Construction of freeway from port to I-5 starts in summer 2022. Video shows the route
A highway that’s been on the drawing boards for more than half a century will begin construction in summer 2022. The first segment of the state Route 167 Completion Project will build a 2-mile-long expressway between the Port of Tacoma and Interstate 5, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Construction of the 4-lane tolled highway that will connect I-5 to state Route 509 will cost $367 million. It’s scheduled to open in September 2026.
In November, Guy F. Atkinson Construction was selected as the contractor for the project, which is intended to provide a faster, less-congested route to and from the port and eventually to the warehousing centers in the Kent Valley.
When the entire project is finished in 2028, a 6-mile-long toll road will link Route 509 with Route 167 where it now ends in Puyallup.
The state Department of Transportation (WSDOT) recently released a video animation that shows what the expressway will look like from I-5 to where it connects with Route 509 at Alexander Ave.
The project will ease congestion between the port and I-5, said John White, an administrator with WSDOT’s Puget Sound Gateway Program, which manages the Route 167 project.
A project completed earlier this year paved the way for the expressway. The new Wapato Way East overpass replaced the old 70th Avenue East overpass at the Fife curve. As part of the next phase of the project, that old overpass will be replaced by a diverging diamond interchange — the eventual connecting point for Route 167 and I-5.
Drivers should expect delays as the old overpass is demolished and the new interchange is built, WSDOT said.
A shared-use path for walkers, cyclists and other non-motorized transport will run parallel to the expressway. When finished, it will connect with the existing path that goes over Wapato Way overpass and the nearby Interurban Trail.
Current plans call for that new path to end where the expressway connects to SR 509. However, a WSDOT study plan is looking at extending the path to Tacoma.
Atkinson named as contractor
Atkinson was the lowest bidder on the design-build project, WSDOT said.
Atkinson is the same contractor working to complete the HOV project through Tacoma. In October, Atkinson told WSDOT it needed at least six more months to complete that project due to an unavailability of construction materials and weather delays.
The company has several large projects in the area and can adequately handle the 167 Completion Project, WSDOT spokeswoman Laura Newborn said. Availability of construction materials has been factored into the 2026 completion date.
“We did not hear any concerns about the time line from any of the contractors interested in working on the project,” she said.
Toll Road
From the day it opens, the 2-mile-long segment between I-5 and Route 509 will be tolled.
Final plans call for two automated, electronic tolling stations. One will be on the 2-mile-long segment and another will be on the 4-mile-long segment. No tollbooths are involved, much like the Route 520 bridge and the Route 99 tunnel in the Seattle area, WSDOT said. The toll rates are expected to vary by time of day.
All lanes will be tolled. While drivers unwilling to pay the toll can still take existing routes, WSDOT expects the shipping industry to take advantage of the new road and reduce congestion on I-5 and other routes to and from the port.
“It is much more efficient to pay a toll than to idle in traffic,” Newborn said.
The state Transportation Commission will begin the rate-setting process when the road is nearing completion, Newborn said.
Above and around Hylebos Creek
The new road will be built on fill dirt to raise it above the flood plain, WSDOT said. The agency estimates it will need 3 million cubic yards.
“Some of the fill was provided by the Port of Tacoma from a nearby habitat restoration project,” Newborn said. “We have also been stockpiling surplus fill material for several years on our future highway right of way from other projects around the Puget Sound.”
Contractors will need to get dirt from nearby pits to complete the entire 6-mile-long project, she said.
Some of the route goes through former business and residential areas. Two businesses are currently relocating, Newborn said. The parcels are now owned by WSDOT and the Port.
It also goes through what is now natural lands, approximating the route of Hylebos Creek along some of the way. In some areas, the creek will have to be relocated. Overall, Newborn said, the project will revitalize and restore 150 acres of wetlands.
Future light rail
The expressway will eventually cross paths with the Tacoma Dome Link Extension project which promises to bring Seattle’s light rail network from Federal Way to Tacoma in 2032.
Station placement and routes are being discussed, according to Sound Transit spokesman Scott Thompson. That agency’s planners are working with WSDOT to account for the eventual light rail structures.
The light rail will go through riparian areas in the area of the new expressway, Thompson said. A draft environmental impact statement on the light rail route will come out in 2022.
