State DOT Selects Three-Lane Design for US 2 Trestle Replacement

Drivers and transit riders on the US 2 corridor will face a new road layout under the design preferred by the Washington State Department of Transportation. The state unveiled this plan during a Senate committee meeting in Everett on Wednesday. The proposal calls for a complete replacement of the aging bridge structure that connects east Snohomish County to the city and Interstate 5.

The new trestle will feature three lanes of traffic in each direction. Full-width shoulders will run along the sides of the road. A dedicated path for cyclists and pedestrians will be built on the north side of the westbound lanes. One lane in each direction will be restricted to High Occupancy Vehicles, including transit buses and carpoolers.

Cameron Kukes, an assistant regional administrator at the state DOT, explained that the design prioritizes connections to surrounding roads. The plan includes three westbound off ramps into downtown Everett. These ramps will connect drivers to California Street, Everett Avenue, and Hewitt Avenue. One of these ramps will provide direct access to Everett Station for transit users. The ramps linking the trestle to Interstate 5 will also be rebuilt to include two lanes each to reduce congestion.

New lanes will also be added on the east side of the trestle. These connections will extend from the bridge structures to 20th Street Southeast and onto US 2. Kukes stated that these links to the neighboring network offer the greatest benefit to travelers. He noted that adding lanes to the trestle alone without fixing the surrounding connections would not solve the traffic problems.

"What we found was that it didn’t really matter how many lanes you put on the new trestle itself if you didn’t address the connections to the surrounding transportation network," Kukes said. "It wasn’t going to provide the benefits that we really need here."

The current trestle suffers from heavy peak-hour congestion and poses a risk of instability during major earthquakes. The state DOT has spent years and millions of dollars studying options to replace the aging infrastructure. The agency will release its draft planning and environmental linkages study in December. This document will detail the preferred design after the state analyzed numerous build options. The public will have until January to submit comments on the plan.

Allison Krutsinger, a director of external affairs at the DOT, said the total cost of the upgrades could range from $2 billion to $4 billion. She described these figures as "very, very preliminary." Funding could come from federal, state, and local sources. The Legislature may also add tolls to the trestle to help cover costs, though no final decision on tolling has been made. The agency is also considering a public-private partnership for the project.

Construction could begin in 2032, provided sufficient funding is secured. The state faces a major hurdle in financing this project while also funding a $14 billion bridge replacement over the Columbia River between Vancouver and Portland, Oregon. The building process for the new trestle is expected to take between six and 10 years.

Local officials attended the Wednesday meeting to voice support for the project. Ray Stephanson, former mayor of Everett and CEO of Economic Alliance Snohomish County, described the issue as regional rather than local. Cassie Franklin, the current mayor, emphasized the need for proactive investment to avoid higher future costs. Ric Ilgenfritz, head of Community Transit, called the two-way HOV lanes critical for effective service in the corridor.