Transportation Design

220th Street SW Roadway Improvements—Edmonds, WA

This federally funded $4.0 million TIB roadway improvement project took place along the 220th Street corridor—a critical east-west arterial connecting Edmonds to I-5. The existing road, with its open ditches, lack of sidewalks, poor vertical sight distance, and close proximity to two elementary schools, was in desperate need of safety improvements. Public opposition for the project was high with the fears of a three-lane highway cutting through the well-established residential neighborhood.

Using the charrette process and a strong community involvement program, we balanced the project’s safety improvement with the citizens’ concerns. The residents worked alongside the engineers to develop a narrow roadway section of two lanes with left turn pockets at key intersections. Following the charrette, numerous residents spoke in support of the project at a city council presentation.

The project incorporated unique safety features including a pedestrian activated crossing with in-pavement lighting, permanent radar speed signs and gateway landscaping treatment to slow traffic. Other project improvements included innovative water quality treatment to reduce right-of-way impacts and construction costs for the six drainage basins along the corridor. Coordination between the utility companies ensured that the project met the critical schedule.

We performed a variety of services during the project—survey, roadway design, storm design, signal design, public involvement, value engineering, right-of-way, construction management and construction staking.

SR 527: SR 96 to 112th Street—City of Everett

Perteet was the prime design consultant for 1.54 miles of improvements to SR 527 within the City of Everett. The roadway was being widened from its two-and three-lane configuration to five lanes with planted center medians, Class II bike lanes and sidewalks.

The northern half of the project was directly adjacent to the environmentally sensitive Silver Lake. This required a design to mitigate project impacts while enhancing adjacent lake wetlands. The concerns of the neighborhood were addressed with extensive landscaping, moving the roadway as far away from the lake as possible, and by limiting the heights of retaining walls.

Perteet was responsible for the project design, WSDOT hydraulics report, project design deviations, channelization plan approval and TESC plans for approval. We reconstructed the roadway to improve stopping sight distances and illumination, signalization, and storm drainage—and designed and drafted these elements to WSDOT standards. The storm drainage system included detention and retention facilities in accordance with Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife requirements. The project also included the elimination of several fish passage barriers within the drainage basin by the addition of new bottomless culverts, spawning gravel and log weirs. Extensive utility coordination was required for upgrading and relocation of gas lines, power poles, and overhead telephone and cable lines.

Due to a WSDOT requirement for eliminating turning movements at intersecting dead end residential streets, Silver Lake Road was extended through a regional park to connect to an arterial that runs parallel to SR 527.

The project’s location required coordination with the City of Everett Parks Department Master Plan for Silver Lake Park. Specific challenges included transit consideration and coordination with the access design of a nearby fire station, construction of water quality enhancements within a limited right-of-way, permitting improvements through the JARPA process, and keeping traffic flowing during construction.

The project was a multi-agency partnering effort involving the City of Everett, Snohomish County and WSDOT. Perteet initially provided design under the city’s lead. We finished design efforts and WSDOT took the lead for project advertisement and construction contract administration. Our design staff co-located with the WSDOT design team during final PS&E, which was important to the project’s success.

During construction, we provided on-call services including environmental compliance assistance, continued agency coordination efforts, and technical assistance on daily activities. SR 527 was completed on time and budget in May 2006.

SR 519 Design Build — WSDOT

The goal for the SR 519 project was for  improved connections for traffic heading to the Port of Seattle terminals, Colman Dock ferry terminal, central waterfront area and sports stadiums and destinations in Seattle's SODO neighborhood. Also critical was the separation of car, freight, pedestrian and rail traffic to help improve mobility, pedestrian safety and reduce the risk of collisions. 

The Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) required considerable coordination with City of Seattle, Port of Seattle, Pioneer Square Historic District, BNSF, both sports stadiums and Expo Center, Metro and Sound Transit, and several other area businesses. Perteet also led the ITS, Illumination, signals, and signing design. Perteet helped provided a logical and sensitive sequence to accomplishing the work safely.  The plan minimized inconvenience to corridor users and event visitors including all modes of travel within the project area by maintaining existing traffic and pedestrian flow patterns, providing clear and easy to follow way-finding signing for ease of access, limiting construction impacts to stadium users and local businesses, and maximizing safety for the general public and construction personnel.  Understanding the concerns and needs of the various entities affected by this project and careful planning resulted in public confidence and stakeholder support as the work progressed.