EVERETT – Prepare to get slapped twice – once as a taxpayer, and once as a commuter – if the state isn’t able to fold plans to build a new 41st Street overpass into its I-5 widening project.
Thanks to the rejection of Initiative 912, Everett will receive $40 million to rebuild the overcrowded intersection. The money comes from the 91/2-cent per gallon gas tax hike adopted by Legislature earlier this year.
If the two projects can’t be merged, I-5 will be under construction along 41st Street for five years, instead of the three years the current $220 million project is expected to take.
That’s because the new overpass is currently scheduled to be built after the state finishes widening I-5 in 2008.
“The good news is (that) 41st Street will be built, but our project got more complicated because of it,” said Mike Cotten, I-5 widening project director for the state Department of Transportation.
Building the overpass later also means some of the widening work being done now will have to be ripped out to make room for the bridge.
“It’s not a good thing to do as a steward of the public’s money,” Cotten said. “Our goal is to minimize or hopefully eliminate wasted cost.”
To avoid taking the extra two years and spending the extra money to redo work being done now, the state is considering paying its I-5 widening contractor, Atkinson-CH2M Hill, to take on the 41st Street project.
Still, Cotten said, that could be difficult.
“There will be some additional cost to accommodate 41st Street as part of our current widening project,” Cotten said. “In our contract, we’ve given the contractor control over the right-of-way.”
Everett would like both projects done together, said Dave Davis, the city’s director of engineering.
“It’s huge from the taxpayer’s viewpoint,” Davis said. “It’s much more efficient and cost effective.”
Cotten said he doesn’t know how much money can be saved by building both projects at once.
An example of the duplicate work that could take place involves a plan to widen the southbound I-5 bridge that spans the northbound exit to Broadway, an exit on the left side of I-5.
“We’d have to knock off the bridge rail and widen it again,” Cotten said. “We just don’t want to have to do that.”
The state is currently figuring out how much it should cost to merge the projects. The contractor is doing the same.
If a deal can’t be worked out, DOT may ask Atkinson-CH2M Hill to at least adjust its plans so that nothing has to be ripped out – something that would cost extra money, but less than having the contractor take on the entire project.
Another option is to bring in a second contractor to build the overpass.
But having two different contractors working in one area can be difficult and dangerous, Cotten said.
He said the goal is to make a decision before the end of the year.
The new 41st Street overpass will better connect the Lowell neighborhood and the planned new Everett riverfront development with north Everett. It will also clear up a major traffic choke point.
The I-5 widening project will add a carpool lane – both north and south – from the Boeing Freeway to Marine View Drive. It will add one all-purpose lane in both directions from 41st Street to U.S. 2.
The project also includes a fly-over right-hand exit from northbound I-5 to Broadway. That ramp is under construction right now.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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