MARYSVILLE The Tulalip Tribes are pushing ahead with their bid to have the 116th Street NE I-5 overpass rebuilt as quickly as possible, but they say they need help to pay for the $50 million bridge.
Although the tribes have built a casino, big-box stores and an outlet mall on reservation land on the west side of the freeway, a tribal traffic study shows that only 30 percent of the traffic that exits I-5 on 116th Street NE turns onto the reservation. The rest heads east into Marysville.
That overpass is for the general public, its not just for the Tulalips, said state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, general manager of Quil Ceda Village. Weve paid our fair share.
Last weekend, McCoy and other tribal members made a pitch to Gov. Christine Gregoire for more funding from the state. The tribes also hope for more federal and local money.
Rebuilding the overpass is a priority for the state, but theres no money for it right now, said Dongho Chang, a traffic engineer with the state Department of Transportation.
To the region, its a fairly important project because of population growth in Snohomish County, Chang said.
The overpass is also high on U.S. Rep. Rick Larsens list, said Abbey Levenshus, a spokeswoman for the 2nd Congressional District Democrat.
We will continue to look for ways that we can be financially supportive of that project, Levenshus said. We know that its absolutely a transportation priority in Snohomish County.
Chang said the current overpass has more traffic than it can handle. The two-lane overpass and its one-lane onramps and offramps routinely back up in rush hour, and the traffic spills dangerously onto I-5.
The design for the new overpass calls for four lanes for through traffic and two lanes for turning in each direction.
The tribes initially said they would foot the entire cost of the new overpass just to get the project built, but have since backed away from that, saying they are simply willing to pay their fair share.
McCoy said the state, federal government, Snohomish County and cities of Marysville and Arlington should all chip in, just as they did when $9 million was needed to rebuild the 172nd Street NE I-5 overpass at Smokey Point. That bridge is under construction.
We need to pull our resources together, he said. Who pays what share is up to negotiation.
Traffic on I-5 in that area increased from 58,000 cars a day in 1994 to 82,000 cars a day in 2004, an increase of about 41 percent, Chang said. Snohomish Countys growth numbers show that population in the north end has increased at a similar rate.
The tribe obviously has driven a lot of this growth, Chang said. They have made that area an attractive place to stop and shop. That has created an opportunity for Marysville and Arlington to capture some of that traffic thats coming through.
The Tulalips hoped to see construction on the new overpass start this year, but now just want to see it start as soon as possible.
Its going to take a couple of years to build it, so the sooner we get started, the better, McCoy said.
The tribes have spent $5 million so far on design and environmental work. With that work mostly complete, construction can start as soon as the money is pulled together, McCoy said.
The bridge design the tribes selected called a single-point overpass calls for a traffic signal in the middle of the overpass, making for a more efficient intersection that uses less space.
Before work starts on the new bridge, the tribes plan to move an I-5 frontage road, 34th Avenue NE, away from the overpass, which will significantly reduce congestion in the area, Chang said.
The Tulalips want to move 34th Avenue NE west so it lines up with Quil Ceda Boulevard, the new road built to the tribes Seattle Premium Outlets. That part of the project will cost $4.7 million.
The price tag for the overpass project and for moving the frontage road is estimated at $50 million. So far, the tribes have kicked in $5 million, Congress $3 million, and the state, through the recently approved and challenged gas tax hike, $900,000. A much-delayed federal
transportation bill is expected to kick in another $1 million to $2 million when it is approved later this week, Levenshus said.
Reporter Lukas Velush:
425-339-3449 or
lvelush@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
