Renee Sonn’s letter to the editor in your April 29 edition, “Money watch needs closer look,” referred to the long timeline to construct the 217th/224th Street corridor. The city of Kent and King County began planning for the 224th Street corridor in the mid-1980s. The environmental impact statement was initiated in 2005 and finalized in 2008 with a selected route.
The first two phases extend from the East Valley Highway at 224th Street, easterly to a new bridge crossing over Garrison Creek near 94th Avenue. With an estimated cost of $23 million, the next task was to figure out how to fund the project.
New developments, both commercial and residential, that added traffic to the existing east/west corridors were required to either participate in a Local Improvement District (LID) or to pay a mitigation fee up front for the traffic the development would add to the existing system.
The LID was formed in 2008 for those properties that had not paid mitigation fees up front. The LID ($10 million) was finalized in 2012. Since this still left a significant gap in the funding required to build the roadway, the city also applied for grants from the state. The city was successful in obtaining a $5 million grant in 2012 and another $5 million in 2013 – enough to build the first two phases of the project.
City staff and structural design consultants have been working steadily on the project since LID 363 was completed and the two grants were received. It is typical for a large project such as this to take two to three years in the permitting process due to wetland and stream impacts. Permits must be received from both state and federal agencies.
The project includes two new bridges, one over State Route 167 and the other across Garrison Creek. The bridge over SR 167 will require a median to be built on the freeway to accommodate its support columns. In addition, small portions of property must be acquired to accommodate the new roadway width.
The design and required permitting has progressed to the point where we anticipate construction to begin later this year.
– Tim LaPorte, Public Works director, city of Kent
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