In Our View: Upgrades, Finally

Latitudinal transportation in Vancouver has been an increasing challenge for many years. East-west traffic within the city limits has only four reliable corridors: state Highway 14, Mill Plain Boulevard, Fourth Plain Boulevard and state Highway 500. But that system was devised many decades ago; in a modern, growing Vancouver, congestion often clogs those routes, especially during rush hours.

Partial relief could arrive in a year or so in Cascade Park. Construction began Monday on major improvements to Northeast 18th Street, an increasingly popular arterial upon which is located the produce fields of Joe’s Place Farm, C-Tran’s Evergreen Park & Ride, Cascade Middle School and Evergreen High School. West of Interstate 205, 18th Street serves the Burton Ridge and Marrion areas; east of I-205 are Fircrest, Landover-Sharmel, First Place and Cimarron neighborhoods.

Ultimately, improving Northeast 18th Street will ease traffic conditions throughout Cascade Park, but that will take many more years, many more project phases and many more dollars that remain unbudgeted. For now, though, its good to see the upgrades finally taking hold on the street’s busiest intersection, at Northeast 112th Avenue. The work that began Monday will cost $10.25 million and will include major improvements to that busy intersection, including:

Traffic lanes on 18th will be doubled from two to four from the I-205 overpass to Four Seasons Lane. Also to be added on 18th are bicycle lanes, sidewalks, stormwater drainage, a water main upgrade, street lighting and landscaping. Currently, 18th has just two lanes with substandard pavement, dirt shoulders and ditches.

Two left-turn lanes and a dedicated right-turn lane also will be built.

New retaining walls will be constructed on both 18th Street and 112th Avenue.

New traffic signals will be installed on 18th Street at 112th Avenue and at Four Seasons Lane.

Improvements also will occur on 112th Avenue: new sidewalks, stormwater drainage, a sewer line, street lighting and landscaping.

The launch of improvements to Northeast 18th Street has taken much longer than city officials would have preferred, but extended time was needed to complete negotiations with property owners. The owners of Mountain View Place Apartments finally reached an agreement with city officials after the city agreed to regrade a driveway to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The project would have put the driveway out of compliance without the regrading. Joe’s Place Farm also reached an agreement with city officials, as did Bonneville Power Association and the Nuttman family, which owned a three-story house and land that blocked the project.

We hope that the long-term plans for Northeast 18th Street can proceed more expeditiously, but even in the best of circumstances, that will require securing new public money. City officials would like to widen and improve about a five-mile section of the street from west of the freeway at Northeast 87th Avenue to Northeast 192nd Avenue. That, though, is ultra-long-term. Next up, hopefully, will be upgrades eastward to Northeast 138th Street, to the Park & Ride and the high school.

Even deeper into the distant future, state transportation officials envision an I-205 interchange at Northeast 18th Street. If you stumble across $58 million between your couch cushions, give the Washington State Department of Transportation folks a buzz.