Picture This!
What's
new this week in transportation
County to spend $65 million this year on road
projects
 A
modern highway for the Fairwood area--work progresses to widen and
smooth out the curves on 140th Way Southeast near Maple Valley.
Crews are carefully building up the new roadway on the left to be level
with the existing roadway on the right. A custom-made gravel and
dirt mixture is laid down and covered every foot-and-a-half with a plastic
and metal grid (right), creating a tightly-compacted and stable roadbed
that does not disturb a nearby wetland. When completed in
2002, the new roadway will ease congestion for travelers between the
Maple Valley floor and the Fairwood area around Petrovitsky Road. (click
on photos for a larger image)
As work continues on 140th Way Southeast,
the King County Road Services Division is spending these final weeks of
winter gearing up for another aggressive construction season. A recently
completed review of the county's road building program shows the
transportation department will spend up to $65 million this year on
projects aimed at reducing congestion and enhancing safety. The review
also predicts that by the end of 2001, the county's five year investment
in capital road improvements will approach $280 million--that's
nearly a 70 percent increase in productivity and dollars spent on road
projects compared to the previous five-year period. The department
predicts that figure will grow to over $365 million between 2001 and 2005.
This boost in productivity and investment stems from
a series of reforms and efficiencies put in place by the department in
recent years. New project management and budget practices
have been instituted, changing the way the department conducts its
business. These internal practices and efficiencies have allowed the
county to accelerate road projects and increase accountability by creating
tighter project controls and management oversight.
As the Road Services Division works to finalize its
upcoming construction season, the county is taking additional steps to
develop a comprehensive approach for dealing with the region's broader
transportation needs.
"In the coming weeks, we will work with the
Legislature on strategies to increase state and regional support for a
comprehensive set of unmet transportation needs," King County
Executive Ron Sims said. Improvements viewed as critical in King County
include:
- Major expansions to limited access highways like
I-405, SR-520, SR-509 and SR-18
- Improvements to urban arterial corridors that
will facilitate the movement of autos, transit and freight.
- Completion of freight mobility projects at key
railroad grade-crossings
- Further investments in transit, particularly
capital investments like signal synchronization and exclusive bus and
carpool ramps and lanes.
The Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission
on Transportation and the King
County Transportation Coalition, a joint business and local government
group, are also calling on the Legislature to support these regional
priorities.
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