King County has begun work to complete the final segment of improvements for South 277^th Street, near the interchange with State Route 167 on the Kent-Auburn border.

South 277th Street is a busy east-west corridor across the Green River Valley. It connects Des Moines, Federal Way, and Interstate 5 with Kent and Auburn. It intersects with major north-south routes such as: State Route 99, Interstate 5, Military Road South, West Valley Highway, SR 167, Auburn Way/Central Way, and State Route 516.

King County and the cities of Auburn and Kent have done the work on South 277th Street in three phases. King County’s portion is the final stage, and includes widening the stretch of roadway from West Valley Highway to 72nd Avenue South. This portion of the corridor carries up to 12,900 vehicles per day. The upgrades will increase capacity, so that 277th can safely carry the 24,000-plus vehicles expected to use it daily by 2020.

The King County Road Services Division project involves roadway widening and raising it to prevent serious flooding. The Phase III reconstruction project will include:

• Widening South 277th to four lanes, with left-turn only and right-turn only lanes at every intersection;
• Adding curbs, gutters, and 5.5-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road;
• Adding a 5-foot bicycle lane on both sides of the road;
• Widening the bridge over SR 167 to seven lanes (two through lanes and two left-turn-only lanes in each direction);
• Completing a seismic retrofit of the bridge over SR 167;
• Raising the intersection with West Valley Highway by 2.5 feet to elevate it above the 100-year floodplain;
• Building a storm-water detention pond;
• Relocating roadside utilities;
• Installing new street lights;
• Updating and coordinating three traffic signals;
• Conducting wetland mitigation and flood compensation; and
• Adding left-turn only and right-turn only lanes at intersections currently lacking them.

Clearing work has already begun on the county project. In the next few weeks, trucks will be hauling in material for the fill areas around the highway on-ramps.

There are no plans for complete road closures. One lane of 277^th in each direction will be kept open at all times, but motorists should expect delays due to construction activity. The project has an estimated $17 million total budget, and construction is expected to last through October 2005.