Road widening plan a struggle

MARYSVILLE — There appears to be no easy solution for routing traffic through the growing areas of Sunnyside and Whiskey Ridge.

Ask Leon Prather, 59. If Sunnyside Boulevard is widened even to three lanes — let alone five, as is being considered — “I would not have a front door after that,” he said.

City staff members say any of three basic choices for channeling future traffic through those neighborhoods will require the city to buy slices of property from scores of homeowners and force some people from their homes. And it will be expensive.

The plans to remake the roads could cost more than $80 million.

If the city is going to improve traffic flow, city public works director Paul Roberts said, “we have to make some decisions that are not supported by anybody.”

Others, however, say the city is rushing into a decision and the city could come up with a plan that wouldn’t force as many residents out of their homes.

“There’s no rush,” said Seattle attorney Jennifer Dold, hired by a group of residents to fight a plan to build a connector road between 67th Avenue NE and 71st Avenue NE. “Have some workshops, think it through, look at some detailed information.”

A public hearing on the road plans, and other changes to the city’s long-term plans for roads and land use, is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight. The City Council could make a decision tonight or postpone the matter for further study.

Traffic already is increasing through the area, which became part of Marysville early this year. Traffic on Sunnyside Boulevard is expected to increase from about 3,000 cars per day now to more than 20,000 by 2025. Many people who don’t live in the area use it as a cut-through between Lake Stevens and Marysville, said Mary Swenson, Marysville city administrator.

Last spring, the city approved building short new connector roads between 67th and 71st and between 40th Street NE and Highway 9 to aid traffic flow in the future.

Residents along the 67th and 71st connector protested and hired a lawyer. Later, the city’s Planning Commission suggested to the City Council that the city take the new roads off the map, hold more meetings and take another look at the plan with an eye toward widening Sunnyside Boulevard rather than the 67th and 71st corridor.

“Just from a common sense standpoint, I think they’re on the wrong track with the arterial going up over the hill,” Planning Commission vice chair Dave Voigt said of the plan.

City staff went back to the drawing board and created a list of three options. Their favored option, widening both Sunnyside and the 67th and 71st corridor to three lanes, would solve the traffic problems better than widening one or the other to five lanes, according to city staff. This is because it spreads out the traffic more and provides the most benefit for the least cost and disruption.

The work would be years away, built and paid for partly by developers as the area grows, officials say.

Dold, the attorney hired by the 67th-71st residents’ group, doesn’t believe the traffic counts require a five-lane widening or a widening both roads to three lanes with the connector. Widening Sunnyside to four lanes and replacing stop signs on 67th-71st with roundabouts to ease traffic flow would be enough, she said.

Dold and the planning commissioners say taking the plans off the map and doing more study would reduce disruption for residents.

“We can put our intent in a document in a different way,” Voigt said.

City officials say more study is not needed, that it’s time to act now to allow land-use planning to proceed.

The road plans have been on the books for years, Swenson said, as the city did preliminary planning for areas just outside its borders. The city annexed the area to gain control of growth, saying that the county failed to make long-range plans for the unincorporated areas around the city, Swenson said.

“You didn’t have roads that connect,” she said. “It’s a network. You’ve got to look at the whole picture.”

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

Three options for widening roads

The Marysville City Council is expected to consider three options for widening and adding roads in Sunnyside and Whiskey Ridge. The three options are:

n Widening 67th and 71st avenues to three lanes and connecting the roads between Soper Hill Road and 64th Avenue NE. Sunnyside Boulevard would be widened to three lanes between Soper Hill and 52nd Street NE. Each road is two lanes in most places now.

This would require the city to buy parts of 209 pieces of property and buy 23 homes; it would cost $83 million, according to numbers developed for the city by the Perteet Engineering Co. of Everett.

n Widening Sunnyside Boulevard to five lanes. This would require the city to buy parts of 366 properties, taking out 23 homes; it would cost $98 million.

n Widening 67th-71st to five lanes. This would require buying parts of 190 properties, taking out one home; it would cost $106 million.

Even if a five-lane option is chosen for Sunnyside or 67th-71st, the other would likely still have to be widened to three lanes to meet demand for that neighborhood, officials say. In any scenario, Sunnyside Boulevard would widen to five lanes from 52nd to 47th.

Public hearing

A public hearing on road plans for Sunnyside and Whiskey Ridge, and other changes to the city’s long-term plans for roads and land use, is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at City Hall, 1049 State Ave. For more information, call the city at 360-363-8000.

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