The city is looking into ways to reduce congestion at the I-5 intersection at 320th street.

May 6, 2008 2:45 pm

The city is looking into ways to reduce congestion at the I-5 intersection at 320th street.

Good! The options: An exit at 312th Street, or an exit at 324th Street.

We’ve missed the open house on this issue, but FederalWayan thinks the 312th option is the best. If you look at the choices from a standpoint purely related to the commercial city center, mall and Highway 99 business artery, 324th Street looks more appealing. But those of us living in the real world know that congestion isn’t being caused by shoppers (well, except on 320th and 348th streets on Sundays, but that’s in-town traffic), but by people coming home from work — in other words, travel to and from the residential areas.

324th runs behind the mall, crosses Pacific Highway South, then smacks into Celebration Park at 9th Avenue South. The result: People trying to cram back up to 320th, or cramming into the slow road around the park. Effect: Moving the traffic a half mile west.

Meanwhile, 312th (a city arterial) crosses Pacific Highway South, 1st Avenue, and stops at Dash Point Road and 21st Avenue — two other city arterials. In its travels, it passes through lots of residential areas (like 320th does up to the same point). Also, this exit would be close and accessible to the 317th HOV exit, making 312th a route with multiple options for exiting. And a short drive up 28th Avenue gets you on Military Road.

The only problem is that, as both plans include extending the intersecting road over the highway to the other side, 312th would be brought over and end at a sleepy, pricey-looking neighborhood at 32nd Avenue South. The 312th plan should include connecting the dead-end of 312th there to the 312th on the other side of a vacant lot, which would connect it straight to Military.

The 324th plan in this case looks a lot more expensive. It requires overpassing the existing 320th southbound ramps, then cutting a road between two Weyerhaeuser buildings, and (it looks like) relocating a Weyerhaeuser road about 300 feet.

Federal Way resident Keith Tyler runs the blog FederalWayan.com.