Eric Minnig of Lake Stevens writes: “Drivers exiting from the U.S. 2 trestle eastbound to northbound Highway 204 and immediately crossing two lanes of traffic to exit at Sunnyside Boulevard is out of hand. They have about 300 feet to figure it out at 55 mph, I have seen so many close call at this place as I use 2 to 204 to 9 every day. Access to Sunnyside needs to be blocked and only available if they take the Homeacres Road exit and follow it to the U.S. 2/Highway 204 intersection. That is under the overpasses.”
“We have heard about this from others as well,” said Tom Pearce of the Washington State Department of Transportation in a response.
Unfortunately, Minnig’s idea “isn’t a viable alternative.”
“The road beneath U.S. 2 was built on poor soil and has a relatively thin layer of pavement. It wasn’t designed or built to handle high volumes of traffic and heavy vehicles. Higher traffic volume, especially including trucks, would quickly create a major maintenance issue,” Pearce said.
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