County tries to catch Olympia’s eye

By Susanna Ray

Herald Writer

OLYMPIA — They just want to be big. Because if they’re big, the reasoning goes, they’ll get noticed.

That’s the tactic being used by Snohomish County officials to woo state legislators and transportation officials, who seem focused on so-called mega projects, such as a new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a $7 billion plan to widen I-405 through Seattle’s Eastside or a plan to fix the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle.

But none of those mega-projects are in Snohomish County.

So local officials, including those from the city of Everett, are trying to direct some of that energy north by pooling a bunch of smaller projects into one big plan.

That plan could position Snohomish County to benefit from a measure approved by the state Senate over the weekend. The senators voted to allow Snohomish, King and Pierce counties to join forces to build mega-projects in the region. The House is working on its own plan.

For local county and city officials, the challenge is focusing on a special subset of road projects while not detracting from the clamor for funds to fix up outlying roads.

The plan is called the Snohomish Corridor Action Plan, or SnoCAP. It identifies a ladder-like network of roads with I-5 and Highway 9 as the north/south rails and connecting east-west highways as the rungs.

The SnoCAP projects add up to $563 million, which would just barely qualify them with mega-project status, according to the state.

"Right now, there are about 15 projects in SnoCAP, but if they were grouped into one, they could qualify as a mega-project," said Transportation spokeswoman Linda Mullen.

But some are worried that the push to get SnoCAP projects paid for will leave other equally important roadwork in the area undone, such as safety improvements to the dangerous Highway 522 in southeastern Snohomish County.

County Executive Bob Drewel insisted that won’t happen: "Are we going to do something at the expense of another project? No."

SnoCAP focuses on the I-5 congestion corridor area in Snohomish County, said Loren Sand, a county engineer. So while outlying projects are every bit as important, they simply don’t belong on the SnoCAP list. They are still on the unified list of critical projects, he said, and the county will be working just as hard to secure funding for them.

"This is all the same list of usual suspects," said Drewel’s governmental liaison, Jim Hammond, "but we’ve organized it as a conceptual list."

As a symbol of those projects’ equal importance, they were presented in a brochure this year as well (the SnoCAP brochure is blue; the critical project list pamphlet is green). In the past, local officials have always just handed out the project list to legislators in a no-frills spreadsheet format.

"We’re not trying to say one is ahead of the other," said Peter Hahn, the county’s public works director. "At some point, somebody is going to have to start making choices. But this is not the instrument to do that," it’s just an exercise to create a mega-project to compete with the others around the state.

That’s a big "if," however, said Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald, likening the SnoCAP attempt to trying to put I-5 and I-405 in the same project.

And the rules and benefits to that qualification are unclear, anyway.

The Department of Transportation has established an Urban Corridors Department to work on the mega-projects, and those plans do have priority, Mullen said. But it doesn’t mean they get complete precedence when it comes to doling out the dough.

Here’s a list of the SnoCAP projects that will be ready to start this year, if the Legislature provides the money:

Extend 132nd Street SE to connect to Highway 9, with improvements including a four-lane roadway with bicycle lanes, raised sidewalks, curbs and gutters, storm drains and streetlights. Cost: $12 million.

Improve the southbound off-ramps at 196th Street SW interchange to I-5. Also, build a northbound merge lane for cars getting on and off the freeway. Cost: $20.4 million.

Build the 41st Street overpass on I-5. The Lowell Neighborhood Bypass would connect Lowell River Road to the new overpass. Cost: $4.3 million.

Widen Highway 9 to four lanes from Highway 522 to 176th Street SE. Also add turn lanes at major intersections. Cost: $21.3 million.

Widen Highway 524 (also known as 196th Street SW) from two to five lanes from 24th Avenue West to Highway 527. Cost: $45 million.

Widen Highway 527 to five lanes from 112th Street SE to 132nd Street SE. Cost: $17.2 million.

Widen 112th Street SW to five lanes. Cost: $15 million.

Widen 164th Street SW to five lanes from Spruce Way to Ash Way. Cost: $4.4 million.

These SnoCAP projects are lofty — officials hope to accomplish these within the next six years:

Install new loop ramps, ramp meters and HOV bypass lanes at the I-5 interchange with 128th Street SW (Highway 96). Cost: $17.8 million.

Build a new ramp from southbound I-5 to northbound Highway 525. Cost: $10 million.

Complete the HOV lanes, auxiliary lanes and 41st Street interchange on I-5 from Highway 526 to U.S. 2. Cost: $206.6 million.

Fix I-5 interchanges through Everett, including those with 112th Street. Highway 526, 100th St., Madison St. and Smith Island. Cost: $26.5 million.

Add HOV lanes to U.S. 2 from I-5 to Highway 204 (the Trestle). Cost: $75 million.

Add capacity to sections of Highway 9 from 176th street SE to Highway 92. Cost: $51.5 million.

Add extra lanes to 20th Street SE from U.S. 2 to Highway 9. Cost: $30 million.

Widen Highway 99 to seven lanes from 168th Street SW to 128th Street SW. Cost: $6.5 million.

Local officials spent about $20,000 so far to create SnoCAP, and they’re asking the Legislature for another $5.5 million to continue the planning and development work involved in carrying out the project over the next six years.

You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 360-586-3803 or send e-mail to

ray@heraldnet.com.