By Marianne Lincoln

I have been watching and advocating for roads and infrastructure in the Parkland, Spanaway, and Frederickson areas most of my life. My mother did so before me. I even took a traffic video to Washington D.C. and met with several Congressional Representative advocating for infrastructure. But when the money finally comes, there is so much need that the local cities vote it for their own needs and the unincorporated areas get stiffed. The cities form the regional council that distributes the Federal money. It logically gets routed their way, not ours.

I have been aware of the outrageous traffic counts on Pacific Avenue and Spanaway Loop Road because of my years of involvement in the Cross Base Highway negotiations. In the WSDOT system of ratings, Spanaway Loop is an F, for its severe overcrowding that the county has run out of options to fix. That was supposed to be the reason the Cross Base was being built, along with helping move traffic from the Frederickson Industrial Area.

Pierce County Surface Water Management first mentioned the upcoming closure of Spanaway Loop Road in a Chambers Clover Watershed Council meeting. I lit up the meeting immediately, shortly getting gaveled down by the chair because I was so descriptive of the problems that was going to create. The ensuing conversations I brought were about putting another sewage treatment plant in the Frederickson South Hill area that infiltrates back into the aquifer instead of putting fresh water out to sea. Thurston County has a good example in their LOTT treatment plant. Continuously having to dig up and widen pipes is not good planning for future construction growth.

Part of the reason Spanaway Loop is having to be closed for so long is not just that deep pipes take a long time to place. The other reason is the shallow aquifer in the Parkland area due to Clover Creek and the swampy land surrounding it. The current project is still in a dewatering phase before they can dig to put the pipes in the ground. Two of the men who excavated for McChord Field when it was built were friends of my parents. I heard them tell about the swamp they filled in to create the runway. Shallow groundwater is a prescient Parkland issue.

Groundwater comes up and flushes Clover Creek, taking sediments with it. That is what made the creek good for salmon in the past. Alterations in the creek, dams, drainage ditches, culverts, unauthorized personal ponds, runoff pollution, and completely relocating sections of the creek, have done their share of harm since 1850.

Right now, the Loop Road is closed from 116th to Garfield (123rd). It is best to turn off at Tule Lake Road and get on Ainsworth or head to C Street or Pacific Avenue. Many people are just opting to take Pacific Avenue or C Street, making them seriously overcrowded and the 4-way stops have long lines. Please watch out for each other. There have been so many more accidents because of this.

The other fallout victims are the businesses on the Loop Road. You can still access them on Steele Street between 116th Street and 112th. Don’t forget they are there. They do not deserve to suffer from this project.

Part 2: Will be the story from the engineers working on the project.