Tag: Snohomish County

Fun News From the #ArlingtonFlyIn

Carl Setzer
Arlington Fly-In Logo

My good friends, Jack & Francine over at Whiskey Ridge Brewery in Arlington will be providing beer for the beer-garden at this Year’s Fly-In. This is exciting news for them! (Full disclosure: I built their website and help with their social media.)

In case you didn’t know, the Arlington Fly-In is a big deal for recreation aviation enthusiasts. This began as a one day fly-in and spaghetti feed WAAY back in 1969. It’s quite a hoot and one of the more unique Northwest events. This year it’s July 9-11.

 

Neighborly Reminder: Fireworks Are No Longer Legal in #Lynnwood

Carl Setzer
City of Lynnwood Logo

With much angst, Lynnwood’s city council banned fireworks last year. I expect that they’ll be vigorous with enforcement. Or they won’t, but I wouldn’t push my luck. Anyway, just making sure everyone is thinking about it. Whether or not you like it, it’s now the law.

City officials would like to remind Lynnwood residents that discharging fireworks, even the ‘safe and sane’ variety, is no longer legal in Lynnwood city limits. Instead, we urge you to enjoy a local firework show hosted by one of our many neighboring cities.

On June 17, 2014, the Lynnwood City Council adopted Ordinance 3066 which prohibits the sale and discharge of fireworks in the city, effective in 2015. Anyone caught discharging fireworks in the city limits will have their fireworks confiscated. They may also be cited and face misdemeanor charges.

Visit our events calendar for a listing of local shows at www.ci.lynnwood.wa.us/events.

Lynnwood’s Mayor Smith’s State of the City 2015

Carl Setzer
City of Lynnwood Logo

Doesn’t look like I’ll be able to make it, but here’s a great chance to be “in the know”.

Lynnwood Washington
SOC

You’re invited to join Mayor Nicola Smith on Tuesday, June 2 from 8-9:30am at the Lynnwood Convention Center as she delivers her 2015 State of the City Address.

Mayor Smith will be joined by Emcee Jim Stephanson of the Economic Alliance Snohomish County, with remarks by: Jean Hales of the Economic Alliance Snohomish County, Lynnwood City Council President Loren Simmonds, Lynnwood resident and volunteer Ed dos Remedios, and Owner of Lynnwood Acura Jim Marino.

This event is free to the community, but registration is strongly encouraged. Visit theEconomic Alliance events page to register.

For more information on the State of the City Address, visit us online or contact
Julie Moore at jmoore@ci.lynnwood.wa.us or 425-670-5023.

Snohomish County Peeps: Be Aware Of Glorious Traffic Nastiness

Carl Setzer
WSDOT Logo

I appreciate the clever wit of our team at the WSDOT. They make the normally dry topic of traffic interesting. I heard about the the highway-line-painter blowing a line earlier this week, and I’ve seen the glorious yellow line as I drive by that daily. Though it’s a bummer about the broken painter machine, I was able to get some good Twitter tread from it. So much clever repartee. Anyway, their email is below for your edification and delight.

A few comments: the last bit is about this Sunday’s Sounders/Mariners games.  Since the games overlap, traffic will be awful. I lived that dream (nightmare) when I worked at Starbucks corporate in SODO (shudder). I recommend Sound Transit’s Sounder Train for these events. It’s slick and easy. If you live around Edmonds, Mukilteo or Everett, the stops are exceptionally convenient. Use it! Make your life better.

 

Paint cleanup on aisle four. …I mean on Sunday

Some of us paint outside the lines because we’re creative. Some – like me – because we aren’t good painters. And sometimes, your equipment just fails. That’s what happened this pastTuesday to one of our lane striping crews on southbound I-5 in Everett, when, during some routine work, a hose on their striping truck broke. This left a stripe of yellow paint in the middle of the HOV lane between about 112th Street Southwest and 128th Street Southwest.

We put up signs warning drivers and everyone seemed to handle it well, but we’re going to fix it all the same. So from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sunday, May 31, the two left lanes of southbound I-5 from 112th to 128th will be closed while we cover up the paint and get things back to normal.

Nighttime SR 522 ramp closure in Monroe this week

We’re getting oh so close. Our SR 522 widening project in Monroe is nearly complete (they’re mostly down to just final touch-up work) but we still have some closures we need to do before we can call it finished.

The eastbound SR 522 off-ramp to 164th Street Southeast/West Main Street will be closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly from Monday, June 1 to the morning of Friday, June 5 while contractor crews working for WSDOT do drainage work. A signed detour will be in place. West Main Street from Fryelands Boulevard to the roundabout at the bottom of the closed ramp will also be closed and drivers will follow a pilot car through the work zone.

