EVERETT — To Robert Ripley, the quiet, residential street outside his home has recently seemed more like a freeway onramp.
During the afternoon rush hour, Ripley, 42, watches car after car zip down 51st Avenue SE, a two-lane road that in some areas lacks lighting, sidewalks and shoulders.
Some drivers obey the stop sign at 126th Street SE, just south of Ripley’s home.
Others blow through it at speeds well above the posted 25-mph limit.
His wife can barely back out of their driveway to take their son to soccer practice.
“If there was some type of government official living on this street, this wouldn’t be happening,” Ripley said.
Ripley’s neighborhood is along one of the two main detour routes for Seattle Hill Road, which has been closed since early December when the road and the culvert beneath it were damaged by raging floodwaters. The road closure is expected to last until at least mid-January, said Janice Fahning, a state Department of Transportation engineer.
An estimated 9,000 cars use the road each weekday to get between Lowell-Larimer Road and 132nd Street SE. The route is a popular shortcut linking I-5 and Snohomish.
Most of the traffic has detoured onto either Highway 9 or 51st Avenue SE, Fahning said.
“Everything has been going smoothly,” she said. “Crews have been working long shifts, seven days a week. Everyone has been very cooperative to try to open this roadway as soon as possible.”
Repairing Seattle Hill Road is no simple task. Workers are replacing a tube with a tunnel.
The small, 18-inch wide culvert that was destroyed has made way for a new culvert that is 12 feet long, 10 feet wide and 5 feet high. Each of the 14 pieces of the new culvert weigh between 10 to 15 tons and had to be brought in on trucks, along with a crane to assemble the culvert.
Gas, water and phone lines had to be removed at the start of construction, and the lines will have to be reinstalled.
Retaining walls along Seattle Hill Road were rebuilt. Crews still must rebuild, repave and restripe the road.
“There are a lot of components that go into fixing this roadway,” Fahning said.
People who live on 51st Avenue SE were surprised when told how long the repairs would take. Nobody from the state Department of Transportation ever contacted them with details of the project, or to warn them of traffic being detoured through their neighborhood.
“There hasn’t been any communication about when (Seattle Hill Road) is supposed to be open,” said Katin Olivers, 33, who lives on 51st Avenue SE. “It’s a residential area, so anytime there is an increase in traffic, it is kind of a pain.”
The number of cars passing through Olivers’ neighborhood was already on the rise, but now the road seems more like a “thoroughfare,” she said.
“I’m not sure that our quality of life is severely impacted,” Olivers said. “I think it’s more of a nuisance than anything.”
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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