MARYSVILLE – Before Christmas, people who live near the new Costco and Target stores west of Smokey Point often sat in traffic for 35 to 40 minutes just to drive three or four blocks to I-5.
And it isn’t bad only at Christmas, residents say.
“It’s impossible at certain times of the week,” said Lorren Olsen, 72, who lives in the Crystal Tree Village mobile-home park, west of the stores.
The mobile-home park is located in the Lakewood area that’s been annexed by Marysville. More than 200 homes and the new stores all share one outlet: 27th Avenue NE, opening onto 172nd Street NE just west of I-5.
More stores are being built and other developments are planned.
The city and the state plan more than $24 million worth of traffic improvements in the area, but most of the remedies are three or more years away. Residents are worried and frustrated.
“Three years isn’t going to cut it,” said Crystal Tree resident JoAnn DeLazzari, 59.
Since the stores opened early last fall, they’ve increased traffic by an average of about 13,000 cars per day, according to the city. When eight other businesses open later this year, that number is expected to rise to 28,800.
Mobile-home park residents, all 55 and over, are also concerned about emergency access, DeLazzari said.
“As I put it to the city, someone’s going to die, and who’s going to be responsible?” she said.
Marysville District 12 Fire Chief Greg Corn said traffic hasn’t hurt response times so far.
Powell Development Company of Kirkland, builder of the Lakewood Crossing shopping center containing the new stores, paid $2.1 million in development fees to Marysville, city traffic engineer Kevin Nielsen said.
Some of that money is going to an immediate traffic fix, a new right-turn lane from eastbound 172nd onto southbound I-5. The lane will enable drivers heading toward the freeway to zip past others waiting at the light to go straight.
“One car can hold up 50 cars,” DeLazzari said.
If the backup goes far enough, it gridlocks the outlet at 27th and sometimes reaches 19th Drive NE, three-quarters of a mile from I-5, she said.
City officials expect the $20,000 lane, planned for completion in three months, to be a big help. About half the drivers going eastbound on 172nd are headed for southbound I-5, Nielsen said.
The lane will be a salve but not a cure, residents believe.
City and state officials are working on creating two new outlets to the south. One will be a north-south road and railroad bridge connecting the south end of Twin Lakes Avenue to 140th Avenue NE.
The other is a new southbound freeway onramp, as the first step of a possible new interchange, at 156th Street NE and I-5. Each will take at least until 2010 to build.
One former outlet was closed several years ago. The state Utilities and Transportation Commission, with agreement from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, closed a railroad crossing on 156th. Residents formerly were able to take 156th to 23rd Avenue NE and then go to 140th.
The crossing was closed for safety reasons and there currently are no plans to reopen it, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said.
Two new housing developments and another retail area also are planned. A 74-home development is planned for 2008 between Costco and Crystal Tree Village, said property owner Joel Hylback.
As part of that development, Hylback will pay to widen part of 27th and build a new road between 27th and 25th, where Crystal Tree is located.
Three commercial buildings are planned for Twin Lakes Avenue just south of Lakewood Crossing, possibly by next year, said John Cowling, a city engineering services manager. No tenants have been lined up yet, he said.
Hylback said he is working with that developer, Gamut 360 of Everett, to build a road connecting the new commercial buildings and homes.
Owners of other commercial and residential property have discussed developments and road improvements with the city but have yet to submit applications.
Residents are glad the new stores are there, DeLazzari said. But they’ve had trouble getting to them at times, she said.
Before the stores were built, traffic studies showed the area would be able to handle the cars, Mayor Dennis Kendall said.
Still, some residents believe the city got ahead of itself by encouraging the developments before new roads could be built.
“I don’t want to finger point as to responsibility,” DeLazzari said. “But this clearly was a huge mistake.”
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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