| Residents fear proposed corridor will ruin area's rural character
9/19/04 A few hundred yards south of the Canadian border, Sumas Drug clerk Sally Marion said she heard a few months ago about a study of a possible freeway through eastern Whatcom County. "It just sounded unbelievable," she said. "I guess it's the future." The state Legislature approved $500,000 to look into the idea of a public-private commerce corridor that could be up to 710 feet wide, with fuel pipelines, power lines, two railroad tracks, four commercial vehicle lanes, four car lanes and a shared-use trail. A study map of possible routes puts the corridor mostly along Highway 9, although state officials say this is just the general location of one possible route. "It'd pretty much take up the whole street here," Sumas Drug owner Doug McGillivray said. "I don't know that they have a need for it, but it'd be kind of nice to get to Seattle faster." Trucks flow in a steady stream to and from the border along Highway 9. Outside the Sumas Car and Truck Wash, truck driver Angus Murphy said he takes Highway 9 to avoid traffic. "I hate Bellingham," said Murphy, of Abbotsford, B.C. "You get down there, it's nuts." Murphy said he'd love to be able to bypass all of the Interstate 5 congestion to and past Seattle. Towns and farms While mowing his front lawn just a few feet from Highway 9 in Nooksack, Sylvestre Gallegos said a freeway past his house is not a good idea. "It's busy enough as it is," he said. On the south end of Nooksack, Highway 9 passes the landmark rooster in front of Dunny's Drive-In. Dunny's owner Dennis Drain said the state should just widen Interstate 5. "I tend to think keep things wherever they're already damaged. Make I-5 bigger," he said. "Why take up this countryside?" Pete Dykstra, a farmer along Highway 9 south of Nooksack, said he understands the motivation for seeking an alternative to I-5, but doesn't want it in his area. "You put in something like that and businesses and people will follow it," he said. "Traffic is increasingly an issue (when) taking equipment down the roads." Farther south on Highway 9, the commerce corridor gains little support. "I kind of like things the way they are - small town, lots of kids running around," said Amy Nelson of Acme, after walking to the post office to check her mail. She and son Seth Rogers, 4, then crossed the highway to stop at Acme General Store and chat with store owner Jacki Rossing. Rossing is on a citizen committee opposing the commerce corridor and has put up posters about it clear to Arlington. "Those of us who live out here think it's a shame to take the last countryside and urbanize it," she said. Heading into Clear Lake, in Skagit County, rumble strips slow traffic to 25 mph near the town's elementary school. At Clear Lake Market, Sedro-Woolley resident Martha Jones said she had not heard about the commerce corridor idea but does not like it. "I don't know why they're even thinking of that one," she said. "They must have too much money to spend." Suburbs sprout From Sedro-Woolley south, subdivisions start springing up along Highway 9. The 212-acre Nookachamp Hills development, in Big Lake, sits on a hill above the Valley View Dairy farm. It will have about 250 homes when fully developed. The Web site for the development touts its location as perfect: "only about 10 minutes from I-5, and yet the area is totally quiet and rural in nature." "You get a lot of city people that are buying those houses," Valley View farm manager Stephen Short said. "They got a great view of the valley, but they don't like the smell." Short doesn't like the idea of a commerce corridor. "You're going to displace businesses, ag land. What about all the rivers you have to cross?" he said. "You're better off just putting two more lanes on (Interstate) 5 and calling it good." Highway 9 crosses the Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish rivers, and countless creeks. Winding into Snohomish County, it squeezes to one lane over a creek north of Bryant - which is only about three miles east of I-5. The strip malls start near Arlington, in Snohomish County. Outside a new Haggen supermarket, Arlington resident Pat Clifton said she drag raced on Highway 9 as a kid. "There was nobody on it," she said. That has changed. "Look at it. It's just terrible," Clifton said. "It's just busier than heck." Clifton said she thinks Highway 9 will become a freeway, but doesn't like the idea. "I like the little, sleepy towns like Arlington," she said. "It's going to be a mess, but it's progress." Urban nightmare Traffic continues to build south of Arlington, past a sign advising motorists to "drive like you care." The road widens to four lanes for a stretch around Lundeen Parkway, where the traffic count is 34,000 vehicles per day - the highest of any point on Highway 9. The state Department of Transportation plans to widen Highway 9 to four lanes and add turn lanes along the entire stretch from Arlington to Woodinville by 2010. Outside a gas station north of Woodinville, Snohomish resident Josh Bosley said he's in favor of widening the road. "It's too backed up," he said. "People get really irritated and really mad." Highway 9 ends where Highway 522 becomes a freeway leading west to Interstate 405. Heading north on I-5 back to Bellingham on a weekday afternoon, traffic is bumper to bumper past Everett. "It's busy enough as it is." Reach Aubrey Cohen at aubrey.cohen@bellinghamherald .com or 715-2289.
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