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Big road projects face uncertain future This
month, the King County Road Services Division is putting the finishing
touches on two large-scale projects. The new Elliott Bridge is one of
several bridge replacement projects the county has been working on. But,
the widening and enhancement of South 277th Street may be one of the
last major capacity projects the county will be able to construct for
some time.Due to the loss of state and local revenue for road construction, the county is focusing available resources on safety and preservation projects. Because there is federal funding available for replacing key bridges, the Roads Division is still able to move ahead with several local bridge projects, and plans to replace additional bridges in 2006. On some bridge replacements, federal grants fund up to 80 percent of the bridge portion of the project.  The
new $18 million
Elliott Bridge opened on Sept. 1, and cars were lined up to cross it
before the opening ceremonies were concluded. It replaced a narrow,
deteriorating 93-year-old span that was still carrying as many as 14,000
vehicles a day.The old Elliott Bridge was at the end of its useful life and was expensive to maintain. The alignment had a curved approach road, with a high accident rate on the north side. The old steel truss bridge was originally built in 1912 over the Green River near Auburn. In 1951, it was removed and reassembled at its present location east of Renton, but had weight limits on it for that entire time. The new bridge is expected to have a lifespan of 75 to 85 years. It provides an important north-south link for the communities on either side of the Maple Valley Highway (State Route 169), because there are just a handful of routes for motorists to cross the Cedar River. The replacement bridge also provides shoulders and sidewalks for safer access by bicyclists and pedestrians.  At
the bridge opening ceremony, King
County Executive Ron Sims said the replacement of the Elliott Bridge
is an example of the type of investments the county will continue to
pursue in the near future.“Given the steady loss of transportation revenues in recent years due to the passage of statewide initiatives, we need to focus scarce dollars on projects that maintain safety and preserve existing infrastructure, such as bridges and road paving,” Sims said. “These are the types of projects I will emphasize in my 2006 budget.” Sims said his proposed six-year Roads CIP budget will also include $120 million for road and bridge preservation, $75 million in traffic and pedestrian safety improvements, and $61 million in signal technology to make the most effective use of existing pavement – new technologies for managing traffic can improve traffic flow on major road corridors by up to 35 percent. "We can be grateful we were able to stitch together the necessary funding to build this bridge, before the old bridge became too unstable to keep open," Sims said. Funding for projects to provide more road capacity for increased traffic volumes is much harder to come by these days. Since 2000, the Roads Division has continued to experience declining revenues resulting from the passage of statewide initiatives coupled with a downturn in the economy. Elimination of the $15 Vehicle License Fee (VLF) brought about by the passage of Initiative 776 resulted in a loss of $36 million in road funding for King County over six years. This reduction was accompanied by a loss of grants and bonding capacity worth another $40 million in funding.  The
$18 million
South 277th Street project was funded by a bond sale in 2001 that
also constructed capacity projects on Northeast 124th Street and 140th
Avenue Southeast. But, without the VLF, which served as an important
source of revenue for the division, the county will no longer be able to
leverage these revenues to obtain grants and issue bonds for new
projects.King County, Auburn and Kent have done the work on South 277th Street in three phases. King County’s portion was the final stage, starting in February 2004. It involved 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 increase capacity, so that 277th can safely carry the 24,000-plus vehicles expected to use it daily by 2020. In addition to widening South 277th Street, the county also raised the intersection with West Valley Highway by 2.5 feet to elevate it above the 100-year floodplain. In the past, water over the roadway at the intersection during the winter was a serious safety concern and often caused traffic delays. The construction was scheduled to last through October of this year, but the work was substantially complete by Sept. 1. There is still some landscaping to complete, and crews are waiting for cooler weather to do the planting. |
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