The Crisis

4 LANE HIGHWAY TO JOIN SR162 

• 4 lane highway from the Bonney Lake plateau (Tehaleh and Falling Water developments) begins construction in 2020.

• Over 1000 additional vehicles per peak commute hour predicted by WSDOT

• Developments add over 10,000 new residential homes

• New highway serves as a gateway to these developments

• 4 lanes connect with two lane SR162 using a 3 lane roundabout at McMillin (128th St E)

• Mathmatically it equates to over 90 cars per peak commute MINUTE will converge on this roundabout (solid string in all directions)

ADDITIONAL 1000 CARS PER PEAK HOUR 

• SR162 ranks 4th in the State for traffic collisions

• County projects an increase of up to 1000 vehicles onto SR162 per peak commuting hour

• Within 10 years there will be an additional 30,000 vehicles PER DAY traveling between Sumner and Orting

• What is your commute on SR162 like today at current volumes?

• Currently SR162 is at peak capacity during commute hours - State rates the level of service at "F" failure

• Additional cars will not increase traffic (now at maximum) only extend the commuting peak hours adding more time to your commute

• We won't even mention what would happen if the valley ever faces a volcano lahar under these gridlock conditions

IMPACTS TO SR162

• Traffic Flow - how best to handle additional volume

• Impact upon secondary valley roads (Military Road, McCutcheon, and Riverside Dr)

• Highway access and egress dangers

• Businesses will be impacted (already feeling the negative effects of today's traffic) 

• SR162 lacks emergency shoulders

  • No provision for safe bus stop zones for school buses and community transit (if and when we get it)

• SR410 / SR162 Interchange is a major problem

• WSDOT and Pierce County must be the target of a large and organized campaign to reduce the impacts of this new highway on affected corridors

WHY WAS THIS NEW HIGHWAY APPROVED TO BEGIN WITH?

• Pierce County required Tehaleh (originally Cascadia) to create a second major corridor connecting to their development

• Pierce County was also looking for a replacement corridor for Roads Lake Road E.

• Resulting in a 4 lane highway from Tehaleh to the two lane SR 162 - anyone see anything wrong here?

• Thus creating a new gateway and more direct route into the Tehaleh development

  • Currently there is only one other adequate connection to that community and it is through Bonney Lake

  • Tehaleh is the largest of the new Bonney Lake plateau developments (projected over 9700 dwelling units, plus businesses)

• There is no stopping the addition of this highway which will begin construction in 2021 and open 2026

• Now the ball is in the WSDOT's court to minimize the highway's impacts to SR162 traffic and valley residents

  • Tehaleh has allotted up $21 million to WSDOT for improvements on SR162

  • WSDOT is putting a majority of that into a roundabout at the SR162 connection (128th St E)

  • WSDOT has no funding available for additional highway improvements

WSDOT INSTALLING ROUNDABOUT AT INTERSECTION OF 128th St E and SR162

• Many issues with this decision

  1. Roundabouts can and do work well in most applications HOWEVER those applications that do not have the conditions encountered in this transportation corridor.To include:Over 1000 trucks each day negotiating roundabouts with cars (most are tractor trailer combinations)

  2. That is over 100 units per hour between 6am and 4pm

  3. Truck slowdowns negotiating roundabouts negate their effectiveness

  4. Daily volumes of 21,000 vehicles now and 150% more in 2035

  5. Farming corridor with seasonal business activity from June to December

  6. Peak commuting level of service rating of "F" (failure, meaning stop and go with more stop)

  7. Rails to Trails pedestian and bike traffic crossings

  8. Nearly 140 uncontrolled highway access points (residential & commercial streets and drives)

  9. Commuters already endured hours of driving must then feel stress of "roundabout anxiety"

  10. Lahar evacuation is choked by roundabouts (all lanes will travel north during evacuation-will be slowed by roundabouts)

  11. Roundabouts meter cars causing continuous evenly spaced traffic downstream

  12. Eliminates signal breaks in traffic for highway access and egress for homes and businesses

  13. Higher cost of building roundabouts could be better used for widening highway

  14. In theory there are fewer serious accidents but greater risk for fender benders (no injury accidents at this intersection in last 10 yrs)

  15. City of Sumner rejected roundabout design for SR410/Traffic Ave interchange upgrade due to issues including truck volumne

  16. Future WSDOT planning includes 11 roundabouts between Sumner and Orting

  17. WSDOT also admits that roundabout and signaled intersections do not mix on the same corridor

YOUR HELP IS STILL NEEDED

1. Emails, letter writing or direct contact with WSDOT officials is your most effective action

   1. You can email them the using the links we provide on our Please Help page

   2. We need to keep pressuring the WSDOT to raise the priority of the SR162 Sumner to Orting corridor improvements

   3. The State legislature is the funding mechanism for WSDOT so continue to contact them throughout the year.

   4. Visit our "PLEASE HELP" page to become part of the SR162 traffic solution