Washington State Route 167

State Route 167, commonly known as the Valley Freeway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Interstate 5 in Tacoma with Interstate 405 in Renton, and is 28.60 miles (46.03 km) long.

Route description

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's south bank into Puyallup. SR 167 crosses the Puyallup River. Just north of the river, SR 167 turns east onto a freeway at a partial interchange. SR 167 begins a brief concurrency with SR 161 at this interchange. The freeway continues east towards Sumner. SR 161 leaves SR 167 at an interchange with State Route 512, which goes south. SR 167 continues east and meets State Route 410 at an interchange.^[2] The highway then turns north, and has a large interchange with State Route 18 in Auburn near The SuperMall of the Great Northwest.^[3] North of Auburn, the freeway has high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. These HOV lanes were converted to high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on May 3, 2008 as a pilot project.^[4]

State Route 167 then continues north passing through the city of Kent before reaching Interstate 405 in Renton.^[5] 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,^[6] but a more comprehensive solution is being planned as part of I-405 widening.^[7] SR 167 ends just north of Interstate 405, at State Route 900 in Renton.^[8]

History

Portions of State Route 167 were added to Washington's state highway system as early as 1913 as part of the Pacific Highway, although most of this was then deleted in 1923.^[9][10] The only portion kept was that between Auburn and Renton, which became part of State Road 5. The rest of the route (between Auburn and Tacoma) was added back to the state highway system two years later in 1925, also as a part of State Road 5.^[11] This route was extended north along Rainier Avenue into Seattle in 1937.^[12]

When Washington's current numbering system was developed with the 1964 renumbering, State Route 167 followed what is now State Route 164 from Enumclaw to Auburn before turning north towards Renton and Seattle. What is now SR 167 between Tacoma and Auburn was numbered U.S. Route 410 (later SR 410) between Tacoma and Sumner, and State Route 163 between Sumner and Auburn.^[13] These highways were renumbered to their current designations in 1973.^[14] The highway between Renton and Seattle was removed from the state highway system in 1991, although the law did not take effect until April 1, 1992.^[15]

Future developments

WSDOT plans to convert the entire route in Pierce County to a freeway.^[16] WSDOT is performing advance design and engineering work. 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. The project would construct a new six mile (10 km) freeway north of the Puyallup River and complete the partial interchange at Meridian Way (SR 161). The new freeway would be four lanes with adequate space for future HOV lanes. The interchange with I-5 would have direct access HOV ramps. The upgraded SR 167 would save time travelling from Tacoma to Puyallup, as the original highway is just a four-lane road with at-grade intersections and a speed limit of 50 mph (80 km/h). It would also, in theory, complete the gap of a bypass to I-5 between Renton and Tacoma. SR 512 currently provides a freeway bypass of I-5 between Puyallup and Tacoma.

Exit list

References