COMMUNITY | FORUM

Traffic to trestle could be
even tighter – for now

BY PAM STEVENS | EDITOR It seems to be taking longer and longer to reach the trestle during rush hour traffic if you are traveling on 20th Street SE.

Not only is there construction going on but also a few added cars with the opening of Cavelero Mid High and parents dropping off kids in the morning’s high traffic volume hours.

The county hopes to widen the road between the US 2 Trestle and 91st Avenue SE but first it is putting together a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which will review the potential impacts of the proposed project and meet state requirements.

After a December 2006 public scoping meeting comments from the public were taken into consideration to come up with the Draft EIS.

Last Wednesday, Jan. 9 at Cavelero Mid High, the county conducted an Open House to provide citizens with the information on the Draft EIS and hear questions and comments regarding the project.

The proposal will eventually create four lanes between the trestle and Cavelero Road and five lanes between Cavelero and 91st Avenue SE. The four-lane section will feature a 12-foot wide multi-use path for both pedestrians and bicyclists on the south side of the road and a five-foot sidewalk on the north side.

Also, the section between Cavelero Road to just west of 91st will have landscaped medians to increase safety by limiting left hand turns. Each signal will allow both left turns and U-turns.
There will be incentives to encourage commuters to choose alternative routes during peak commuter hours.

During those peak hours the westbound lane, closest to the curb between Cavelero and 91st, will become a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane and bus pullouts will be added on both the west and east sides.
If the decision is made to construct this project, construction would start in 2009 after all legal processes and design are complete.

The County’s Public Works Department is currently gearing up to make improvements on 20th Street SE from 91st Avenue SE and South Lake Stevens Road which should begin soon.

For information on either project you can visit www.snoco.org and type in “20th Street SE” in the search box.

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