SR 20 paving project starts in June

It’s not Snohomish County, but probably worth knowing about. As part of our SR 20 paving project between Anacortes and Oak Harbor that starts next month, we’ll be repaving the Deception Pass and Canoe Pass bridges sometime between mid-July and end of August. That will require the bridges to close to traffic for five nights (7:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.) starting on a Sunday and ending on a Friday morning. The bridges will be open on Friday and Saturday nights. Stay tuned for exact dates.

Take me out to the ballgames Sunday

It’s going to be a traffic crunch headed to Sodo on Sunday as the Mariners play the Cleveland Indians at 1:10 p.m. at Safeco Field and the Sounders play the New York Red Bulls at 2 p.m. at CenturyLink Field. If you’re like me and you’re going to one of the games (I’ll have my scarf up for an Oba flip), you’ll want to leave really early, maybe consider taking transit (Sounder trains will be running to the stadiums on Sunday) and definitely pack patience. Have a great weekend!

Questions, comments, suggestions, favorite pizza toppings (I’m an onion, green pepper and tomato guy)? Send them to Mike Allende at allendm@wsdot.wa.gov

 

WSDOT work this weekend in Everett, and other news

Carl Setzer
WSDOT Logo

Snohomish County  Highway and construction Updates

 

I-5 Everett bridge inspection Saturday

If you’re headed north on I-5 Saturday morning – maybe headed to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (see below) – be ready for some potential slowdown near the SR 526/SR 527 interchange. WSDOT bridge maintenance crews will be doing bridge inspection work that will close two lanes from about5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. A single lane will remain closed until about 2 p.m.

Full SR 522 ramp closure Monday night

Monroe drivers should prepare for a full closure of the westbound SR 522 ramp to West Main Street/164th Street Southeast from 7 p.m. Monday, April 13 until 5 a.m. Tuesday, April 14. The section of West Main Street/164th Street between Fryelands Boulevard and the east roundabout will also be closed from 10 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday (a signed detour will be in place). During the closure, contractor crews working for WSDOT will continue their work on the new roundabout on the west side of SR 522. This is part of the SR 522 widening project.

Improved traffic flow coming to SR 99 in Everett

A project that will improve traffic flow on SR 99 at Airport Road in Everett begins this coming week. Contractor crews working for WSDOT will begin removing parts of traffic islands in both directions of SR 99 at Airport Road to create a third, bus-only through lane. Right now, the islands extend into the right lane, requiring vehicles to turn onto eastbound or westbound Airport Road. Once the islands have been reduced, about 150 Community Transit buses each day will be able to proceed through the intersection in the right lane. Cars and trucks can also use the lane but will have to make right turns onto Airport Road. Some other work is included in the project as well. No traffic control is planned for this coming week but there will be some lane closures in the future so be sure to stay plugged in to our Northwest Construction Update page.

Full southbound SR 529 closures complete

Full southbound closures of SR 529 between Marysville and Everett are finished, which is great news for drivers who have been detouring to I-5 while workers do maintenance work on the Snohomish River Bridge. We’ll still have some single-lane closures between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.Monday, April 13 through Thursday, April 16 so be prepared for some delays.

Remember, it’s tulip time

I’ll admit it, I drove to Bellingham on Easter and forgot about traffic headed to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. It’s not a mistake I’ll make again. So I’ll remind myself and you, prepare for significant traffic delays, especially on weekends, headed to the tulip fields. If you can, leave very early or as it gets dark. Otherwise, pack patience, great tunes and avoid the Big Gulps because it could be a real slow-go in the Mount Vernon area.

Why’s It Called Nike Hill, Anyway?

Carl Setzer

This morning I drove out to Bothell from Lynnwood. As I hate the freeways, especially in the morning, I back-roaded it out there. Passing a number of construction sites out there didn’t surprise me. This area is quite high in demand, as it’s really the furthermost north end the East-side. One thing in particular stood out: some houses  on Vine Road with fencing around them.

I first remember seeing these decades ago. These looked just like all the military housing I’d grew up around. At first that seemed strange, then I learned about Nike Hill. Named after the missile silo not-so-secretly placed on the summit of the hill, I believed the housing was originally for those soldiers. They were built in in 1950, right around the time the silo first came online. Also, the street (technically 216th Pl SW) is Nike Manor Rd. So, viola!

Now, the buildings are owned by the Navy, so my guess is that they were housing sailors stationed with the Everett Homeport. Today, fenced off and vacant, I wondered if they’d been sold to private developers, but they still show as owned by the LLC that the Navy set up to manage properties in the region. So, perhaps they’re going to upgrade these. As they’re pretty much unchanged from the 1950s, that should be rather welcome.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what’s to come there.

