History
The whole stretch highway from Wenberg County Park to current SR 9 has been known to exist earlier than 1911. 172nd Street NE, now SR 531, once extended from what is currently SR 9 to the banks of the South Fork Stillaguamish River. This part of the highway has been removed.
SR 531 became a state highway in 1991, but the highway designation did not take effect until April 1, 1992. In 2006, WSDOT announced it would complete three more projects over about five years to improve SR 531. The first, to improve the bridge and interchange between I-5 and SR 531, began immediately. The Tulalip, Stillaguamish, Samish and Kikiallus Tribes helped fund the construction of the project. On April 30, 2005, the old two-lane SR 531 bridge was demolished during the night. WSDOT redirected traffic on SR 531 to the completed north side of the new bridge, while the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 were closed to all traffic and rerouted on ramps from I-5 to SR 531. During construction, eastbound SR 531 left-turn lanes were closed; a detour on Smokey Point Boulevard and SR 530 provided direct drivers access to northbound I-5. The other half of the bridge was later demolished in May 2005. All of the temporary structures on the bridge were subsequently removed in December 2005. Partly finished in June 2006, WSDOT plans to complete the project after adding a loop ramp in 2011. In August 2007, WSDOT completed a project to add sidewalks along SR 531 to the adjacent schools of the Lakewood School District.
On October 5, 2008, WSDOT discovered a collapsed culvert on SR 531's bridge over Cougar Creek. Days later, a sinkhole formed near the bridge, prompting authorities to close the bridge for repairs. SR 531 was closed for three days, from October 21 until October 24, and drivers on SR 531 used a detour, which went east on McRae Road, southeast on 45 Road, and north on 11th Avenue, ending at Lakewood High School, a 4.03-mile (6.49 km) route. The cause of the collapse remains unknown, and WSDOT decided not to investigate incident. Inspectors suspect the culvert later caused a sinkhole to form. Trenchless Construction, the contractor in charge of the project, used a hydraulic ram to insert a 24-inch (610 mm) diameter pipe into the existing culvert, stabilizing it.
An upcoming project, adding a loop ramp onto the I-5 interchange, started in March 2009 and will end in 2011. WSDOT has awarded the contract for the project to Northwest Construction, Inc. Part of the project includes widening the main entry point to Lakewood Crossing, by adding turn pockets. Widening SR 531 between 43rd Avenue NE and 67th Avenue NE from its current two to five lanes near the Arlington Airport is another planned project. The project is currently in planning stages and WSDOT has set up a webpage for the project.
Read more about this topic: Washington State Route 531
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