For anyone who has cursed out loud while attempting to negotiate the perilous I-5 and SR 18 interchange in Federal Way, know that help is finally on its way.

That was the message at a press conference last Thursday, hosted by Mayor Michael Park, held on the 4th floor of the Transit Bay Center parking lot. As a steady rain fell, each and every one of our governmental representatives gathered to give their support to the "Triangle" Project.

Senator Tracy Eide said that "the nightmare" that is the cloverleaf will be changed. Maria Cantwell, arriving late because of heavy traffic, came to the podium a little breathless, but quickly gathered herself to speak about how the project has received $100 million so far. Congressman David Reichert told of how when he started his career as a policeman in Federal Way in 1972, the traffic snarls in the Triangle were claiming lives even then.

After a round of speeches, the government officials trooped downstairs at the Transit Center to board a special city bus that took them on a tour of the problem areas.

The current plan, due to be completed by 2012, is to reconstruct the I-5 and SR 18 interchange, adding ramps between SR 161 and I-5 from the north, thus alleviating congestion at the intersections of SR-18 and SR-161, as well as the surrounding surface street intersections.

On the bus tour, the gathered representatives learned from Rick Perez, a traffic engineer with the city's Public Works Department, that 80,000 cars pass through the Enchanted Parkway/348th intersection daily. An estimate of 240,000 cars converge at the Triangle each day, leading to so much congestion that the WDOT has identified 11 "high accident locations" within the project area - the loop ramps and weaving area of the Triangle as well as the intersection of SR-18 and SR-161.

The renovation project, estimated to cost between $163 and $200 million, will be funded in a variety of ways. So far, the state 9.5-cent gas tax included $100 million, and the Washington congressional delegation included $4.8 million in the SAFETEA-LU, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act that President Bush signed in August of 2005 that authorizes federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit.

The project also received $2.5 million from the FY 2006 Transportation Appropriations bill.

The WSDOT will formally update the estimate this month.

So far, the WSDOT, King County, and the cities of Federal Way and Milton completed a design study in 2002, and an environmental review of the project is due in December of this year.

Governor Christine Gregoire, who was not able to attend the press conference, sent her regrets in a letter to the assembled group, stating:

"I am committed to full Triangle Project funding. As the people of Federal Way and South King County know all too well, it's not a question of whether a new Triangle interchange is needed, but how soon we can fund and build it."

After the bus tour, Federal Way city council members shook hands with Reps. Mark Miloscia and Skip Priest; Congressman Adam Smith and King County councilmember Pete von Reichbauer, as they assured one another that each will do whatever is in their power to secure the needed funds.