TULALIP — Tulalip Tribal officials met with elected officials and representatives of the state Department of Transportation and Granite Construction Dec. 18 to update them on the 116th Street overpass, and to push for it to be upgraded.
Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon Jr. touted the project as a benefit not only to Tulalip and Marysville, but also North Snohomish County.
Vice Chairman Glen Gobin said, “It’s been a long road. For years, this only fed into Marysville. We didn’t even have enough money to continue the street.”
Gobin noted that the tribes have kept the permits valid for the project for 18 years, and made their case over and over again as each new wave of elected officials have come through. He reiterated that, if the overpass interchange ramps can be improved, it will save the state time and money in the long run, in addition to alleviating traffic congestion in the area.
“That’s better than disrupting the flow of traffic with a second round of construction down the line,” Gobin said.
“If you can find the money, we are shovel-ready right now. After eighteen years, we know what it’s like to work on a project piecemeal.”
Tribal Treasurer Les Parks and Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring praised the legislators in attendance, state Rep. Mike Sells and Sen. Steve Hobbs, for including the overpass in the $16 billion transportation package approved last summer.
“We’re about thirty percent of the way through the project now, and I’d love to see it through to completion,” Parks said.
“It’s just great to see construction crews out here,” state Sen. John McCoy said.
Debbie Bray, manager of the project for the tribes, explained that the project was 100 days through its 290-day construction period, expanding the bridge from two to six lanes, and echoed Gobin by touting the proposed upgrade of the interchange as “a way to get everyone home faster.”
The proposed upgrade would replace the current diamond-shaped interchange, with traffic signals and intersecting ramps to the west and east of the bridge, with a single-point exchange, which would have all the ramps converge at a central traffic intersection.
Bray predicted half the bridge’s 29 shafts would be completed by the end of December, and forecast the arrival of the girders in January.
With the shafts running 120 feet deep, Bray promised both they and the crane on site will remain very stable, even in high winds.
“Our chairman has asked if a time capsule can be included on site,” Bray said, ribbing Sheldon. “I told him that the utility conduits that the bridge will house, between Marysville and Tulalip, will be your time capsule.”
Tribal artist Ty Juvenal then presented the salmon designs created by fellow Tulalip artists Joe Gobin and James Madison for the bridge’s retaining wall, while Bray explained that an additional noise-cancelling wall would be built to protect nearby housing.
