Rosalie Wu, a city of Bothell public-works project engineer, said the most common question regarding the several street projects in the city’s future is simple: “When?”
Wu and other city engineers were presenting an update on Bothell’s transportation plans before a recent morning meeting of the Greater Bothell Chamber of Commerce.
• For the well-advertised Crossroads project involving the realignment of state routes 527 and 522, another city engineer Don Ranger said the long-discussed work should start next year. The city needs to clear a substantial new right of way, removing existing businesses such as the Bothell Landing shopping plaza. Ranger added the needed demolition work should be completed by this time in 2010. The total construction period should be about two years.
• Closely related to the Crossroads project is the equally talked about plan to turn Bothell Way Northeast north of Main Street into a multiway boulevard. Ranger said that work isn’t slated to begin until roughly 2011 and could be pushed into 2012.
• The first big bit of new roadwork to get out of the gate should be changes to the so-called Wayne Curve, which sits on Bothell Way Northeast near 96th Avenue Northeast. Wu said construction should start in the fall of this year. She stated improvements will include a transit bypass allowing buses headed to Seattle to cruise through the intersection without stopping for red lights.
• Wu also talked about widening SR 257, or the Bothell-Everett Highway, between 240th Street Southeast and 228th Street Southeast. Essentially, the roadway will be widened to four lanes with various other street amenities also a part of the plans. Design work is in the works and should be finished by early next year. The city hopes construction will begin in spring 2010 with completion arriving in 2011.
• And finally, really just leaving the starting gate according to the city’s Nduta Mbuthia, is the proposed rebuilding of Main Street. Mbuthia said the work still is in the conceptual stage, with designers having gathered public opinion at two town-hall-style meetings in February and March. Work isn’t expected to start until at least 2012.
Regarding the Wayne Curve work, besides the transit lane, Wu talked about sidewalks, landscaping and increased street illumination. Utility lines in the area are to be buried. Wu said a couple of the rationales behind the project are increased safety and speeding traffic on its way to and from Seattle.
As the for the work on Bothell-Everett Highway, Wu said the project should include a center median, new turn lanes and bike lanes. Landscaping is once more a big part of the plan. Easing traffic congestion is the main goal of this planned effort, with Wu stating the roadway should look entirely different.
“For those of you who you have tried to get in or out of Country Village, you think, ‘This is exciting,’” she said.
For those paying close attention, a gap might be noticed between the multiway boulevard project and the Bothell-Everett Highway work. The boulevard project will see Bothell Way Northeast, or SR 527, made into a four-lane street roughly up to the area of Pop Keeney Field. But there are currently no plans to transform the stretch of SR 527 between the point the new boulevard will end and the point the Bothell-Everett Highway widening work should begin near Country Village. Bothell Public Information Officer Joyce Goedeke said addressing that stretch of roadway is on the city’s radar, but there is simply no funding for the work at present.
As for the Crossroads project, for those who don’t know, the work is designed to make a sort of T-shaped intersection out of the meeting of SR 527, SR 522 and Main Street. Ranger described it as easily the biggest of the projects on the table, with a total price tag of about $60 million, including land acquisition costs.
