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Washington

Started by jakeroot, May 21, 2016, 01:56:31 PM

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ClassicHasClass



KEK Inc.

Has a new Duwamish crossing ever been assessed? 

Current:



I think a crossing here could be viable:


I also rerouted WA-99 back to E Marginal and Tukwila Int'l. 
Take the road less traveled.

Bickendan

I can see a lot of possible pushback from routing a freeway through the Duwamish Greenbelt and from South Seattle College.
You might have to bore the facility under the Greebelt and the channel.

Also, I can't endorse this unless WA 99's restored to US 99 ;)

Bruce

While a high-level crossing to replace the 1st Ave mess would be nice, it's probably not worth destroying the greenbelt and the likely-decade of disruption this would cause.

Nice maps, though.

jakeroot

#1054
Quote from: Bruce on September 11, 2021, 03:38:14 AM
Just about finished with another major research project: the full history of Interstate 182.

Without quoting the rest, just wanting to say that this was a great read-through. I really appreciate you taking the time to research and write this out since there isn't a lot who might take the time to do it. 182 really is interesting given how much back-and-forth there was over the routing of 82.

I'm willing to go in on a really in-depth research project for I-705/Tacoma Spur if anyone wants to help me out. What's on Wikipedia now is really good but I'd love to go another level deeper.

KEK Inc.

Quote from: Bickendan on September 12, 2021, 04:39:22 AM
I can see a lot of possible pushback from routing a freeway through the Duwamish Greenbelt and from South Seattle College.
You might have to bore the facility under the Greebelt and the channel.

Also, I can't endorse this unless WA 99's restored to US 99 ;)

Just make it the Duwamish Parkway all the way to I-5.  lol
Take the road less traveled.

jakeroot

Quote from: KEK Inc. on September 12, 2021, 04:19:24 AM
Has a new Duwamish crossing ever been assessed? 

Cool map, thank you for sharing.

I've never been fully satisfied with how 599, 99, and 509 come together at the First Ave So. Bridge. It seems to work decently, even under duress as we've been witnessing. As a way out of Seattle, it's very much a "back way" south and I love the idea of continuing to improve it. But then I'm rarely bothered by it now. As long as it's open, things usually fly. Usually.

What would happen with the current bridge? I'm not sure the bonds would even be paid off yet. I'm also not sure how pushing a freeway through a steep greenbelt could be justified. Like others, a bored tunnel seems much more likely to succeed given ROW issues, terrain, and seismic restrictions.

KEK Inc.

Quote from: Bruce on September 06, 2021, 08:07:33 PM
Interesting that WSDOT's General State Highway Map for 2020 still shows plans for a Monroe bypass:



I made some mock-up signs  a while back for a "what-if" situation if US-2 were to be a divided freeway to Gold Bar.



WSDOT probably wouldn't add exit numbers.
Take the road less traveled.

Bruce

Quote from: jakeroot on September 12, 2021, 01:57:51 PM
Quote from: Bruce on September 11, 2021, 03:38:14 AM
Just about finished with another major research project: the full history of Interstate 182.

Without quoting the rest, just wanting to say that this was a great read-through. I really appreciate you taking the time to research and write this out since there isn't a lot who might take the time to do it. 182 really is interesting given how much back-and-forth there was over the routing of 82.

I'm willing to go in on a really in-depth research project for I-705/Tacoma Spur if anyone wants to help me out. What's on Wikipedia now is really good but I'd love to go another level deeper.

Thanks. I've been planning to eventually overhaul the I-705 article (which was written well before we had reliable access to Tacoma's News Tribune archives) as part of my series on Northwest Interstates. So far I have I-5, I-82, I-182, and Portland's I-405 done.

Newspapers.com now has good coverage in Spokane, Tacoma, and Boise, so I don't have to do as much digging around for AP/UPI mentions in other papers, or god forbid spending hours at a microfilm machine at the library. We have it real easy these days.

stevashe

Quote from: jakeroot on August 02, 2021, 01:28:28 PM
Pardon me while I toot my on horn :)...

For anyone interested in an update on construction in the South Sound, I made a ride-along video from Downtown Tacoma to Lacey, and then back.

Highlight of the video is the reconstructed bit of I-5 through the bases. I filmed this on 31 July. No music, no annotations. Just chapters and original sound (aka: road noise!)

https://youtu.be/5hmho4IuHL8

Within the same area as your video there Jake, I took a short one going through the new DDI at I-5 and SR510. Meant to post this a while ago since it was taken in July, but I was busy/lazy/on vacation :P

https://youtu.be/bXYw2Wr5VOY

Mdcastle

What did 1920s era highway markers look like? Oldest I can find pictures of is the 1938 spec.

bing101


Here is Interstate Kyles Tour of I-5 to Blane,WA

jakeroot

Quote from: Mdcastle on September 22, 2021, 06:56:25 PM
What did 1920s era highway markers look like? Oldest I can find pictures of is the 1938 spec.

I've been pondering this post since you shared it. I've been searching various image archives that I'm familiar with but have not found anything that old. I'm not 100% sure anything was signed before the late 30s. But if I ever come across anything, I'll be sure to share it.

There is this rather neat image of South Tacoma Way from 1939 showing a US-99 and US-410 shield. I cannot find any old PSH, SSH, or State Road shield imagery anywhere, even from the 1930s.


