Get to know the US 2 trestle system

By: Eric Zackula

We're back with another post in our blog series to breakdown the technical stuff in the US 2 Trestle Planning and Environmental Linkages study. This post picks up where our wellness check left off. In it, we'll take a closer look at the US 2 trestle.

First, let's get familiar with the study area. What we call the US 2 trestle is actually series of bridges and structures that connect communities across the Snohomish River and Ebey Island, traveling east and west. On the east side, you'll find Lake Stevens and Snohomish, with connections to State Routes 9 and 204 and local roads. On the west side, you'll find Everett and Marysville, with connections to the Interstate 5 corridor, SR 529 and local roads.

Expanded study area that includes the US 2 trestle and other connecting highways, including I-5

Now let's zoom in on the trestle system of structures and roadways across the Snohomish River and Ebey Island:

• Westbound trestle – consists of three bridge structures, with two travel lanes open to all and limited shoulder space.
• Eastbound trestle – consists of five bridge structures, with two travel lanes open to all and one right-side shoulder that is open to vehicles during peak times.
• Westside connections – I-5 ramps and interchanges to California and Walnut Streets, Hewitt Avenue
• Eastside connections – State Route 204 to the north, 20th Street Southeast to the east and US 2 to the south

The US 2 trestle system, including the westbound trestle, eastbound trestle, eastside connections, and westside connections

There are also some local structures and roadways within the trestle system. What's called the "lower roadway" is a split road that runs both directions just below the eastbound and westbound trestles. On the east end of Ebey Island, just before it crosses the Ebey Slough Bridge, it becomes one-way eastbound. Additionally, 20th Street Southeast is a one-way local street that runs beneath parts of US 2 and includes a bridge over Ebey Slough.

So how is this study different?

In past studies, we only looked at parts of the trestle system, but not the whole. The 2021 PEL study, for example, looked at the westbound trestle and the eastside connections. Not the connection to I-5. With the current PEL study, we are looking at improvements to both directions of the trestle. We are also looking at the connecting roads, highways, and trails for bicycles and pedestrians on both sides of the trestle.

As we described in the September blog, improvement concepts developed for Level 1 evaluation considered how people can move from east to west and west to east in cars, trucks, buses, bikes and even on foot. With the Level 1 results, we combined the best improvement concepts for the east side, west side and the trestle into system level alternatives. We are currently rating these alternatives in a more detailed, numbers-based way to see how well they are meeting the Purpose and Need, called the "Level 2 evaluation."

What's coming?

We plan to share the results of the Level 2 analysis with the public in early 2026. In the meantime, we'll be back with a November blog focused on car-less trestle crossings. This will be a look at how we are considering public transit and active transportation (think bicycling, walking or other non-vehicle forms of traveling) improvements in the current PEL study.

Please stay tuned for all this and more! To follow along with the study, consider signing up for the WSDOT Snohomish County Newsletter email updates. We also regularly update our study web page and document library.

Previous blogs

• Wellness Check on the US 2 Trestle Study - Sept. 5, 2025
• Updates on the new US 2 Trestle PEL study - Oct. 1, 2024