Highway 18 Redevelopment Project

 
 

State Route 18 is undergoing improvements to help safely connect Maple Valley and the South Sound with Snoqualmie and the I-90 corridor. This project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve wildlife connectivity from the Cascades to the entire Issaquah Alps, enhance recreation infrastructure for all, and provide safe and efficient highway transportation for our region. Unfortunately, while the current plan proposed by WSDOT this month tries to address important safety concerns, it does not include these key features.


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Wildlife Passage

We want to better understand whether the current plan addresses large mammal and fish passages which affect both ecosystem health and traveler safety. Learn more here.

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Summit Interchange

The current plan will build a divider across the road requiring vehicles to travel one direction adding additional travel time, GHG emissions and safety concerns. A design for an interchange should be included in the plan.

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Regional Trails Access

Tiger summit is a central trailhead that currently sees significant traffic from hikers and mountain bikers. The absence of an interchange will negatively impact this recreation resource.

 

Our Response 

The Issaquah Alps Trails Club has partnered with organizations such as the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, and King County Search and Rescue Association to advocate for this project. We provided a letter to WADOT that includes our requests for this project, and created a project briefing guide.

Read the letter here.

Project briefing link. 

 

What you can do

We need your help to make sure our representatives know about our concerns with the current plan for SR-18. Find your representative below and contact them to voice your support of wildlife passages, a summit interchange, and recreation access to be included in the design for SR-18.

Representatives:

Mark Allison— SR18Improvements@wsdot.wa.gov — WSDOT Lead Project Engineer

Rep. Bill Ramos — Bill.Ramos@leg.wa.gov — 5th District State Representative

Rep. Lisa Callan — lisa.callan@leg.wa.gov — 5th District State Representative

S. Mark Mullet — mark.mullet@leg.wa.gov — State Senate

Find your representatives: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/

Sample Letter:

Dear XXXXX,

I'm writing to you in support of the State Route 18 project from Deep Creek to Issaquah Hobart Road. This is an important opportunity to protect wildlife, enhance recreation and improve safety. I urge you to  include the following project elements not currently addressed in the January 2021 plan.

  • Tiger Summit Interchange:  We must have a plan to include this infrastructure for recreation access and to support communication and forest industry. 

  • WildlIfe Passage: We must address large animal passages at four critical areas: Deep Creek, Raging River, Hanson Creek and Summit.  

  • Regional Trails: We must ensure that current infrastructure does not preclude the development of a regional trail through this corridor for bikers and hikers 

Thank you for your action to help build this project right the first time,

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