Roads keep a-changin’ in Lake Stevens.
Highway 9 has been awash in projects to install roundabouts near a Costco and Frontier Village.
Recent development a little north spurred a question from reader Kathie Gortner of Lake Stevens.
Gortner asked if left turn arrows were coming to the intersection of Highway 9 and Soper Hill Road for travelers turning north and south onto the highway.
“If you are driving east on Soper Hill and wish to go north on Highway 9 you have to wait forever (at peak times) and might sit through two lights,” Gortner wrote to The Daily Herald.
Indeed, left turn arrows from Soper Hill Road onto the highway are ahead. Exactly when depends on work at the nearby development on the northwest corner of the intersection, a Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson wrote.
Eventually, eastbound and westbound traffic from Soper Hill Road will get flashing yellow arrows. Those mean drivers and other road users (since bike riders can legally use the highway) can turn left with caution and when oncoming traffic is clear.
It should help with expected additional traffic in that area, which saw 31,000 vehicles on average each day in 2021, according to state data.
Developers are building a 12-pump gas station, 9,900-square-foot dental office and 33,748-square-foot health care clinic northwest of the intersection, according to permit application documents with the City of Marysville.
The northwest corner of the intersection is in Marysville. The other corners are in Lake Stevens.
Another 360 daily vehicle trips are projected for the dental office and 1,000 for the gas station, according to traffic studies conducted for the permit applications. Most of that traffic is expected to use the highway, with a large percentage using Soper Hill Road as well.
Getting to the highway with left turns could help alleviate some of the backups Gortner has experienced.
“A flashing yellow will be better than what is there now but (I) don’t understand why they don’t use a green turn arrow,” Gortner wrote. “Much safer. Oh well. Not a perfect world.”
Left turns from the highway onto Soper Hill Road will stay protected as solid green left turn arrows.
Have a question? Call 425-339-3037 or email streetsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your first and last name and city of residence.
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