MARYSVILLE Local officials say there are three key transportation projects that well may have gone down in flames along with Proposition 1, the massive $3 billion road and transportation package voters soundly rejected earlier this month.
We need to sit down and we need to regroup, said Mayor Dennis Kendall, who talked about looking to Snohomish County and federal officials for some help.
Were going to have to go back and listen to the public and other stakeholders, said Marysville Community Information Officer Doug Buell, who added the city simply does not have the money to tackle the roadwork on its own. While Kendall talked about turning to Snohomish County for help, the situation in that regard seems tangled, at least for the moment.
County officials did not return phone calls requesting comment. But on Nov. 19, at least partly in response to the failure of Proposition 1, the County Council was to vote on placing an additional $130 million into their 2008 budget for roads and transportation. The added dollars could bring the county road budget to $485 million to be spent between 2008 and 2013. But according to Kendall and others, the countys project list does not include any work directly affecting Marysville.
Kendall said that unfortunately no one at the city knew the additional dollars might become available. Therefore, no one had the chance to lobby the County Council to include projects of local importance.
According to Buell, there were several projects affecting the city included in the Proposition I package. But from the citys point of view, the most important work all affected the I-5 corridor.
Both Kendall and Buell indicated perhaps the most vital project was designed to alleviate congestion around the I-5/88th Street interchange. A joint effort of the city and the county, the project was to have three parts.
Buell said the first step called for improvements to the 88th Street overpass over the freeway. A second step called for widening State Avenue to 67th Street. Finally, officials want to finish extending Ingraham Boulevard to the site of the new Marysville high school now under construction on Getchell Hill.
Ingraham Boulevard was included in the I-5 package because the street is essentially an extension of 88th Street from 67th Street up the hill to 83rd Street. Buell said plans also call for placement of a small bridge over some wetlands. The Ingraham work is at least partly completed, but Kendall said not finishing the work really isnt an option.
The new high school is set to open in 2010. Kendall said school buses cant safely make it up Getchell Hill making the road extension critical.
Besides talking with county and federal officials, Kendall said the city needs to touch base with the Tulalip Tribes. The Tribes were set to be the lead agency on another of the former Proposition 1 projects Buell described as key to Marysville. The work involved an I-5 overpass on 116th Street.
The third project Buell termed as crucial was meant to improve traffic flow between I-5 and 172nd Street or SR 531. Some work already has been completed in that spot, namely widening 172nd Street. But Buell and others believe more improvements are definitely needed, possibly including a loop or cloverleaf interchange with I-5.
Besides those already mentioned, there were other Proposition I projects potentially affecting Marysville. Buell said one was a plan to widen SR 531 to SR 9 in Arlington. That work was to include bicycle lanes, pedestrian walkways and a center turn lane.
Another project would have widened SR 9 from Clearview to Marysville, while improving intersections on SR 9, adding some Park and Ride lots and replacing a bridge over the Snohomish River.
One final plan affecting the city involved the US 2 trestle and Monroe bypass. Buell said the work would have greatly improved traffic flowing to the Boeing plant in Everett, a potential development that could have eased the commute of the many Boeing workers living in Marysville.