MARYSVILLE — Come spring, commuters who use Highway 529 between Marysville and Everett once again will experience traffic slowdowns while the state repaves the highway from I-5 to the Snohomish River.
The estimated $2 million project also includes repaving eight blocks of Highway 528 in Marysville and a block of Marine View Drive in Everett, said Jeff Lundstrom, a state Department of Transportation project engineer for design.
No exact date has been set. Bids will be opened in a few weeks, and the contractor then will tell the state when the project will begin.
Marysville officials have been working with the state to coordinate the paving projects with work the city is doing, city spokesman Doug Buell said.
The state’s work won’t affect the city’s 10-month, $6.4 million State Avenue construction project, which will end later this year at First Street, just north of Ebey Slough, Lundstrom said. It also won’t affect the city’s plans to build Waterfront Park on the slough this year.
The state packaged three pieces into the contract, the largest one being resurfacing Highway 529 on the flats between Everett and Marysville.
In the other parts, Highway 528 will be repaved from Columbia Avenue to 55th Avenue NE. That project will skip over the intersection at 47th Avenue NE and will stop just shy of, but line up with, construction work at 55th planned by the city to widen the intersection, Lundstrom said. City officials are working on funding for that project, he said.
"If they aren’t able to go this year, it won’t be a problem," he said.
Both intersections are slated for improvements by the city this year or next, Lundstrom said, adding that the city and the state coordinated their design work so it would mesh smoothly.
Much of the state’s repaving work will be done at night to lessen the effect on traffic. There will be public notice if lane closures are necessary.
The third piece of the state project is paving one block of Marine View Drive W. between 25th and 26th streets in Everett, Lundstrom said. The state paved that part of Highway 529 last summer, but skipped that block because Everett crews hadn’t completed utility work there.
State transportation officials also have completed up to 80 percent of the design work for a new Ebey Slough bridge, but that project has been shelved until the state Legislature finds the estimated $30 million necessary to replace the aging, two-lane bridge with a four-lane structure.
"Right now, the prognosis doesn’t look good within this biennium," Lundstrom said. "Maybe in the 2005-07 biennium."
State officials have been working with property owners because that project will require the state to acquire a small amount of land on the north end where several businesses are located, he said. None of the businesses will have to move, however.
The state also is coordinating with Marysville on the park designs, and when the new bridge is built, it will have special street lamps to match those in Waterfront Park.
"Everything is all going to meld together really well," Lundstrom said. "The sidewalks will meander and join with the park’s sidewalks, and they’ll be extra wide to accommodate bicycles.
"I just wish we had the money to build it (now). We’ll end up in two year’s time with this beautiful, new entryway into the city."
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
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