SNOHOMISH — A quarter-century ago, Highway 9 was still another sleepy rural road, cutting across farmlands in central Snohomish County.
As the county has changed, however, so has the two-lane highway’s burden.
The community’s population exploded from 466,000 people in 1990 to 684,000 in 2008, according to the U.S. Census. That growth brought with it a snarl of traffic that chokes the highway, the primary north-south competitor to I-5.
“We’re seeing backups that go for miles now,” said Snohomish Mayor Randy Hamlin, who uses the road on his daily commute to Bothell.
Hamlin led a discussion Friday about ways to deal with that traffic. About 35 community leaders attended the first meeting of the State Route 9 Coalition at the Snohomish Library, building support for a long-term plan drafted by the state Department of Transportation.
The department analyzed 11 intersections in the past two years, creating a six-step plan that would cost at least $367 million.
“You can be assured that the costs are going to go up,” said Richard Warren, a corridor planning manager with the transportation department.
Unlike U.S. 2, where safety is of primary concern, the biggest issue for Highway 9 is congestion. Early steps recommended by the state would ease traffic flow with simple fixes.
For instance, step one calls for a stoplight at the Burke Avenue intersection in Arlington, an expansion of the Market Place intersection in Lake Stevens and re-striping of the U.S. 2 interchange.
Those easy fixes will cost at least $12 million, according to the department. The most expensive step will cost at least $123 million and include the addition of two more lanes bridging the Snohomish River.
The coalition may hire a lobbyist to compete for state and federal dollars, with all agreeing that the communities along Highway 9 need to present a unified front to lawmakers.
No one expects full funding in the near future. It may take three years to break ground on the first step of construction.
“Even if you were to get an amount of money from the Legislature today, you still have to go through environmental and design review,” Warren said. “All take a couple of years.”
Still, local leaders were optimistic about their plan and sounded ready to compete for money in the coming years.
“This is not a sprint activity,” Hamlin said. “This is a marathon.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
