Bumper to Bumper: Motorist sees no signs to Tukwila light-rail station

Q: Light rail can be a convenient commute to Qwest Field for a Seahawks game.

But trying to find your way to Sound Transit's light-rail station in Tukwila can be a joke, says Shirley Annette, who lives in Renton's Fairwood area. "There isn't a single sign on Interstate 405 to tell you where to exit."

Headed west from Renton on a recent game day, she and her car companions missed the Tukwila exit, and ended up in Burien, miles away. I-405, which passes through Tukwila, turns into Highway 518 west of Interstate 5.

"Then we came from Burien [headed east] and still no signs," she said. It was only after she placed a cellphone call to her daughter that she found her way.

"Then when we finally got off the highway, there still wasn't a single hint of where to go from there. What a mess."

A: While driving I-405 west, bumper did spot a sign for the Tukwila light rail station just before the Tukwila exit. Apparently, Annette and her party missed that sign. State Department of Transportation engineers have put their heads together with Sound Transit to come up with more signs to guide drivers to the light-rail station from Highway 518, a WSDOT spokeswoman says.

While the light-rail station's tall loading platform at the Highway 518/Highway 99 interchange is pretty visible, Timothy McCall, in WSDOT's Northwest region special projects office, concedes signage could be better. "To address the oversight, there are arrangements to have new directional signs provided," he said.

Two large guide signs have been designed to point out which exit to use to get to the light-rail station, he said. Coming from the west, the best approach is the South 154th Street exit from Highway 518. From the east, it's the Sea-Tac Airport exit ramp, then follow the posted signs.

But be careful. The westbound exit splits into three directions: One ramp loops onto southbound Highway 99; the center lane leads to South 154th Street, or motorists can continue in either the center lane or left lane to reach the airport.

For guidance, McCall says, there will be a "T" transit logo at each turn of the route leading to the light-rail station.

According to the plan, motorists will see the "T' logo on the bridge-mounted sign over the center lane after leaving the freeway, which will direct light-rail traffic to South 154th Street. At the stop sign at the end of the ramp, there will be another "T" sign with an arrow to guide light-rail traffic east to the station, on South 154th Street

McCall says the new signs should be installed by February.

Q: A couple of years ago, says Seattle resident Tim Helming, the asphalt surface of the Interstate 5 overpass at South Albro Place, north of Boeing Field, was removed. "It looked like the routine scraping that is done in preparation for a new coating of asphalt."

But new asphalt never appeared. "As a result, this overpass has a very rough surface," Helming said. "I am a bicycle commuter and travel over this road every day.

"As we go into the rainy season, I'd like to know what the city's plans are to improve this uneven and unsafe surface."

A: The state transportation department nearly five years ago completed a project that, among other things, removed the asphalt overlay from the overpass. Transportation-department spokeswoman Bronlea Mishler says that was done to make repairs to the bridge deck. Mishler says that while the overpass was not repaved, WSDOT (the Washington State Department of Transportation) does continue to monitor it.

WSDOT typically repairs and repaves a bridge deck when 2-5 percent of the deck has been patched or repaired, she said. Apparently, the bridge deck at Albro hasn't met that threshold yet. At least not to the state's specifications.

"In the future, if more repairs are made to the bridge deck, we will add it to our list of areas to repave," Mishler said. "We always want to ensure that the road surface is safe for all users."