The state Department of Transportation is finalizing plans to reduce congestion on Interstate 5 in Snohomish County.
WSDOT says since 1980, Snohomish County's population increased 137 percent and another 200,000 more people are expected by 2035.
Most of those people are commuting on I-5 between Marysville and Everett. Congestion is often at the I-5 and SR 528 interchange and continues south.
WSDOT is planning two projects. One is to build a new I-5 interchange, which would add another exit in and out of Marysville about a mile south of the main exit at Fourth Street.
Another is to add a peak-hour shoulder lane for traffic going northbound on I-5, similar to the ones already on I-405.
The total cost of the projects is $84 million.
The City of Marysville also has plans to expand from the new I-5 interchange east to SR 9 in a project called the First Street Bypass.
It will divert traffic from a busy Fourth and State Avenue intersection, which usually sees delays because of the trains that run through that area of town.
The projects are still in the design or pre-planning phases, but construction should begin later this year and finish by 2023.
Cox Media Group
