What’s in a ‘speedway’? Mukilteo considers renaming main drag

MUKILTEO — Wanted: A new name for Mukilteo Speedway.

How about Mukilteo Ivar’s Highway?

That was an idea tossed out at this week’s City Council work session to brainstorm what will be a long process to rename the city’s main drag.

Everybody agreed “Speedway” needed to go.

“I think ‘speedway’ is a dumb name,” said Mayor Joe Marine, who is leading the renaming effort. “Why would anybody name their major road a speedway? That’s what got me going.”

Marine suggested Mukilteo Salish Highway as an example.

The name change would be on the stretch of Mukilteo Speedway from the I-405 interchange to First Street in Mukilteo, on what is officially Highway 525.

That element won’t change. Marine said: “It’s always going to be Highway 525. We can’t change the designation.” The other name is a secondary way to identify the stretch.

Marine said he reached out to the city’s Historical Society, Chamber of Commerce and the Tulalip Tribes for input.

“The tribes wanted to keep the name Mukilteo in it, which I do as well,” Marine said. “One of the ones they looked at was Mukilteo Point Elliott Highway. I prefer Mukilteo Salish Highway. … Salish brings more of the water into it. I’m good either way.”

Council member Donna Vago proposed using parkway instead of highway.

“We should not call it highway if we can avoid it,” council member Richard Emery agreed. “If you are really interested in thinking that changing the name might slow people down, don’t let them know it’s a highway.”

Council member Jason Moon suggested bringing the city’s brand and Lighthouse Park into it by naming it Mukilteo Lighthouse Parkway.

“At the end of the road you have a lighthouse,” Moon said. “It is easy for people to remember.”

Marine said residents with Mukilteo Speedway addresses won’t be impacted.

“Their mail won’t stop coming,” he said.

The next step is to let residents weigh in.

“Take some of these names and put them out there,” Marine said. “See what the public comes up with.”

The process for renaming a state highway is administered by the state Transportation Commission.

So if you want to high-tail it to Ivar’s, you’ll be traveling down Mukilteo Speedway for many months to come.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.