A planned grade separation that will improve traffic flow and safety has received funding from the Port of Seattle Commission.
The commission on May 23 approved $595,000 toward the $25-million project that will construct an overpass along South 228th Street over the Union Pacific tracks. The port says the project improves regional connections between thousands of businesses, employers and 40 million square feet of warehouse and industrial space.
“The Port of Seattle recognizes the need to keep freight, and all other traffic, moving throughout our region,” said Commissioner Stephanie Bowman. “Grade separations like these are critical to remove traffic bottlenecks, especially areas in the Kent Valley that handle the second-largest freight and cargo volumes on the West Coast.”
“The success of both the Port of Seattle and the Kent Valley’s robust manufacturing, warehouse and distribution activity depends upon safe, reliable, timely connections to the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, and increasingly to Sea-Tac Airport,” said Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke. “Kent’s South 228th Street has been designated as a key freight route, attracting Port customers who value timely access. The elimination of the chokepoint at the Union Pacific Railroad crossing will help ensure our region’s future as a premier manufacturing and distribution center of world-wide importance.”