Drivers tired of slogging their way along two-lane Highway 9 now have hope for a wider, five-lane road from the King County boundary all the way to Arlington.

Thanks to last year’s gas tax hike, there’s already $107 million in place to widen four miles of the road near Woodinville.

However, getting the nearly $1 billion it would take to widen the 25 miles of road north to Arlington has long been a question mark.

But that question was answered Thursday when the Legislature approved a bill designating all of Highway 9 in Snohomish County a "highway of statewide significance," local officials say.

Gov. Gary Locke still has to sign the measure, something that’s expected, said Rep. Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish.

The new moniker will mean that Highway 9 projects will qualify for federal funding. It also means widening the road will move up on the state Department of Transportation’s priority list.

But perhaps more importantly, it will mean that the entire 25 miles — from just north of Highway 524 to Highway 530 in Arlington — can be included on a regional tax package that’s expected to go before voters next fall.

Called the Regional Transportation Investment District, the tax package is a multi-billion dollar bid to pay for some of the most pressing road fixes in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.

A working list of projects from Snohomish County has the RTID putting $443 million toward widening Highway 9 from 176th Street SE to Highway 92.

Now that the entire road has been bumped up to a highway of statewide significance, county officials could consider widening Highway 9 all the way to Arlington as part of the RTID list.

"I’m seriously thinking that’s what we will do," said Gary Nelson, a Snohomish County councilman who is chairman of the three-county RTID board. "Right now, hardly anybody wants to use Highway 9 because it’s one lane in each direction and because it’s so jammed up with trucks."

No estimates exist as to what it would take to widen the highway from Highway 92 north to Highway 530, said Greg Phipps, a state transportation department spokesman.

Still, at 12 miles, it’s almost the same length as Highway 9’s stretch from Highway 92 to 176th Street SE, which RTID estimates will cost $443 million.

Double that amount, and it doesn’t take long to get to a $1 billion project.

Nelson and Kristiansen said Highway 9 needs to be widened, to support growth in east Snohomish County and to provide a legitimate alternative north-south corridor to I-5.

"Ultimately, the whole idea behind this is to have a parallel corridor next to I-5," Kristiansen said.

Under any scenario, it will take several years before the funding is in place, and widening Highway 9 would have to be done in phases, Phipps said.

Reporter Lukas Velush:

425-339-3449 or

lvelush@heraldnet.com.