The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is currently conducting a study of state Route 516 and plans to release the final report in early 2012.
The decision to study the corridor was made by the state legislature last year, according to Covington’s Public Works Director Glenn Akramoff.
“It’s a request that Maple Valley, Kent, Black Diamond and Covington all made as a request through the legislature,” he said.
The study, he stated, is designed to help the cities, as well as the legislature, see where work can be done.
“It’s really to look at the corridor, look at some of the deficiencies,” he said. “The key thing is collecting data and looking at it in a holistic way. That’s really the whole purpose of it.”
“Essentially it’s to see if there are needs on the highway and if so what the costs to make them better,” said Tom Washington, who works at the WSDOT Urban Planning Office. “We’re going through here trying to study the corridor and establish what type of growth is going to occur and what the needs are there, and lower cost improvements that don’t necessarily include widening.”
State Route 516 stretches from Four Corners in Maple Valley to state Route 167 in Kent. The study began in the spring. During the summer, state DOT staff members met with the public works department from each city. The study examined various statistics such as safety, traffic flow and transportation modeling information provided by the cities.
According to Akramoff, the study will help each city justify certain capital projects and assist them when seeking grant funding.
“It’s another tool for the cities to have in their tool box,” he said.
Washington warned, however, that while the study will help highlight areas that need improvements, getting the state legislature to pay for it won’t be easy.
“We are currently working on reviewing draft proposals for some improvements,” he said. “And they primarily involve intersection improvement, but we don’t have any financing available for it, which is what most people are interested in. It (the study) notes the deficiencies and where improvements need to be made and gives the legislature an idea of what are the needs along the corridor and how they can prioritize funding if funding’s available.”
Maple Valley City Manager David Johnston stated the study has helped bring attention to the importance of state Route 516 to the region.
“Until you take a hard look at a corridor you don’t see how it plays in the role of the region and what challenges exist within each city,” he said. “Understanding that WSDOT philosophy, is they need to get product and people moving from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible, and with this 516 corridor being unique — the growth of the last 20 years — it’s one of those highways that kind of got forgotten. It’s a major road that south King County uses to get around to work, to get to shopping, to get home.”
In Covington, officials are hoping to improve the section near Jenkins Creek, according to Akramoff.
“We have the pinch point down there,” he said. “We need to build a bridge there. Those sorts of things start to show where problems exist, where flow is inhibited and that sort of thing.”
Johnston said Maple Valley will look to improve the section which parallels Highway 18 east.
“It’s a bottleneck,” he said. “It’s a very narrow road with lots and lots of traffic. There’s significant backups. It could be widened a little bit, maybe add an extra lane, I think we would really manage traffic more efficiently. And then as you look toward Four Corners there is some issue with left hand turns that if we had a true left turn lane in the center would really help with our area.”
At the moment, the cities have to wait until the final report is completed.
“I think all the cities will get back together and see if we need to do some lobbying,” Akramoff said. “The state is trying to get together a new transportation program for the next 10 years. They’re looking for good projects that will have the most bang for the public dollar. We plan to use this tool to improve our way of life and improve traffic congestion.”
Money to improve roads is hard to come by, Johnston added.
“This is one of those things that everyone is clamoring for the limited piece of the transportation pie,” Johnston said. “This will force us to work together in a positive way for a common good. It plays different roles, but we have to have a good partnership with WSDOT and we have to use good data for the legislature.”
The study will cost $150,000.
More information about the study can be found at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/Studies/SR516Corridor/.
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