 

Sidebar: Here’s an interesting article about the site, and how it became the FEMA regional headquarters it is now.

BOTHELL’S NIKE HILL HOME TO REGIONAL FEMA HEADQUARTERS

Oh, the glories of Traffic!

Carl Setzer

Traffic, traffic, traffic…it’s been a heck of a week traffic-wise in our region. Been quite grateful for the reverse commute, let me tell you. Anyway, here’s some good info to make your travelling less woeful.

Snohomish County  Highway and construction Updates

Rain fouls up roadwork

Not only has the rain made commute times awful this past week, it’s also making it extremely difficult to complete a lot of the roadwork we had hoped to do. That includes reopening the ramp from eastbound SR 522 to eastbound US 2 in Monroe. Contractor crews closed the ramp in early September so they could finish work on the 179th Avenue Bridge. That work included everything from waterproofing the bridge deck to finishing the paving on and around it. We were prepared to wrap up the paving over the past week and a half. And then the skies opened up. And it rained, and rained and rained some more.

We don’t have a date for reopening the ramp at this point. We apologize for this delay and know it’s inconvenient, but drivers can still access US 2 by simply continuing straight on SR 522. Thank you again for your patience.

Video explains efforts to restore I-5 Skagit River Bridge

How did the I-5 Skagit River Bridge get repaired and traffic get restored so quickly? Hardworking crews put together temporary, then permanent spans in a matter of a few months. Supporting their efforts took a lot of cooperation from local, state and federal officials. The Federal Highway Administration put together an interesting video that talks about the response and what went into restoring I-5.

Major I-5 Seattle closure Friday night

If your plans Friday night include a trip into south Seattle, head’s up: A Seattle City Light project will close both directions of I-5 near Boeing Field, with lanes starting to close at 9 p.m. All lanes will reopen by 6 a.m. Saturday. Expect congestion as people move through the detours.

Speaking of Seattle, you’ll want to prepare for heavy traffic Saturday as a huge crowd will watch the Sounders claim the Supporter’s Shield with a win over the Los Angeles Galaxy at noon at CenturyLink Field. Also, the Husky football team will scorch Arizona State at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at Husky Stadium, so expect significant congestion in the Montlake area.

Light reading for transportation wonks

If you’ve been looking for some light reading to pass the time on these wet and windy fall nights, you’re in luck. We recently published our annual Corridor Capacity Report. I don’t want to give away too much of the story (especially the surprise ending!), but it’s full of traffic trends, stats and figures. Some pretty interesting stuff in there.

Winter is coming

Winter isn’t just coming to Westeros, it’s also coming to our beautiful part of the country. Are you ready? It’s never too early to start preparing so read up on our tips for getting you and your car in shape so you aren’t caught out in the cold.

Evergreen State Fair Time

Carl Setzer

Fall is in the air. Yep, it’s time for Monroe’s famous Evergreen State Fair. It starts up tomorrow, August 21st.

Tickets are available online. Today is the last day to get discounted tickets and gate admission, apparently.

And more information is available on their Facebook page.

Comcast Arena Hosts GEAR Expo : April 26 & 27

Carl Setzer
As an outdoor enthusiast, this looks amazing! And, how much more awesome can we get than in my (proverbial) backyard.
This year’s Expo features nearly 200 booths, over 25 speakers, a kid’s activity area, a wine and beer garden, and a 30′ sandstone climbing wall.  A special thanks to the Snohomish Tourism Board, who sponsored the climbing wall, so it will be free each day between 10 am – 12 pm.  The American Hiking Society will have a Trails Pavilion featuring local hiking, camping and recreational boating.

Also, if that wasn’t fun enough, there will be fabulous prizes given away daily. Make sure you get your ‘passport for the ‘passport booth crawl’ (also featuring various speakers and exhibitors). 

This year’s keynote speaker, Helen Thayer, will share experiences from her global expeditions. Ms. Thayer has been named one of the Great Explorers of the Twentieth Century by National Geographic and honored by the White House.  She will sign her books during both days of the expo. 

More information can be found below and at gearupexpo.com.

GEAR Expo Sets up Camp
Second Annual Tradeshow Presents Latest Gear for Outdoor Enthusiasts

Saturday, April 26 – 10 am – 5 pm
Sunday, April 27 – 10 am – 4 pm

Tickets are available at the door.  

$10 adult, $5 ages 11 – 17, $5 with military ID and free for ages 10 and under.

Comcast Arena at Everett – Edward D Hansen Conference Center
2000 Hewitt Avenue, Everett, Washington 98201
p 425.322.2600 – f 425.322.2601 – www.ComcastArenaEverett.com