After numerous detours, stops and wrong ways, the city of Kent finally finalized funding to build another overpass to separate vehicles and trains along South 228th Street.
Crews will begin work next year on the estimated $25 million project expected to be completed in 2018 over the Union Pacific tracks.
But it wasn’t until the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) Executive Board approved a $3 million grant on Dec. 3 that the financial package finally fell into place.
“The right outcome took place – thank goodness,” Kent City Councilman Dennis Higgins said at the council’s Public Works Committee meeting on Dec. 7. “We have been waiting for this for some time. It would have really been a shame to see this collapse at the 11th hour.”
City officials started to sweat a bit after a PSRC Regional Staff Committee recommended on Oct. 15 that Kent not receive the grant because the project had not advanced since the regional council first approved the grant in 2012.
The PSRC’s Transportation Policy Board recommended approval of the money at its Nov. 12 meet but directed staff to obtain more information and clarification about the project before the executive board gave its approval to the $3 million grant.
“In the last month we’ve gone from a negative recommendation from the projects committee to not allow us to convert these funds to a very close vote at the transportation board,” Council President Dana Ralph said. “We were able to come out of executive board with an unanimous vote. That group realized the importance of this project regionally – that it’s not just a city of Kent project – and that with the money from the Legislature we have full funding and are ready to move forward.”
The Legislature this year approved a $15 million grant for the South 228th Street project as part of its $16 billion statewide transportation package.
Last year the council looked at forming a local improvement district (LID) to tax property owners to help pay for the project. But the council dropped that idea after an outcry against the LID from businesses that would have had to pay that extra tax.
The city wants the railroad grade separations to improve traffic flow and eliminate vehicles, especially trucks from local warehouses, having to wait for trains at the crossings. Traffic is delayed anywhere from 90 minutes to more than two hours per day waiting for trains at the UP and BNSF crossings, according to city staff.
Kent completed the BNSF overpass along South 228th Street in 2009. The new overpass to be built over the UP tracks and Interurban Trail will look similar to the overpass for the BNSF tracks.
City leaders also struggled with the state Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board to keep a $3 million grant as the city tried to find a way to pay for the project. UP also will kick in $1 million for the construction. The city will pay about $2 million.
The council’s Public Works Committee approved on Dec. 7 a $625,000 contract with HDR engineering for design of the new bridge and wall structures.
The new overpass will help tie South 228th Street to the new State Route 509 extension from SeaTac to Kent that’s expected to be completed in another decade or so. Drivers would be able to meet up with State Route 509 at the top of Veteran’s Drive near Military Road. Veteran’s Drive is an extension of South 228th Street up the West Hill.
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