You’ve finished shopping at Snohomish Station, and now you’re trying to head back home across town.
Good luck.
Rick Simonsen of Snohomish relates what is drudgery for many rush-hour drivers near the popular shopping complex as they drive east on 30th Street and reach (or try to reach) Highway 9.
“At times, during busy shopping days, that light can back traffic up clear to Bickford Avenue,” he said. A nearby school and its accompanying busy pick-up times doesn’t help.
The problem is particularly acute for drivers trying to turn left onto northbound Highway 9. “It becomes a total nightmare and can become extremely dangerous when people try to beat oncoming traffic or ‘squeeze’ through on red,” Simonsen said. “A dedicated left-turn signal is desperately needed there before something really terrible occurs.”
There’s sympathy in the city ranks, and Public Works Director Steve Schuller said changes are on the way.
“The city’s been working for a couple years on this,” he said.
The city plans to add an additional lane on eastbound 30th Street for drivers who want to go straight across Highway 9 or turn right to go southbound. The existing lane would become a dedicated left-turn lane. The project also would add sidewalk, curb and gutter. Details are still being worked out with the state Department of Transportation on traffic signal changes and whether a dedicated left-turn arrow would be part of the improvements.
The city secured a $199,000 federal grant through the Puget Sound Regional Council toward the $250,000 design and permitting phase, which is nearing completion. The city used $51,000 of its Transportation Benefit District funds for a required matching contribution.
The city’s now on a contingency list for a federal grant to help fund construction. It won’t get an answer on that until late 2015, however. Construction is estimated at $1 million.
The improvements won’t solve backups on northbound Highway 9.
“You’ll still be sitting waiting for your two spots each signal change as you do now,” Schuller said. But it should help the backup by letting people move who don’t need to turn left. “People can’t even get back and forth across our city at commute time.”
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