New bridge, safer SR 532 in store for Stanwood and Camano Island residents

Keeping drivers safe and traffic, goods and tourism moving is what an $84 million upgrade will mean for drivers traveling on SR 532 between I-5 and Camano Island. Today, local officials, legislators and construction workers broke ground on a two-year-long project to improve safety and eliminate choke points along a 10-mile stretch of SR 532.

“These are much-needed improvements that will increase the safety and reliability of our transportation system on SR 532,” said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen. “We are taking our scarce transportation dollars and efficiently targeting specific safety concerns along the corridor. The results should be felt by everyone that depends on this highway.”

“The project will be very fast-paced. We have been able to advance the original schedule by a year by using a design-build contracting method, meaning drivers will start seeing safety benefits on SR 532 before winter,” said Paula Hammond, Secretary of Transportation.

Beginning this summer and ending before spring 2011, WSDOT will make the following improvements on SR 532:

• Replace the 60-year-old General Mark W. Clark Memorial bridge with a wider, safer bridge,

• Improve 13 intersections between Camano Island and I-5, including adding new turn lanes,

• Build a new truck-climbing lane on three troublesome uphill grades,

• Repave three miles of SR 532 between the Mark Clark Bridge and 72nd Avenue NW,

• Improve the environment by cleaning storm water runoff from the highway,

Install seven new bus pull-outs and new street lights at selected locations.

Between 2000 and 2008, drivers were involved in nearly 900 collisions, more than half of those were congestion-related.

New turn lanes and other improvements should help reduce the number of collisions. The new Mark Clark bridge will be more than twice as wide as the current span, and it will have wide shoulders for emergency vehicles and disabled vehicles, a lower profile for better driver visibility, and will meet higher earthquake standards. New bus pull-outs on Camano Island will provide a safe refuge for transit riders.

The population surrounding SR 532 is quickly growing. Between 2000 and 2007, Stanwood’s population increased by more than 32 percent and Camano Island’s increased more than 10 percent. The surge in population is increasing congestion for commuters and commercial traffic.

The economy will see benefits from the project as well. Freight haulers and service providers will spend less time in traffic, and that in itself is of great value to our economy. The project is also expected to create or support many construction-related jobs. The contractor is already hiring employees out of the local union halls and will continue ramping up throughout the summer season for a wide range of construction activities. The contractor will also utilize local subcontractors, equipment and materials for some of the work.

The groundbreaking event took place at Lenz Enterprises on SR 532, just east of Stanwood. The design-build team Parsons/Kuney will use the location as their staging area over the next two years. Lenz Enterprises is also expected to supply materials for some of the work.

Remarks by local elected officials were followed by a tree planting ceremony which signified the teamwork required by multiple agencies that was necessary to bring the project to reality. The western red cedar will be replanted in a 30-acre, mitigation site that the Stillaguamish Tribe is developing for the environmental impacts of the project. Once the mitigation site is complete, the Stillaguamish Tribe will utilize this site to teach its members and the community the value of restoring wetlands and providing places for juvenile salmon to mature.

“It took teamwork and cooperation from multiple agencies and from several jurisdictions to get us here,” said David Dye, WSDOT Deputy Secretary. “We will be counting on that same level of teamwork and cooperation to complete construction.”

Utility work on the project has started and drivers will soon see work begin at multiple locations along the corridor. Work is starting on both ends of the corridor, on Camano Island and near I-5.  The road work in Stanwood is scheduled to begin next year, though utility work will likely begin this fall.

WSDOT is providing numerous ways for drivers to stay informed during construction, including a weekly project e-mail update, a highway advisory radio providing updates on 1520 AM and a hotline for drivers to ask questions or leave comments: 360-631-3887.

For more information, visit the project Web site at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR532.