News Release

Release date: May 12, 2000

Public to hear plans for widening of 140th Avenue S.E. east of Kent

In response to traffic congestion and rapid development in the area south of Renton and east of Kent, King County is planning to widen and improve a key link in the county's network of regional arterials.

The public is invited to an open house to examine and discuss the county's designs for improvement of 140th Avenue Southeast from about Southeast Petrovitsky Road to Southeast 197th Place. Staff from the county's Road Services Division will present an update and answer questions.

Construction is scheduled to run from 2001 to 2003, with total construction cost estimated at $8 million.

The roadway to be improved runs 1.4 miles through a two-lane principal arterial in a residential area with moderately hilly wooded terrain. The area includes a small commercial development near Southeast Petrovitsky Road. Land uses include single-family homes, apartments, an elementary school, agricultural land, shopping malls and gas stations.

The existing roadway is a straight two-lane asphalt road running north and south with sidewalks or asphalt/gravel shoulders, roadside ditches and catch basins located mostly outside the fog line. Only recently-developed areas have curbs, gutters and catch basins to collect stormwater runoff.

King County plans to widen 140th Avenue Southeast to five lanes with sidewalks, curb and gutters. Improvements will include:

• two lanes in each direction
• a center two-way left-turn lane
• 5-foot bicycle lanes on each side of the road
• curb, gutters and 5-foot sidewalks on each side of the road.

Additional widening will occur on Southeast 192nd Street and Southeast 180th Street. Other street intersections with 140th Avenue Southeast will be reconstructed but not widened.

This project will improve vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle safety -- and ease traffic congestion on 140th Avenue Southeast. The current two-lane road is over capacity with average daily traffic of more than 20,000 vehicles. Road Services anticipates growth in the area will increase the average daily traffic to 25,000 vehicles by the year 2007.

King County first proposed these roadway improvements in the early 1990s. Since then, the county has worked with the City of Kent, consulted with the Kent School District about the adjacent Carriage Crest Elementary School, and sought public comment on the project from local residents and businesses. Road Services is working with Carriage Crest Elementary to address student safety on 140th Avenue Southeast.

Construction will affect traffic temporarily along 140th Avenue Southeast. King County is now acquiring some right-of-way and easements from property owners along 140th Avenue Southeast between Southeast 197th Place and Southeast Petrovitsky Road. .

The roadway improvements, both during and after construction, will comply with federal, state and local regulations affecting developments in or near wetlands. Complying with the State Environmental Policy Act, King County issued a final environmental impact statement on the project in 1993.

For more information about the open house, please contact Barbara de Michele, community relations planner, at (206) 263-3792 or at barbara.demichele@metrokc.gov

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