Andy Kirkbride of Lake Stevens writes: I am perplexed about whether all the work that people say is to improve traffic flow on and off the U.S. 2 trestle has actually accomplished said goal. The 41st Street on-off ramp made getting onto the eastbound trestle 10 times worse. The work being done on 20th Street SE in Lake Stevens just moved the bottleneck but does nothing to address the traffic getting on the trestle with the convergence of Highway 204 and 20th Street SE. Seems they are spending the money in all the wrong places.
Jamie Holter, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: In 2008, we wrapped up $263 million project to improve traffic flow on I-5 through Everett between the Boeing Freeway (Highway 526) and U.S. 2. Widening the freeway with 10 miles of carpool lanes, wider shoulders, new bridges and the new ramps at 41st Street has, in fact, improved traffic flow and reduced collisions for the entire area which includes ramps to U.S. 2 and 41st Street. Without this work, the Everett area would be more congested and that congestion would spill on to U.S. 2. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/HOVSR526toUS2/
In addition to that work, we are also changing the way traffic flows on U.S. 2. Eastbound traffic can use the shoulders of U.S. 2 during the evening rush hour to get more vehicles onto and across the trestle when it’s needed most. The congestion relief from this pilot project on the trestle has been noticeable.
As for work to widen or rebuild U.S. 2, the chance of that happening anytime in the near future is highly unlikely. The current economic climate allows for very few projects. It’s up to the Legislature to prioritize and fund work for the transportation department.
Work near 20th St. in Lake Stevens is being done by Snohomish County, but we are currently studying possible improvements to the intersection of Highway 204 and Highway 9 with the city of Lake Stevens. You can find that information here:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr9/sr204improvements/
Mick Monken, public works director for Lake Stevens, responds: If you look at 20th Street SE only as a connection route to U.S. 2 from the eastside, it is understandable how it could be viewed as only moving a bottleneck problem, at least for westbound movement. The street is more than just a connection to the trestle. There are three primary reasons for doing the 20th Street SE improvement: safety, capacity, and local access movements.
The improvements have made turns onto and off of 20th safer along that section of the corridor. The additional center lane and outside lane have significantly improved the safety of these turns. Another benefit has been the ability to move to and from Highway 9 from 20th Street SE.
The interchange of U.S. 2, Highway 204 and 20th Street SE is a bottleneck. Due to the high costs of any construction here, it is likely to take many years before we see a solution. In the meantime, improvements to the part of 20th Street SE not yet improved, the western part, are in design.
This design must address both immediate safety needs and consider possible future improvement to U.S. 2. In an ideal world, the improvements to 20th Street SE and U.S. 2 would happen concurrently. In reality, this rarely happens.
It does often result in creating a roadway improvement that doesn’t seem to quite make sense. In the case of 20th Street SE, most of the improvements installed function very well today but some will have to come in the future.
Lloyd Brodniak of Everett writes: When you drive northbound on 19th Avenue SE (Highway 527) heading toward the Boeing Freeway and the I-5 on-ramp, you come to a traffic signal at El Capitan Way that connects to Eastmont. There is also an off-ramp that comes from northbound I-5. It is a very busy intersection. From time to time the northbound light will be green for only 10 seconds, leaving a long line of frustrated drivers. I have even seen this happen twice in a row. Is this caused by a faulty sensor or a worn out relay?
Bronlea Mishler, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: Both our signal operations engineer and our maintenance crews visited the intersection a few times in the past month to see if the signal was working properly. Neither crew found any problems with the signal or the sensor that would cause it to have such a short green light. We’ll continue to monitor this intersection to make sure the signal continues to work properly.
Bill Lider of Lynnwood writes: Recently, Snohomish County public works crews repaved (chip-sealed) 212th Street SW just south of Halls Lake, from 63rd Avenue W. to 52nd Avenue W. This east-west section of road is bounded by Lynnwood to the north and Mountlake Terrace to the south. Work also included replacing catch basin grates, restriping, raised pavement markers, and a new bike lane.
Looking at the county property maps, the boundary between Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace runs east-west along the centerline of 212th Street SW in this area, with no county right-of-way shown.
The work looks good, but why are county taxpayers paying to maintain these cities’ streets? Diverting county crews to work on city projects also diverts them from maintaining the streets in the unincorporated sections of the county.
County engineer Owen Carter responds: This section of 212th Street SW is within Mountlake Terrace city limits. The city hired a contractor to do the construction and contracted with Snohomish County to apply the pavement markings. The contract agreement requires the city to reimburse the county for all its costs associated with performing the work.
Ellie Erickson writes: As a regular customer of the Chevron station on the northwest corner of Everett Avenue and Broadway I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen near misses and actual accidents at the station’s exit onto Everett Avenue.
I’m wondering if a “right turn only” sign could be posted at the driveway with a raised curb in the street that prevents turns to the left, similar to the exit of Lowe’s hardware onto Pacific Avenue.
Dongho Chang, traffic engineer for the city of Everett, responds: According to police collision records the driveway appears to be working safely. There has been only one collision related to the Chevron driveway in the past 10 years.
I did visit the gas station several times during the day and found the driveway to be working safely. There is good visibility from the driveway to see the approaching traffic. The station’s manager said she was not aware of any recent driveway-related collisions. I will review the most recent collision records when they become available for this year to see if there is any change in the collision trend at the driveway.
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