‘Ultimate failure’

Mill Creek City Councilman Terry Ryan has a new term for Snohomish County’s recent action to reduce gridlock on 164th Street: “Ultimate failure.”

On Monday, Dec. 17, the County Council unanimously passed a motion declaring a stretch of 164th Street between Lynnwood and Mill Creek at ultimate capacity. The designation means there are no opportunities to alleviate traffic on the roadway through capital improvements, and developers wanting to build along the corridor will have to pay mitigation fees to fund a program that encourages residents to use public transportation.

“They’re delusional if they believe people will just park their cars and start using public transportation because the county’s offering discounted bus passes,” Ryan said. “They can’t add all the density they want and then not provide adequate capacity on our roadways.”

Monday’s ruling came despite protest from city leaders and hours of public testimony from local residents opposing the idea.

Discussion on ultimate capacity began in September, when engineers from the county’s public works department projected that in five years traffic on 164th Street would exceed the maximum volume allowed by Washington’s Growth Management Act.

The Council placed a temporary moratorium on development along the corridor and asked the public works and transportation departments for a plan to reduce traffic. Recommendations included several improvement projects on collector streets, like North Road; offering incentives for commuters to use public transportation; and gouging developers with higher impact fees.

Opponents of ultimate capacity say it does nothing to address infrastructure needs — and worse, it allows continued development on failing roads.

“We’re looking at a system that is broken and not about to be repaired,” Lynnwood City Councilman Ted Hikel said. “So the only option is to ride a bus or have more patience sitting in your car?”

Expand the roads or focus on mass transit: “The county is not doing either,” Hikel said.

The estimated cost of widening 164th Street is more than $100 million.

But the hefty price tag isn’t the only thing standing in the way of major construction. Several businesses and homes along the roadway would have to be demolished to make room for new lanes.

“We understand you can’t continue to widen a road ad infinitum without ultimately destroying the community you’re trying to serve,” Lynnwood Community Development Director Paul Krauss said. “At the same time, we told the county: you ‘need to put in place a system that actually supplements the system you already have.’”

Ryan says the solution is a simple mathematical formula: Figure out the exact cost of fixing the roadway, and charge developers accordingly.

“Development should pay for itself,” he said. “Don’t believe for a second that they can’t expand the road. They’re choosing not to, and that’s unacceptable.”

It’s a common complaint among south county residents, but county leaders still say ultimate capacity is the only option left to deal with one of the most congested roadways in the region.

County Councilman Dave Gossett said the county is an easy scapegoat.

“People need to start holding their cities accountable,” he said. “The county stopped issuing building permits and established a transportation demand management plan. In Mill Creek, for example, there are no programs encouraging the use of public transportation, and that city is just as responsible as the county for increasing the number of cars on 164th Street.”

His comments fly in the face of widespread complaints that development in unincorporated parts of the county is wreaking havoc on established neighborhoods and residential roadways that weren’t designed to accommodate current traffic volumes.

“I don’t think it’s accurate to say that development in Mill Creek is responsible for the problems on 164th Street,” Mill Creek City Manager Tim Burns said. “First of all, we’re pretty much built out and have been for some time. There aren’t a lot of projects going on here, because we don’t have anywhere to put them.”

Some say Monday’s decision illustrates yet again the disconnect between city and county leaders.

Others say, while the ultimate capacity concept is flawed in many ways, it isn’t a complete lost cause.

“Our concern obviously is that much of the road will one day be in the city of Lynnwood and be our responsibility and we wanted to see a system in place that actually provides a solid mix of vehicular and transit and alternative methods of getting around and doesn’t let development proceed without those things in place,” Krauss said. “If that’s done, we think their ultimate capacity concept is understandable and can be supported.”

Enterprise reporter Oscar Halpert contributed to this story