Washington State Route 167

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State Route 167, commonly known as the Valley Freeway, connects Interstate 5 in Tacoma with Interstate 405 in Renton.

SR 167 runs east as a four-lane divided (only by a left-turn lane) highway from Interstate 5 in Tacoma along the Puyallup River into Puyallup, then after three traffic lights becomes a freeway and turns north. North of Auburn, the freeway has high-occupancy vehicle lanes. There is a project underway to convert these HOV lanes to high-occupancy toll lanes.^[1] SR 167 ends just north of Interstate 405, at State Route 900 in Renton.^[2] Prior to 1992, the route terminated farther north at MLK Jr Way in Seattle. An overloaded interchange with I-405 results in routine backups on I-405 as far as Tukwila to the west and the Kennydale Hill to the north. A flyover ramp completed in 2003 has improved the situation,^[3] but a more comprehensive solution is being planned as part of I-405 widening.^[4]

In the works are plans to convert the entire route in Pierce County into a freeway.^[5] The proposed highway would bypass the snarled traffic at Meridian Way in Puyallup and continue across Interstate 5 to SR 509 in the city of Fife. This would save many people time travelling from Tacoma to Puyallup seeing as the original highway is just a four-lane road with at-grade intersections and a speed limit of 50 mph. It would also, in theory, complete the gap of a bypass to I-5 between Renton and Tacoma.

SR 167 is 28 miles (46 km) in length.

SR 167 is known as the Valley Freeway from its intersection with I-405 in Renton to the freeway's end in Puyallup with the SR-512 intersection. When 167 becomes a freeway its entire length from Tacoma to Renton, the Valley Freeway title will likely come with it from Puyallup to Tacoma.

[edit] See also

• List of Washington State Routes

[edit] References

1. ^ WSDOT: SR167 HOT Lanes Pilot Project
2. ^ RCW 47.17.330: Legal definition of SR 167
3. ^ WSDOT: Congestion Improvements from I-405/SR167 Ramp Separation
4. ^ WSDOT: I-405 - I-5 to SR169 Widening (includes I-405/SR167 area)
5. ^ WSDOT: SR167 Tacoma to Edgewood new freeway

	edit State routes in Washington related to SR 16
SR 16 Spur - SR 160 - SR 161 - SR 162 - SR 163 - SR 164 - SR 165 - SR 166 - SR 167 - SR 169
Former or proposed: SR 168

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