Street project nears its start

By Brian Kelly

Herald Writer

ARLINGTON — Just 10 or so signatures are all that’s needed before the city can shift gears on its biggest street project in years.

For the past nine months or so, Arlington has been buying right-of-way easements along 67th Avenue NE so a two-mile stretch of the major arterial can be expanded from two lanes to three. The city now has more than 90 percent of the easements needed, said city engineer Paul Richart.

And so far, so good.

"We haven’t run into any absolute roadblocks," Richart said.

The 67th Avenue NE improvement project stretches from 172nd Street NE (Highway 531) north to 204th Street NE.

Most of the road will be widened to three lanes, but the intersection at 66th Avenue NE will also be reconfigured. Richart said safety will be increased by blocking off the "odd jog" left onto 66th Avenue NE.

A sidewalk will also be constructed along the west side of the 67th Avenue NE. Right now, there are only small snippets of sidewalks in scattered locations along the route.

The project also includes building a 12-foot-wide section of Centennial Trail along the east side of 67th Avenue NE.

Residents will probably be happy to see the changes to the narrow old road, Richart said.

"We get a lot of complaints about 67th," he said. "It’s just been scabbed onto over the years, and it just gets beat to death with a lot of traffic."

But it’s an important road to the city. It’s one of the main links from Arlington’s Old Town area to Highway 531 at the city’s south end. "It’s one of the north-south arterials for the city’s industrial/commercial base," Richart said, and is also crucial to the county’s transportation grid.

The reconstruction of the street is expected to cost between $3 million and $3.5 million. With engineering, land acquisition and other costs, the project will easily exceed $4 million, making it the most substantial infrastructure project in Arlington since the water treatment plant was rebuilt.

Road mitigation fees, general city revenues and four federal and state grants will pay for the improvements.

Exploratory work on the reconstruction project is set to begin soon. The city will spend more than $110,000 to dig approximately 154 holes along the route so underground utility lines can be found before construction begins. The corridor along 67th Avenue NE has been a popular place to put utilities, including the city’s water and sewer lines, an AT&T fiber-optic cable, a county PUD line and a gas line.

The city hopes the project can begin in the spring and be finished by the fall.

Because some of the work will be extensive — the street will actually be lowered seven feet just south of the cemetery — road closures will be necessary, Richart said. Those road closures will be limited to sections, however, and not the entire two-mile construction corridor.

The improvement of 67th Avenue NE has been talked about for at least six years, Richart said. Back then, the northernmost stretch of the road — West Avenue — was improved.

Eventually, the gap between that phase and the upcoming work — the stretch between 204th Street NE and Maple Street — will also be brought up to speed. Fixing that final piece, however, will depend on finding more funding, Richart said.

You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.

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