LYNNWOOD, Wash. – Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) joined Mayor Christine Frizzell, Public Works Director William A. Franz, and Director of Development and Business Services Department David Kleitsch, on Wednesday, January 26, to tour four current and future infrastructure projects the City of Lynnwood identified could benefit from the investments in the Investments and Jobs Act.
The bipartisan infrastructure law, which passed late last year, will provide $550 billion in new spending to the country’s infrastructure, over the next fives years, including several long-term investments in Washington Lynnwood hopes to secure to develop its Poplar Way Bridge, City Center Station and City Square Park, and Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“I’m grateful for Rep. Larsen for coming and seeing with his own eyes what the projects are that we are asking for help with from the Federal Government. I’m excited to show him how we’re growing and what our needs specifically are with that growth,” Mayor Frizzell told the Lynnwood Times.
Poplar Way
The first stop on Larsen’s tour was the future Poplar Way Bridge site, an arterial bridge that will cross over Interstate 5, providing congestion relief to the Lynnwood City Center along 196th St SW, around Alderwood Mall, to 33rd Avenue West. The city has already secured $3,209,000 from federal and state grants for project design and $3,050,000 in federal grants for the right-of-way acquisition phase. The total cost of the project is around 35 to 45 million, with only the cost of construction remaining.
“We’re pretty positive we’re going to [secure funding],” Mayor Frizzell told the Lynnwood Times. “We really need it so that we can move growth from corridors that they’re already on and use the city even better.”
City Center Station and Town Square Park
Larsen and City staff then traveled to the future Lynnwood City Center Town Square Park and 42nd Avenue West, a future street that will aim to improve connectivity and pedestrian access currently in its design phase. Negotiations are also underway to purchase a nearly two-acre site on the future 42nd Avenue to create a Town Square Park that would support pedestrian and retail activities.
City Center Town Square Park Acquisition is envisioned as Lynnwood’s future gathering place. This help will help catalyze City Center’s transit-oriented development, supporting pedestrian-scale activity and retail, anchored by the Link light rail station.
Larsen, Mayor Frizzell, and City Staff then walked to the Lynnwood City Center Station to hear about the improvements to support the future Lynnwood Link light rail station and learn about proposed improvements to the 44th Avenue West Underpass, which aims to improve the existing underpass by creating a 10- to 12-foot shared-use pathway with lighting and artwork providing multimodal connections to the Lynnwood City Center Station.
Wastewater Treatment
Larsen’s final stop was scheduled to be the Wastewater Treatment Plant to hear how wastewater funding provided in the bipartisan infrastructure law can help provide necessary upgrades to the plant.
Population growth, an aging sewage sludge incinerator, and the Department of Ecology’s new Puget Sound Nutrient Permit have combined to require a very significant upgrade to Lynnwood’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, located on the shore of Puget Sound. A Facility Plan to study the future needs of the WWTP is almost complete. The ultimate plan to solve all needs for growth and Puget Sound water quality is estimated to cost almost $200 million.
However, a scheduling issue prevented the final tour location from happening.
“We want to connect with all of our legislators. We don’t know where the infrastructure money is coming into, we don’t know if it’s going to be state, county, city; it’s going to be all three of those but we don’t know how much,” Mayor Frizzell told the Lynnwood Times. “We just continue to be collaborative because what benefits Lynnwood benefits the whole area – benefits the county, as we are the third-largest city in the county.”
