SNOQUALMIE VALLEY – The future of one of the busiest intersections in the Valley may be very different in coming years.
Exit 25, where State Route 18 (SR 18) and Snoqualmie Parkway meet Interstate 90 (I-90), may expand as growth along SR 18 continues and more people need to use I-90 to get to and from work.
Last week, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) held two workshops to introduce residents to its plans for the road, which will need to be improved in order to avoid commutes from lasting multiple hours in the future, according to WSDOT officials.
There has already been work done on the intersection. In 2003, a stoplight was put in at the bottom of the eastbound on ramp and a right-turn stripe was painted, but that work was only a temporary fix. Next spring, WSDOT will go out to bid to put the finishing touches on the intersection, which include a permanent stoplight and another left-turn lane on the exit ramp extending to another lane underneath I-90 that will end in a right-turn only lane into the Leisure Time Resorts campground park off Snoqualmie Parkway. That work is expected to be done by the end of 2006.
The long-term future of the intersection may involve even more work. WSDOT Project Engineer Gary McKee said that in order to make the traffic flow at the intersection more fluid, the stoplights on both sides of I-90 may be replaced completely for a “freeway-to-freeway” intersection similar to the new Sunset Drive (Exit 18) on I-90. Intersection plans with and without roundabouts were presented as options at last week’s meeting.
Those plans are part of another long-term plan for SR 18, which the state has been working to widen from two to four lanes. Lanes from Auburn up to Maple Valley have been completed and work is commencing on the road from Maple Valley up to the Issaquah-Hobart Road exit.
The last stretch of the highway to be updated will be the seven-mile portion over the Tiger Mountain summit from the Issaquah-Hobart Road exit to I-90. Money, however, will be the deciding factor as to what is built and when. While funds for the 2006 intersection updates have been earmarked, money needed for the last seven-mile stretch of SR 18 work, and any future intersection work, has been not been found. A nickel gas tax passed by the state in 2003 funded the new intersection stoplight work, but has raised only $6 million toward what is estimated to be the $273-million price tag for the rest of the SR 18 expansion. McKee said the $6 million will pay for some engineering and environmental studies, but not much else.
Motorists who make the trek up and down SR 18 will wait anxiously for funding and improvement. A study last May showed that during the peak morning traffic hour, more than 600 motorists come up SR 18 to get onto I-90 to head west into the Eastside and Seattle. More than 500 come from Snoqualmie Parkway during that same time. In the evening, the commute reverses into Snoqualmie and down to SR 18 to Maple Valley.
McKee said WSDOT will be examining the public comment it received last week at the workshops and will present its recommendation in additional public meetings later this year.
