Transit projects to keep concrete flowing

Political failure was the story of the year in transportation, as voters balked at the Roads & Transit ballot measure.

Still, concrete will continue to pour next year, fueled in part by recent gasoline-tax increases.

Interstate 5 is being realigned in Tacoma and widened in Everett, while a five-mile viaduct for light-rail trains is almost finished in Tukwila. The second Tacoma Narrows Bridge and Seattle's South Lake Union streetcar opened this year.

"It just drives me crazy when people say we're not doing anything about the problems in this state. It's not true," said state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Here's a summary of major projects planned in 2008 in King and Snohomish counties:

HOV lanes

A three-year expansion of I-5 in Everett is to be finished this summer, adding high-occupancy-vehicle lanes in both directions, plus improved exits and ramps.

On Highway 167, the state plans to let solo drivers go faster by paying a toll to enter the HOV lanes. In the nine-mile stretch, from Auburn to Renton, motorists would pay 50 cents to $9 — depending on traffic congestion — to drive in the special lane, with a goal of keeping speeds at 45 mph. This would be the state's first experiment with "congestion pricing."

Sound Transit plans to open a new HOV lane from Bellevue to Mercer Island, on westbound Interstate 90; and new HOV lanes on Highway 522 through Kenmore.

Sounder trains

Sound Transit is still trying to deliver all the commuter-rail service that voters approved in 1996.

Two more round-trip trains, possibly three, are to begin in September on the south line between Tacoma and Seattle, while one train is to be added to the Everett line. Currently, there are six southend trains and three in the north.

Mukilteo is to receive its first Sounder service, when a boarding platform and parking spaces are slated to be completed in midyear. Work is to begin to expand the stations in Everett and Edmonds.

Ferries

Within the next 14 months, the state hopes to build three new ferries to replace its 80-year-old Steel Electric vessels, which were taken out of service because of corrosion. These would be relatively small boats that can maneuver in tricky Keystone Harbor on Whidbey Island, on trips from Port Townsend.

King County is to start collecting property taxes in mid-2008, of $22 on a $400,000 home, to create a network of passenger ferries. At first, the county would provide service from downtown Seattle to West Seattle and Vashon Island, followed by possible routes from Seattle to Kirkland, Kenmore, Renton, Des Moines, Tacoma, Gig Harbor or Ballard.

Bellevue freeway

The Wilburton Tunnel along I-405 is scheduled to be demolished in August, requiring three weekend freeway closures, as part of a two-year Department of Transportation widening project to ease traffic on the freeway south of downtown Bellevue.

Safety projects

New striping, guardrails, rumble strips and slide-prevention walls are to be added to Highway 2 near Stevens Pass.

Workers plan to widen parts of Highway 9 in the Bothell, Lake Stevens, Snohomish and Arlington areas to improve safety or traffic flow.

Just downhill from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, a third lane is being added to eastbound Highway 518, at a hazardous junction with I-5 and I-405.

Light rail

By midyear, drilling should be finished in the Beacon Hill tunnel, the most challenging stretch of Sound Transit's Link light-rail system. Trains would begin test runs in Seattle's Rainier Valley, with a goal of starting service from downtown to the airport by late 2009.

Groundbreaking might happen in December on a three-mile light-rail tunnel from Westlake Center to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium, to open by 2016.

Park-and-ride stations

Sound Transit plans to open or reopen park-and-ride freeway stations in Redmond and Mercer Island early next year, followed by Issaquah in summer, then Totem Lake and South Everett.

Construction just began in Mountlake Terrace to add a 690-car garage and 200 parking-lot spaces along I-5, more than doubling the previous capacity, by 2009.

Overpasses

A flyover ramp from Highway 202 to Highway 520 at Redmond opens this spring, allowing an easier trip from Sammamish to Overlake and Bellevue. Also on the Eastside, Bellevue plans to build an overpass for Northeast 10th Street to cross I-405 into downtown.

Seattle plans to break ground this fall on a two-lane exit ramp from the eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct to Fourth Avenue South; it could someday connect to the West Seattle Bridge bus lane.

Trails

A one-mile stretch of the Burke-Gilman Trail is to open this spring from Shilshole Bay to Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, and work is to start to fill trail gaps just north and south of the Ballard Bridge. In Snohomish County, trails are to be linked to a currently idle I-5 bicycle overpass, at 124th Street Southwest.

Double-decker buses

Community Transit in Snohomish County is expected to decide whether to order 20 to 30 double-decker buses for some commuter routes, after trial runs with a single double-decker bus began in August.

King County Metro plans to put 20 new hybrid buses on the street, part of a fleet expansion approved by voters in the 2006 Transit Now measure.

Despite the work, the region remains paralyzed — or at least undecided — about how to design a possible six-lane, $4.4 billion replacement for the Highway 520 bridge. And there's no consensus on whether the Alaskan Way Viaduct should be replaced, or razed in favor of a nonhighway "surface transit" option.

Haugen said lawmakers will work on a funding plan for Highway 520 and money to repair flood-damaged roads in Lewis County. But she's not expecting bold new proposals in the short 60-day session, which begins Jan. 14.

Staff reporter Susan Gilmore contributed to this report. Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com