State to Untangle Freeway Mess
By Steve Maynard, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Jan. 28–Vicki and Dave Macaulay regularly battle the dangerous Federal Way freeway interchange called “the Triangle.”
Cars back up for blocks on South 348th Street, waiting to get onto Interstate 5 and Highway 18. More cars enter the tangle from Highway 161.
On I-5, cars and trucks jockey and weave to avoid each other as they enter and exit via tightly bunched on- and off-ramps.
“You really have to watch that,” Dave Macaulay, 69, said last week. “A lot of people speed by and cut you off.”
For the Macaulays and thousands of others who travel the Triangle, help is on the way.
The state Department of Transportation will start final design in a month on $112 million worth of improvements. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010 and finish in 2012.
The Triangle improvements have topped Federal Way’s list of most-needed transportation projects for several years, said City Councilwoman Jeanne Burbidge.
“It carries a lot of freight and serves a lot of destinations,” said Burbidge, also a member of state and regional transportation boards. “That’s a huge interchange for the region.”
The Triangle is named for the intersection of I-5, Highway 18 and Highway 161, also called Enchanted Parkway South.
Little has been done to improve the I-5/Highway 18 ramps since the roads were constructed in the mid- to late-1960s.
In the $112 million first phase, the state is attacking the problem of freeway weaving by building two flyover ramps. DOT will present its plans at an open house Tuesday in Federal Way.
One single-lane flyover ramp will take eastbound traffic from South 348th Street/Highway 18 over the freeway and onto I-5 north. A second two-lane flyover ramp will carry westbound vehicles on Highway 18 to southbound I-5.
Project engineer Bruce Nebbitt said the two flyover ramps will eliminate the weaving of vehicles entering and exiting I-5. That’s because those ramps will result in the removal of two of the four loop ramps, also called clover-leafs.
The two that remain won’t be next to each other and won’t be on the same side of I-5. That means cars won’t come and go at the same spots on the freeway.
As it is now, “you’ve got a point of conflict,” Nebbitt said. Drivers don’t have much distance to speed up or slow down. Sideswipes and other accidents are inevitable, he said.
The Macaulays ate breakfast last week in a Denny’s restaurant in the thick of the congestion at Highway 161 and South 348th. Like several other people interviewed, they hope the ramps improve traffic flow but remain skeptical about improving congestion.
“There’s always going to be congestion — no matter what,” said Vicki Macaulay, 52.
The state has other plans to help relieve congestion, but it doesn’t have the money to do the work. Voters are expected to decide in November whether to spend at least another $50 million on the Triangle as part of a package of highway projects.
The first phase of funding — virtually all of it coming from the state — includes money to buy land at South 356th Street for building an off-ramp from I-5. The state also wants to add an off-ramp at South 359th Street. Both would take congestion away from South 348th.
Those ramps are part of the $50 million second phase. A later third phase would cost at least another $53 million. The total price tag ranges from $215 to $235 million, depending on when construction starts, Nebbitt said.
Burbidge and other City Council members want $115 million — not just $50 million — from funding on the November ballot to pay for the final two phases of the project. That would ease congestion sooner, make the interchange safer and reduce costly construction delays, Burbidge said.
With $112 million in hand, the state tackled the most dangerous problem in the interchange — the weaving on I-5, Nebbitt said.
But the first phase won’t do much to improve congestion on South 348th, he said.
Jim Reem, 67, of Federal Way, worries about that traffic, especially with the new Federal Way Crossings shopping center and Wal-Mart Supercenter.
South 348th Street “is going to be an absolute nightmare,” Reem said. “There’s nothing they can do.”
Brandy Gutierrez, 26, of Tacoma, was more optimistic. Getting rid of the freeway weaving could help somewhat.
“I don’t think it’s going to solve everything until they finish,” Gutierrez said.
Triangle project
WHAT: Open house on the Triangle project at Interstate 5 and Highways 18 and 161
WHEN: Tuesday, 4-7 p.m.
WHERE: Library, Todd Beamer High School, 35999 16th Ave. S., Federal Way
WHAT’S NEW: The state Department of Transportation will present its design for building the first phase of the project. The public may comment on the plans.
MORE INFORMATION: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects or call 206-716-1170
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Copyright (c) 2007, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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