LYNNWOOD - Traffic here might get just a little more bearable, with the opening
this week of an overpass that will ease the traffic to and from Alderwood Mall.
But an initiative to slash car tabs could delay future plans to fix
an Interstate 5 bottleneck caused by drivers trying to get in and out of the
city, officials say.
On Wednesday, after a 2 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony, the city will open an
overpass connecting Alderwood Mall Boulevard with 200th Street Southwest. That
will allow cars traveling to and from the mall to leapfrog 196th Street Southwest,
the city's only major east-west route, which is jammed with traffic for much
of the day.
The overpass is part of an $80 million road project to improve traffic flow
in Lynnwood, where Alderwood Mall and other giant retail outlets bring an estimated
100,000 cars a day through this city of 31,000.
The overall effort is aimed at reversing a decision during the construction
of I-5 in the 1960s.
Back then, Lynnwood was a community of chicken farms, and no one expected
it would become the retail hub of South Snohomish County. As a result, full
freeway interchanges were never built where I-5 crosses the city's main streets.
Lynnwood leaders hope the new construction will fix the city's traffic snarls.
"It's been a long-awaited event for the citizens of Lynnwood and for the people
who come here," Mayor Tina Roberts said. "I think it's going to be a wonderful
asset."
The first phase of the project was completed two years ago, with the construction
of a road connecting Alderwood Mall Boulevard with the east side of I-5.
Construction manager Bob Dixon said three more portions of the project remain:
-- A pedestrian bridge over the freeway, which should be built by the end
of next year.
-- Collector-distributor lanes to ease the merge between Interstate 405 and
I-5. Construction on the connecting lanes isn't expected to be completed until
2004.
-- New offramps to allow drivers to merge onto 196th Street Southwest without
stopping at a traffic light that now bottlenecks motorists trying to enter the
city and causes big backups on I-5. The ramps could be finished in 2001, Dixon
said.
However, Dixon said both the collector-distributor lanes and the new offramps
will likely be delayed if voters approve Initiative 695 on Nov.
2.
The measure would slash car-tab fees to a flat $30 and require a public vote
on all future state and local tax increases. Loss of car-tab revenues could
affect the state's ability to issue and repay bonds for regional transportation
projects.
The price tag for all the improvements, projected at $69 million in 1995,
has ballooned to more than $80 million, mainly due to higher-than-expected land
prices, Dixon said.
Of that, $14.6 million was raised by a special city taxing district, with
$50 million coming from the state, $1.4 million from the city, $13.5 million
in federal grants and about $500,000 from Eagle Hardware & Garden, which owns
nearby property.
Roberts said the road work is worth the money. She pointed out that several
new businesses have set up shop near the already completed road improvements
on the east side of the freeway.
"Moving people is what it's all about. If you can't move the people, nothing
grows," Roberts said.
Jim Brunner's phone message number is 425-745-7808.
