Traffic crosses over the freeway on the Northeast 139th Street overpass, which added a second east-west corridor in congested Salmon Creek. (Photos by Natalie Behring/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
Drivers have embraced the Northeast 139th Interchange in the 20 months since it opened and it has improved traffic around Salmon Creek, the data show.
Afternoon commuters along Northeast 134th Street may have gained the most benefit from the project. Data collected by Clark County shows the new Interstate 5 exit at Northeast 139th Street reduced traffic by almost half along the 134th Street corridor. Earlier this month, the county counted about 8,800 vehicles exiting northbound I-5 at 134th Street and another 7,700 at 139th Street on an average weekday.
The county’s traffic engineering staff is still adjusting signal timing to improve traffic flow, but is confident about the upgrades.
“From the perspective of Clark County Public Works, the project has been a major success in easing traffic congestion and improving safety,” said Clark County Public Works spokesman Jeff Mize.
About a month after the 139th interchange opened, county traffic surveys recorded about 13,000 cars per day just east of the interchange. Starting in May 2015 the figure climbed to 18,000, which Mize described as the “new normal.”
In the summer, traffic volumes dropped by roughly 2,000 cars, around the time Washington State University Vancouver started summer break, but spiked back up to around 18,000 when school resumed in August.
Traffic nightmare
It took $133 million, 17 years of planning and four years of construction to build the new interchange and freeway overpass, which were completed in late August 2014. The project also involved rebuilding local roads and improving I-5 and I-205 near the convergence of the two freeways.
According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, before the 139th interchange was built the 3.1-mile trip from near Northeast Third Court to Northeast 29th Avenue and back took close to 20 minutes. After construction, travel time went down to five minutes.
“The improvement in travel time was due to the overall effect of the reduced congestion,” WSDOT spokeswoman Tamara Greenwell said.
For afternoon commuters on I-5 and 205, the new interchange shortened offramp wait times at 134th Street by up to two minutes, according to WSDOT. Before the 139th Street interchange was built, backups at the northbound 134th Street exits on both freeways often extended all the way down the ramps and onto the freeways. There are still rush-hour backups, but they’re closer to 300 feet long.
“The project didn’t change the actual I-205 interchange, but the work around it on the ramps and the county streets is what helped in that reduction of time,” Greenwell said.
Officials from Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center and American Medical Response ambulance service said they’re noticing less congestion in the area and appreciate having three road options to access the hospital.
“For northbound traffic from Vancouver, the new interchange has made the trip much easier because it’s a simple right-hand turn and straight to the medical center — easy to see and streamlined with less traffic,” Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center spokeswoman Kelly Love wrote in an email.
Jeff Bissett, operations manager of American Medical Response, said lights and sirens give ambulances a leg up in all kinds of traffic scenarios, but their drivers are noticing less traffic as well.
Bridget Schwarz, president of the Fairgrounds Neighborhood Association, said the 139th interchange reduced area traffic problems almost immediately, but it isn’t a panacea.
“There is improvement but there are still really long wait times, especially in the Northeast Highway 99 through 134th area,” she said. “You can wait and wait and wait and when the light finally changes it’s going to go red right in front of you. It still has times where it is very unpleasant, but it has improved.”
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