Washington

[OCGuy81]

Washington seems to use larger reassurance signs than most states. It's also the only state I've driven in where the direction "tab"  isn't a separate piece. The direction and marker are on the same sheet of metal.

Do any other states use signage like that?

[jakeroot]

Washington seems to use larger reassurance signs than most states. It's also the only state I've driven in where the direction "tab"  isn't a separate piece. The direction and marker are on the same sheet of metal.

Do any other states use signage like that?

I've seen other states, like Kansas, who use single-piece directional assemblies for guidance, but I can't recall seeing others with similar setups for reassurance assemblies.

WSDOT used green background reassurance assemblies for quite a while, but seems to have moved back to multi-colored uni-sign reassurance assemblies, minus Interstates which all seem to use the MUTCD-style setup with two separate sections (for the shield and the direction tab), though SW Washington has at least a couple uni-sign reassurance assemblies for I-5 that weren't green backgrounds:

[Bruce]

A button copy sign at the NE 195th Street interchange on I-405 in Bothell. Not many on I-405, from what I've seen.

[Alps]

A button copy sign at the NE 195th Street interchange on I-405 in Bothell. Not many on I-405, from what I've seen.

Also button copy WB at that ramp, and older non-BC signs at the NB ramp. Wow.

[ErmineNotyours]

Button copy on Boeing Access Road, south of Seattle.

Faded I-5 sheld on button copy sign by Arthur Allen, on Flickr

[Alps]

Button copy on Boeing Access Road, south of Seattle.

Faded I-5 sheld on button copy sign by Arthur Allen, on Flickr

And the other way. https://goo.gl/maps/kFj99ANovFJ2

[Henry]

Oh, and that list of widening . . . seeing SR-18 makes me happy.  That's the one hairy spot in an otherwise very nice road--went on it once back when I was going to CWU, and wanted to avoid the snow in the Gorge and on US-97.

Indeed. It's such a nice road (apart from the Federal Way-Auburn segment, aka the original section), given the swooping curves and excellent interchanges, its certainly worthy of a 70 or 75 limit, though I have little faith in WSDOT raising it. Perhaps when it's entirely freeway from I-90 to I-5, we will see a higher limit.

Alas, I highly doubt this transport package will pass. Not sure the funding plan is as fledged out as it needs to be, nor am I sure there's enough support for a package at all, so soon after passing a similarly-large transport package.

Getting SR 18 finished as a freeway should have been done a long time ago.  It is an useful bypass of Seattle proper.  Somewhere I read that WSDOT had a plan to do so.  Is there a schedule for improvements yet?

I'm not sure what the delay has been, though it has consistently taken a long time to get any section of 18 widened. The section from Federal Way to 167 was widened by the late mid-60s, and from 167 past Auburn in the mid-80s. From past Auburn to a bit past Covington by the mid-90s (as well as the interchange at Issaquah-Hobart Rd), and then to its current point by around 2006 or 2007. So it's definitely due, though the Tiger Mountain stretch is arguably the most technically challenging, and therefore most expensive as well.

The current project is to rebuild the interchange at I-90 into a diverging diamond, though I know long-term plans are for a fully-directional interchange. The interchange rebuild was funded by the Connecting Washington transport package from 2015 ($150M):

https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I90/SR18ICImprove/default.htm

(current proposal on left, long-term on right -- click for larger photo):



(images from http://livingsnoqualmie.com)

I-605, anyone?

Even if it doesn't end up as a full bypass of Seattle, I'd love to see the freeway upgrades to WA 18 done ASAP.

[ErmineNotyours]

More button copy: West Seattle Freeway.

[jakeroot]

I-605, anyone?

Even if it doesn't end up as a full bypass of Seattle, I'd love to see the freeway upgrades to WA 18 done ASAP.

I-605 is certainly the most common designation for any such bypass. According to an early 2000s study, anything north of I-90 isn't economically feasible. I think the late 90s study determined that it wouldn't improve over I-405, though I guess things may have changed since then.

I could see a "605" designation for SR-18, but AFAIK the federal government didn't pay for any of the upgrades. Isn't that usually how interstates form?

