One of my favorite holidays is Labor Day. I usually don’t labor on Labor Day but unlike the other 364 I don’t feel guilty about it.
Interstate 405 is being remade into a great wonderland of HOV lanes and mile long ramps. From the intersection at Southcenter (Westfield) all the way to Bellevue’s SR 520 interchange I-405 will be a model for all freeways in America. Especially if you have one of my custom made $49.95 “Good-to-Go” fake transponders.
Down near Southcenter – which had a grand opening as the new “Westfield at Southcenter” where you can shop at 250 stores in any direction… or something. Maybe I’m missing the point. Looks like another session on Google.
Anyway, down at Southcenter the state highway folks, WSDOT, added some new lanes that kind of wow out to the right and then moved all traffic over to them. They closed the old lanes. Lot of work but no idea what the final configuration will look like. It’s confusing. Underneath the freeway where the two major railroads run the construction workers were looking very confused. They were kind of standing around looking at the forest of new and old supports.
If you remember Longacres Race Track – they raced horses there – you may recall a couple of big cement bowls on pedestals at the old entrance. Well one is still there under the freeway. It really looks out of place. I think the confused construction workers had been asked to remove it without breaking the bowl. I don’t know. I don’t want to know what’s in that bowl. It might make a nice pond in somebody’s yard.
A little further north (which is actually east; which make sense if Southcenter is actually Westfield) is another hilarious bottleneck. It’s the SR167 interchange. Everyone stops because the car in front stopped and so on. Nobody knows why. It’s just the way it works.
Then a little further east/north is the creek control project. This happened a couple of years ago when a downpour washed the culvert out from under I-405 and into the parking lot of the Sam’s Club. Washdot installed a great big rubber hose and a bunch of pumps to divert the creek while they rebuild the culvert. First they had to shore up the freeway so it wouldn’t fall into the creekbed. But now that’s done and the culvert is being built. Should be done by 2020.
At SR 169, the Maple Valley Highway where all the garbage goes we find another humorous situation. The biggest problem is SR167, SR169, and the washed out creek are all in Renton. Anything in Renton is a problem. Next I-405 has just three lanes each way through there. Not enough. See, most people want to just drive through Renton and get out. So what the Washdot folks should have figured out a long time ago is how to connect SR167 and SR169 together in Renton. Because it turns out many drivers don’t need to use I-405 except as a connection road. They could have done that during the S curve project a few years ago, but they didn’t. I don’t think they will do that on this current project either. They’ll just add more lanes to I-405 and everyone delivering garbage to Maple Valley will just have to deal with it.
The I-405 bottlenecks in Renton are also a big concern to people who happen to live in Renton. It prevents them from leaving. And a large number of savvy drivers realize they can cut through Renton rather than sit in the freeway backup. So Renton itself is also a traffic mess. This results in homemade yard signs on which people express their annoyance at all the drivers passing by. Hopefully yard signs is about as far as it gets. But wait until the freeway construction really gets going and see. Cross your fingers.
At the Maple Valley Highway I-405 turns north and most of the way is either under construction now or soon will be. They’re adding lanes. They like to think more lanes answers everything. They will also be adding more HOV ramps so those “Good-to-Go” folks won’t have to change lanes so much. That’s fine with me. My $49.95 fake transponders will sell like fake gold mine stock.
The Wilburton Tunnel in Bellevue has been demolished. It’s no more. Gone. Hauled down the Maple Valley Highway on hundreds of dump trucks. Probably to a place that claims to recycle concrete. See, they break it up and remove the rebar and then send it back to make more concrete. They’ll need it to make more lanes.
The Wilburton Tunnel is how the old eastside trains got over I-405. It was completely full of freeway and now that the freeway is being widened they needed to either make the tunnel wider or remove it. Since BNSF sold the rail line Washdot removed the tunnel. Unfortunately when King County gets around to removing the old historic trestle everyone will think it’s a Washdot project. So they’ll vote “NO” on highway funds and the SR 520 Bridge replacement will have to wait 5 more years (unless it sinks).
In downtown Bellevue the major part of the new work will be to install HOV ramps between SR 520 and I-405. Right now the HOV folks have to use the same ramps as regular folks, dump trucks, busses, donkey carts, and Lexus drivers on their way to Microsoft. The ramps are crowded. The new HOV ramps will allow “Good-to-Go” folks to bypass all those lowbrows and just wing over the top. Because that’s the only option. The new ramps have to use airspace since all the ground is taken. They’ll use some of that recycled cement from the Wilburton Tunnel.
Speaking of the 520 Bridge, they are trying to decide how much toll to charge. They want people to begin paying for the replacement right now and they think a toll is a good way to do that. More sales for my fake transponders! I wonder if I’ll get caught.
Anyway, they’re holding hearings around the state to try and arrive at a fair toll amount. If they charge too much everyone will be annoyed – more yard signs. If they charge too little they won’t get enough money. It has to be just right. I think taking several thousand opinions and then picking an average is pretty sane. I think $2.23 “exact change only” ought to work just fine. One thing sure is it will be fun to watch.
Al
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