Street Smarts reader Brian Laine, of Arlington, writes: “In the last few months, there has been work to extend 156th Street NE (includes the I-5 overpass, just south of Smokey Point) to the east of Smokey Point Blvd. Can you tell us what this expansion is for? Any possibility that it will eventually be extended to 67th Avenue, or even better, Highway 9? Plans to make the overpass a cloverleaf? It would be nice to know, and hopefully you can fill us in on the plan.”
Marysville engineer Jeff Laycock responds: “The 156th Street NE extension is a planned future principal arterial. The current segment is a half road improvement being built by a developer, for the purposes of serving new development, and will only extend east to approximately 39th Avenue NE. 156th Street NE will ultimately connect up with 51st Avenue NE at 152nd Street NE, where 152nd is already extended to 67th Avenue NE and (there is) long-term potential of extending 152nd Street NE to Highway 9.
“…A 156th extension to 51st will likely be driven by development. There are currently no city funds allocated towards the project. Based on the development interest we are seeing, the city would estimate completion of the extension to 51st Avenue NE within ten years. Much of the development is dependent on the completion of the 156th interchange for improved access to and from I-5. The city may also look into completing some of the infrastructure in the area to encourage development. Both the widening from 51st to 67th and the extension to Highway 9 are long term.
“…The 156th Street NE and I-5 overpass will become a full ‘single point urban interchange (SPUI),’ similar to 41st Street NE in Everett and the future 116th Street NE interchange. The interchange project is funded under the Connecting Washington Program and the project design is slated to commence in 2025 with construction through 2031.”
Have a question? Email us at streetsmarts@heraldnet.com. Please include your first and last name and city of residence. Look for updates on the Street Smarts blog.
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