Times/News

Just like many other times since the project was revived in the early 1990s, the State Route 509 extension program is again partially on hold.

The reason is Initiative 912 - the ballot measure that would roll back the nine and half-cent gas tax approved by state legislators earlier this year.

The Legislature earmarked $30 million for the extension project through the gas tax, but Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) staffers are waiting to see what voters will do in November concerning I-912.

As they wait, design work and some buy-outs will continue, according to project engineer John White.

Meanwhile, WSDOT officials held an open house at Tyee High School in SeaTac on Aug. 2 to update residents on real estate buy-out efforts and the design so far.

The goal is to be ready to start construction within six months to a year after receiving funding, White noted.

About $25 million from the latest gas tax was to go for property acquisitions between South 176th Street and South 200th Street while the rest was for design plans.

Some $35 million was budgeted in 2003 as part of the Legislature's nickel gas tax package. Those funds went for acquisitions along the west side of Interstate 5.

That $35 million plus a previously appropriated $20.6 million means the project has revenues of $55.6 million or $85.6 million if you count the $30 million from the nine and a-half cent gas tax.

However, the project's total budget is currently $937 million.

Where will the rest of the money come from?

White reported SR-509 is on the list of Regional Transportation Improvement District (RTID) projects.

A three-county board may put a transportation funding measure up for a public vote in the Puget Sound area late next year, according to White.

Additional Sound Transit light rail projects could also be part of that package, he said.

WSDOT officials may also request some discretionary funds from the recently passed federal transportation budget.

The SR-509 project has become much more than extending the freeway the two miles from where it now ends on South 188th Street to hook up with Interstate-5 at about South 216th Street, White added.

The project also includes seven miles of improvements along I-5 to Federal Way including connections for freight traffic to the Kent Valley at South 228th Street and the Kent-Des Moines Road (State Route 516).

"There's more work on I-5 than 509," White declared.

Another road connecting to the 509 extension will also allow for south access to Sea-Tac International Airport.

Transportation planners expect the completed project to ease congestion on I-5 and Highway 99 while improving freight traffic by taking up to 9,000 trucks per day off I-5 along the Southcenter Hill.

White said he heard complaints at the open house from residents that the project would bring more trucks along the current SR-509.

He responded that the project is "fulfilling the ultimate plan" to extend SR-509.

The freeway was never intended to end at South 188th Street, he noted. At one time SR-509 was slated to parallel I-5 all the way to Tacoma.

Puget Sound Regional Council studies have shown that pollution from the added traffic will not exceed air quality standards, White said.

Moving trucks from I-5 will add more traffic to SR-509 but White said he sees it as "balancing out the whole system."

Long range plans call for high occupancy vehicle lanes on part of the existing SR-509 and possible mitigation for vehicle noise.

White also pointed out the existing SR-509 interchange with State Route 518 has received federal funding for safety fixes.

WSDOT is working with Burien city officials to design the safety projects, he added.