Friday, September 5, 2025

Wellness Check on the US 2 Trestle Study

By: April Delchamps

Last year, we listened to what the public had to say about the US 2 Trestle. Then we came up with improvement ideas to match what people wanted. We tested each idea to make sure it met the Purpose and Need.

It’s kind of like deciding on a smartphone or computer. There are a lot of options. You might narrow down those options by first thinking about what you need at a basic level like a brand you’re familiar with. Then you dig a little deeper into features like size, sound and physical appearance. Then you dig even deeper into more technical elements like how it works with other devices you use regularly or file storage. In the end, maybe you have two or three options to choose from.

Since then, we’ve been working to narrow down what we heard from the community into potential improvements for the trestle and connecting roads in Everett and Lake Stevens. We went from over 40 improvement concepts to 22. And we’re just getting started. Expect three more blogs with more information on the process this fall, leading up to a public comment period in early 2026.

Updated Purpose and Need

One of the most important parts of this study is what we learn from agencies, tribes, and community members. Last year, we held an online open house and survey to listen to people about how they travel on or near the US 2 Trestle. We also heard about the challenges of travelling in this area. In October 2024, we blogged about the survey findings and how they informed the study Purpose and Need Statement.

What is a Purpose and Need again? Here’s how the Federal Highway Administration defines it. Everything we do on this study must address the study Purpose and Need statement. Nothing moves forward in our analysis unless it meets the statement we developed together.

FHWA agreed with our Purpose and Need in August 2024, but federal Executive Orders required that we revisit it. We made minor changes to the language and FHWA concurred with these in July 2025.

As a reminder, our current Purpose and Need statement focuses on three major topics: multimodal mobility (cars, trucks, buses, bikes, pedestrians), safety, and resiliency (keeping the bridge functioning), also referred to as “state of good repair.”

Here’s what’s happened with the study since last fall:

  1. We worked with our advisory groups to come up with more than 40 ideas to improve the trestle and the roads on both the east and west sides.
  2. We did an early review called “prescreening” to see if each idea could meet the main goals of the project. This was a simple pass-or-fail test. Two ideas didn’t pass and were dropped.
  3. The rest of the ideas moved to the next review, called “Level 1 screening.” In this step, we rated how well each idea could improve travel for different types of transportation, make things safer, and help the trestle last longer. We gave each idea a “high,” “medium,” or “low” score. We shared these results with our study committees earlier this year.
    The image is a black and white satellite map highlighting an area with overlaid text and green outlined ellipses. Three ellipses are labeled "West Interchange," "Trestle," and "East Interchange," showing sections of evaluated concepts. In the West Interchange, 15 concepts were evaluated and 7 carried forward. The Trestle section had 13 concepts evaluated, with 8 carried forward. The East Interchange had 11 concepts evaluated, with 7 moving forward. Roads, a river, and urban areas are visible, showing a developed region with a mix of infrastructure.
    Concepts include the east and west interchanges, and the east and west bound trestle structures.

  4. We are now combining the highest-scoring concepts from Level 1 into what’s called “system-level alternatives.” This means we’ve combined improvement concepts for the east side, west side, and the trestle itself. We’re also using traffic modeling to make sure these ideas work together. These packages of improvements will go into the next level of review, called the “Level 2 evaluation.” In Level 2, we will take a deeper, more numbers-based look at each alternative to see how well each meets the Purpose and Need.
    a flowchart consisting of five green rectangles connected by light green arrows, illustrating a step-by-step process. Each rectangle contains white text. The sequence begins with "Level 1 Screening of Concepts," followed by an arrow pointing to "Compatibility Filter." The next arrow leads to "Sensitivity Testing of Select Concepts," followed by "Package Preliminary System Alternatives," and concluding with "System Alternatives for Detailed Level 2 Evaluation." The rectangles and arrows are aligned diagonally from the top left to the bottom right.
    Steps to move from Level 1 Screening to Level 2 Evaluation.

If you're curious about how tolling fits into the study, you can check out the materials from our second EAG meeting.

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 in touch with more details about what we are doing.

Here’s a look at what you’ll learn in upcoming blog posts:

  • Critical connections: how we’re looking at the east and west side of the trestle to improve travel experience on the trestle.
  • Car-less crossings: How we are considering public transit and active transportation (think bicycling, walking, or other non-vehicle forms of traveling) improvements to the trestle experience.
  • What the public can expect to see in the next online open house.

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.

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