Why did Highway 9 (SR9) Flood?
Monday, January 19, 2009
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In this latest round of floods in Snohomish, we seem to be no closer to being protected then we were 20 years ago. The question is; how can this be with the construction of a brand new section of highway built right in the middle of the floodway. One would think that the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) consulted with historical flood data and adjusted the road surface to be above that mark. Well, that's not exactly so simple. Turns out that during the permitting process many other considerations are taken into account. According to Megan Soptic, a spokes person for the WSDOT, the largest barrier to raising the roadbed was the neighboring land owners. During permitting WSDOT consulted with the stake holders and found that they didn't want any potential interruption in the flood waters moving across the valley. This sentiment was relayed to the Snohomish Surface Water Management and ultimately to the Snohomish County Council who recommended no changes be made to the level of SR9.
When asked about culverts under the road way and why they couldn't have been upgraded to accommodate greater flow thus allowing the highway to be raised. The answer was the same, no changes were recommended and even the culverts would remain the same diameter but would be extended to the new width of the roadway. Highway 9 (SR9) isn't complete yet and it's already sustained an estimated 3 Million dollars in damage during this flood. What else can be added to that cost? How about the lost man hours in driving around the closed road? How many companies were unable to make deliveries and thus lost sales. How many businesses lost customers that couldn't get there from here? Lastly, why didn't the county do a better job of asking for public input on raising SR9 above the flood mark?
Now the question should be; why can't every citizen and business owner affected by the SR9 flood closure be allowed to submit their damages and be able to recover all that they lost same as the land owners that stopped the road from being raised in the first place.