In the News

LAKE STEVENS — A cadre of elected officials gathered alongside an aging U.S. 2 trestle Wednesday to make their case for how a healthy injection of federal funds into the nation’s transportation infrastructure could lead to less congested and safer commutes for Snohomish County residents.

“I’ve been pushing a transportation package for multiple years, and now we have an opportunity to work with our federal partners as they pass the American Jobs Act, and we can pass ‘Forward Washington’ to finally get the trestle that we need,” state Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, said at a news conference.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen of Everett and Suzan DelBene of Medina are pushing for $1.7 million to pay for a study by the state Department of Transportation on how best to rebuild the half-century-old westbound span of elevated highway that links Lake Stevens and Everett.

The aging piece of infrastructure is carrying increasing numbers of vehicles. A daily average of 82,000 traveled on the U.S. 2 trestle in 2019, according to state data.

“We’ve had huge growth in our region, and it’s resulted in heavy congestion during peak hours and concerns about structural longevity,” DelBene said as trucks whizzed behind her on westbound U.S. 2.

Mayor Cassie Franklin of Everett noted that the trestle is a key piece of regional infrastructure whose age potentially makes it seismically unsound.

“It’s a huge vulnerability when the next great big one comes,” she said, referring to an earthquake. “So now’s the time that we improve this trestle, with the safety of our drivers and communities at stake and also the future.”

The study would likely address continued route development, National Environmental Policy Act and State Environmental Policy Act concerns, and findings from a report on revising the interchange with I-5 and surface streets on the west end.

Click here to read the full article on the Everett Herald.