TACOMA, Wash. — Pamela Bateman still remembers how much has changed in her life since 2000 when the Tacoma Pierce County HOV project first began.
“Every big thing in my life that I’ve had has been in 20 years,” she recalled. “I got re-married, got a wonderful husband, then all the grandkids, the fight through cancer. Everything major in my life has happened in the last 20 years.”
But she said one thing that hasn’t changed is traffic delays, ramp closures, and lowered speeds due to construction on Interstate 5.
“They do two lanes at a time, or one lane or whatever, and every year they keep adding more,” she said.
But after more than two decades, construction on the Tacoma portion of I-5 is coming to an end. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) announced that work crews will be paving the final section of highway this month.
Once completed, the interstate's HOV system will be connected between state Route 16 in Gig Harbor and I-5 in King County.
WSDOT communications consultant Cara Mitchell said it was a long process to make sure everything came together.
“Each project built the foundation for the next as we had to widen I-5 and State Route 16 to connect these lanes and bring them to fruition,” Mitchell said.
Bateman said she’s looking forward to the smoother ride on I-5, but wonders if it’ll be enough, given how fast Tacoma has grown since the project began.
“They thought, OK, we’ll add these extra couple of lanes, but this has been 20 years,” Mitchell pointed out. “The population of Tacoma has quadrupled since then.”
Mitchell said, currently, there’s no additional funding to expand the Tacoma section of I-5, so it’ll be vital to account for all the ways people travel in future road projects.
“We look at pedestrian accessibility, and bicycle accessibility, and we make sure those items are incorporated into the design,” she said.
So far, there isn’t a specific date on when it will be completed, but WSDOT said the work will be done by the end of the month.
In addition to the HOV lanes, the East L Street Bridge will reopen around the same time. The rebuilt bridge will feature more vehicle lanes, dedicated bike lanes and wider sidewalks.