[The Ghostbuster]

I wouldn't expect SR-18 to become Interstate 605 (or any other Interstate designation) anytime soon, if ever. The state of Washington will probably leave the highway with its existing number.

[jakeroot]

I wouldn't expect SR-18 to become Interstate 605 (or any other Interstate designation) anytime soon, if ever. The state of Washington will probably leave the highway with its existing number.

It's not a ridiculous thought. Once they finish upgrades to improve it to freeway-grade, and traffic counts are considered, an interstate designation may improve recognition of 18 as being a genuine southern "Ring road" around the south edge of Seattle. Upping the speed limit to a more reasonable 70 or 75 may help, especially considering current speeds (which are well above the posted 60, from what I've seen).

[Kacie Jane]

Improving the 90/18 interchange to freeway-to- freeway is a possibility. But I would be absolutely shocked if 18 over Tiger Mountain gets widened to four lanes and fully divided within my lifetime.

[Bruce]

Finally got to ride a double-decker bus on I-405, which also used the shoulder lane.



Felt a lot bumpier than a regular lane.

[Bruce]

WSDOT is temporarily lowering the speed limit on I-5 near Downtown Tacoma to 50 mph due to a lot of recent crashes.

https://www.king5.com/article/traffic/traffic-news/problem-stretch-of-i-5-in-tacoma-getting-lower-speed-limit-soon/281-7101a5a7-b141-4e8a-9340-a869cb540079

[theroadwayone]

This.
https://www.kxro.com/666-to-667-iconic-sign-no-more/

[MNHighwayMan]

Distances are supposed to be measured from town centers, so as much as it sucks to lose it, the new sign is correct.

[jakeroot]

The HOV ramp from WA-16 to southbound I-5 ramp has opened, but will be handling general-purpose traffic while other bits of the freeway are rebuilt or realigned.

Here's a video I took this morning:

https://youtu.be/Ad0aPBslvR4

Here's the ramp reconfiguration (from WSDOT Flickr):

[nexus73]

This.
https://www.kxro.com/666-to-667-iconic-sign-no-more/

Round those miles up and you would have 777...the luckiest of numbers in Nevada!

Rick

[theroadwayone]

This.
https://www.kxro.com/666-to-667-iconic-sign-no-more/

Round those miles up and you would have 777...the luckiest of numbers in Nevada!

Rick

I was listening to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" when I wrote that post.

[Bruce]

This.
https://www.kxro.com/666-to-667-iconic-sign-no-more/

Round those miles up and you would have 777...the luckiest of numbers in Nevada!

Rick

Also lucky numbers for Everett.

[Henry]

This.
https://www.kxro.com/666-to-667-iconic-sign-no-more/

Round those miles up and you would have 777...the luckiest of numbers in Nevada!

Rick

Also lucky numbers for Everett.

And Atlantic City too.

[ErmineNotyours]

The HOV ramp from WA-16 to southbound I-5 ramp has opened, but will be handling general-purpose traffic while other bits of the freeway are rebuilt or realigned.

Here's a video I took this morning:

https://youtu.be/Ad0aPBslvR4

At 0:50 I saw what looked like a greened-out BGS propped up by the side of the road... which turned out to be a dumpster lid.  Oh well, wishful thinking.

[Bruce]

Archival photo from September 1968 of the first Boeing 747 being rolled out of the half-complete Everett factory. You can see the future trench for SR 526 and the current bridge between the flightline and factory, as well as the former alignment of Casino Road (which carried SR 526 for another two years).

[ErmineNotyours]

Old Nalley Valley Viaduct, SR 16 in Tacoma, now demolished.  For some reason, the supports came down to single points with diagonal supports instead of vertical supports.  The Wiki page looked like it had a promising link to the WSDOT page explaining this construction, but it was dead.

[Bruce]

The Wayback Machine is generally pretty good at picking up WSDOT pages: http://web.archive.org/web/20090925023059/http://wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/PierceCountyHOV/SR16_WBNalleyValley/History.htm