made by the state is expected to be scheduled in February.
More information about the Highway 9 and Highway 204 intersection improvement project can be found on the project’s website at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR9/ SR204Improvements/.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.
You can help
Send your ideas on how to improve the intersection of Highway 9 and Highway 204 or thoughts for the central Lake Stevens traffic plan by Monday to Mick Monken at mmonken@ci.lake-stevens.wa.us or Yosh Monzaki at ymonzaki@ci.lake-stevens.wa.us.
