Lake Stevens hopes to ease Frontier Village traffic trap

Published 9:34 pm Tuesday, February 16, 2010

LAKE STEVENS — You can get into Frontier Village but you can’t get out.

That’s a common refrain for anyone who has tried to exit the Lake Stevens shopping center directly onto Highway 9 or Highway 204, which meet in a T-intersection at the main opening to the large shopping center.

It can’t be done. The only road leading out on the west side funnels befuddled and frustrated drivers onto Vernon Road headed north, parallel to Highway 9. To get onto Highway 9 or Highway 204, drivers must find a place to turn around and drive back on Vernon Road to the intersection of the two highways.

Now, the wheels are turning to get something done.

State Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, is asking for $5 million in the transportation budget to begin design this year for a planned widening of that section of Highway 9.

The state, as part of its long-term plan for the Highway 9 corridor, proposes to add a lane to each side of the highway through that congested stretch. The plan, estimated at $10.2 million, would not receive any funding until late 2011 at the earliest if no money is approved this legislative session.

City officials have been discussing possibilities for changing the Frontier Village entrance-exit situation. If money is freed up for design, the city and the state can better coordinate their planning on the intersection, Lake Stevens Mayor Vern Little said.

“We don’t want to tear up what they’re doing and we don’t want them to tear up what we’re doing,” Little said.

City officials are looking at seven different ways to improve the entrance-exit to the shopping center, city administrator Jan Berg said. Frontier Village in west Lake Stevens is home to Safeway, Sports Authority, some banks and several smaller stores and restaurants.

The city has yet to discuss the ideas with the shopping center’s businesspeople or property owners, Berg said. City officials hope to narrow the options down to two or three within a month and take them to the public for comment, Berg said.

Lake Stevens city officials and others recently visited Olympia to lobby for the design money.

Hobbs said he doesn’t expect to get $5 million, and might get only $64,000, but this would be enough to start planning, he said.

“My overall goal is to put the necessary starting investment into these state projects so when another infusion of transportation money comes along we’ll be ready to go,” he said.

The city could eventually look at other improvements to Frontier Village as a way to boost the area’s economy. Making it easy to get in and out of the shopping center is an important part of helping businesses thrive, Little said. Other ways in and out of Frontier Village lead to sidestreets only.

He estimated the city’s cost for changes to the entrance-exit would run $2.5 million to $5 million, in addition to the state’s cost for widening the road, depending on which option is chosen. It’s not yet certain where the city would get those funds.

The project is one of many on the radar of the Highway 9 Coalition, a group of 50 people who have been pushing for improvements to the corridor. Officials, businesspeople and others along the highway from Arlington to Woodinville are active on the committee, Snohomish City Councilman Randy Hamlin said. He serves as co-chairman of the group along with Little.

“Anything we can get done as soon as possible is going to help the situation,” Hamlin said.

Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.