South Tacoma Way, 1939 by Jacob Root, on Flickr

Bruce

While trawling through the Revised Code of Washington (as one does on a Monday evening), I stumbled across some weird laws on the books regarding approach highways to the UW and WSU main campuses: https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=47.20&full=true

RCW 47.20.590 authorized the creation of a highway approach to the UW campus from Roosevelt Way to 15th Avenue NE (a short distance in the U District), complete with "an underpass beneath the surface of Roosevelt Way, and necessary approaches to the underpass". Obviously this was never built, but it was written into law in 1945 and remained on the books through several revisions, as recently as 1984.

The section also has some nice information about the SR 109 extension that was never built, which was authorized in the 1980s long after the first protests shot it down. A famous 1958 protest included sitting US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who hiked a 22-mile section of the coastline to protest the highway (which was apparently to be US 101?).

The toll section also has a brief description of how the numbering for the Puget Sound Gateway might work with SR 509 Spur running from the new I-5 / SR 167 in Fife to SR 509.

kkt

Is that when Campus Parkway was built?  It does make a quicker connection from Roosevelt to 15th Ave. than most other streets, with fewer intersections, and it does have an underpass to get to the southbound side of Roosevelt.

Bruce

Quote from: kkt on October 05, 2021, 12:52:41 AM
Is that when Campus Parkway was built?  It does make a quicker connection from Roosevelt to 15th Ave. than most other streets, with fewer intersections, and it does have an underpass to get to the southbound side of Roosevelt.


Looks like you're right. Campus Parkway opened in 1950 with state money. Apparently it had been first brought up by Sen. Robert McDonald in 1939 and took until 1945 to be passed.

Source: Nelson, Stub (September 29, 1949). "Officials Explain New Parkway Is 'Approach'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p. 8.

jakeroot

#1066
Saw a very high toll on southbound 167 just before Ellingson today. Not sure I've ever seen the toll this high this far south:


WA-167 $8 HOT Lane Toll by Jacob Root, on Flickr

(And no, your eyes are not deceiving you. It definitely looks like a painting of sorts. I mucked up the anti-noise setting but did not notice until after upload.)

Thunderbyrd316

   I have been meaning to post this for the past three weeks but every time I make it to the library, I forget to. On Sat., Oct. 9 I drove up to Walla Walla for Crashmania and while I saw no evidence of any work on the west end yet, They appear to have made great progress on the newest segment of the US 12 expressway on the east end of the project where the temporary connection to the old highway connects the newest completed expressway segment. (To be fair, I could not see just how far back the impressive amount of progress actually extended as the rolling landscape impeded my long distance view.)

   From looking at the WSDOT website, it looks as though the segment bypassing Touchet and Lowden (officially named as the "Nine Mile Hill to Frenchtown Vicinity" segment and also known as "Phase 7" of the project to connect the Tri-Cities with Walla Walla with a modern super highway) will be constructed to full freeway standards. (Click on the pdf link at this page to see why I say that. Link: https://wsdot.wa.gov/projects/us12/ninemilehilltofrenchtown/map )When completed only "Phase 8" will remain incomplete, the bypass of Wallula and the junction with US 730.

   I am hopeful that at some point in the future, possibly not until the entire project is complete, that perhaps a speed limit higher than 60 mph could be posted on this highway, at least east of Wallula. (I am also surprised that I have not seen anyone else comment on this project on the forum. I have been eagerly awaiting this project since the mid 1980's and what has been completed so far is generally very decent.)

Bruce

Quote from: Thunderbyrd316 on October 30, 2021, 04:05:20 PM
I am also surprised that I have not seen anyone else comment on this project on the forum. I have been eagerly awaiting this project since the mid 1980's and what has been completed so far is generally very decent.

We brought it up a few months ago: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18003.msg2593282;topicseen#msg2593282

Bruce

Starting next week, WSDOT will have a new website.

https://wsdotblog.blogspot.com/2021/11/new-wsdot-website-goes-live-nov-7.html

Start archiving those links with the Wayback Machine, since I assume they'll be broken in no time.

Bruce

A small find in the WSDOT archives: in December 1967, the Department of Highways awarded a contract to build an offramp from northbound I-5 to (what is now) SR 529 in Marysville and a corresponding southbound onramp.

For some reason it was never built, but is now finally planned to be constructed in 2024.

(Also the new project will finally fix the US 2-to-NB I-5 merge in Everett: https://wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i5/marine-view-sr-529/map)

kkt

Quote from: Bruce on November 04, 2021, 03:05:27 AM
A small find in the WSDOT archives: in December 1967, the Department of Highways awarded a contract to build an offramp from northbound I-5 to (what is now) SR 529 in Marysville and a corresponding southbound onramp.

For some reason it was never built, but is now finally planned to be constructed in 2024.

(Also the new project will finally fix the US 2-to-NB I-5 merge in Everett: https://wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i5/marine-view-sr-529/map)

Rome wasn't built in a day :)

Bruce

And speaking of revived plans: I didn't realize this earlier, but WSDOT is moving forward with a bypass of Belfair that will carry SR 3. The current route through town would become a business loop, and presumably part of it would carry an extended SR 300 to meet SR 3.

https://wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr3/freight/home


Bruce

Also, if anyone else is researching recent-ish WSDOT history, the Completed Contracts list is extremely useful. Everything since 1990 with costs and completion dates listed.

jakeroot

Quote from: Bruce on November 05, 2021, 02:15:07 AM
Also, if anyone else is researching recent-ish WSDOT history, the Completed Contracts list is extremely useful. Everything since 1990 with costs and completion dates listed.

Hugely fun to look through. Thank you a bunch for sharing.



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