EVERETT – In about a year, drivers should have an easier time getting from I-5 to the city’s waterfront.
After years of planning, the City Council on Wednesday approved an $11.9 million dollar road construction contract for improvements along E. Marine View Drive from I-5 to Highway 529.
Nearly $9 million of the project costs are being paid for with federal transportation dollars.
It’s a busy truck route that cuts past dozens of homes, businesses and a city park.
“And that’s a tough starting point,” City Engineer Ryan Sass said.
But city road planners worked closely with residents of the Delta Neighborhood to design ways to improve safety while reducing congestion.
The project will widen much of the road, adding capacity for more traffic. But it will also include parking spaces cut into sidewalks, street trees and landscaping.
Experts say people drive more slowly along roads with varied shoulder widths then they do with wide-open roads.
“They virtually designed this project house by house,” said City Councilman Drew Nielsen before voting on the contract with Mukilteo-based KLB Construction.
The road will be widened to four lanes between I-5 and 16th Street. That’s the busiest stretch of the mile-long project.
The remaining length will become three lanes with turn pockets and medians.
A 10-foot-wide bike and walking path will follow the eastern shoulder, providing a missing link for the city’s north end trail system.
The planned work marks the final leg of improvements of Marine View Drive that have happened gradually since the 1990s.
The 5.5-mile road extends from the freeway to Naval Station Everett, the city’s industrial port and marina, where hundreds of new condos are being planned.
It is considered an important freight link between I-5 and numerous industrial businesses along the waterfront and Smith Island.
Between 8,000 to 15,000 cars and trucks travel along E. Marine View Drive every day, according to a city traffic study.
By 2023, the daily volume of cars is expected to grow by an additional 4,000 to 7,000 vehicles.
Construction is set to start in late summer and is expected to be completed by fall 2008. The city originally hoped to complete the project for $10.4 million by fall 2006.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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