Parts of toll road linking port to I-5 are nearly finished. Here’s when it’s set to open
A steady stream of trucks was rolling down 54th Avenue East through the Port of Tacoma last week. In a little less than two years, most of those will be using a new tolled expressway linking Interstate 5 to state Route 509 through the port.
Most of the $376 million project’s 20 bridges are built and pavement is down, but there’s still work to do before the two-mile segment of the SR 167 Completion Project opens in September 2026.
“Our ultimate goal is to intercept all of that truck traffic that currently fights through the local street network,” said state Department of Transportation project engineer Tom Slimak.
Drivers along I-5 at the Fife curve have witnessed the addition of girders forming the crossing over the interstate in recent months. At 222-feet-long, they are the second longest precast concrete girders in the world, according to WSDOT.
The Pierce County portion of the 167 Completion Project is one of two parts of WSDOT’s $2.38 billion Puget Sound Gateway Program. The other is the extension of state Route 509 from 24th Avenue South in SeaTac, which drivers can now see where construction crews are merging it with I-5 in King County.
Traffic volume projections through 2045 on the new State Route 167 west of 54th Avenue East are 1,050 vehicles during the morning peak and 1,320 vehicles during the afternoon peak, according to WSDOT.
Diverging diamond
When it opens in 2026, only southbound drivers on I-5 will be able to access the expressway from the interstate. Northbound drivers on the toll road will only be able to head north on I-5, not south. Ramps onto the road from northbound I-5 and to southbound I-5 will only be opened when the final four-mile segment from I-5 to the current end of Route 167 at North Meridian Avenue in Puyallup is finished, probably in 2029.
A diverging-diamond interchange on the western side of the SR 167 and I-5 interchange will facilitate entry and exit onto the toll road, Slimak said. It will be similar to the I-5/Marvin Road interchange in Thurston County.
“There’s fewer conflict points between traffic, and you get more free left and free right turns on and off,” said WSDOT spokesperson Kris Olsen.
Tolling
Pavement — 38,464 tons of it — is already down on portions of the road, including the diverging diamond. Lights and tolling equipment still need installation.
Just east of the diverging diamond is open air. That space, over State Route 99, still needs a bridge. It will come after curbs, sidewalks and other improvements are finished along Route 99, Slimak said.
When it’s operational, toll rates on the expressway will change through the day with higher rates triggered as more vehicles use the road. They will be lower at midday and on evenings and weekends.
Tolls, set by the state Transportation Commission, have yet to be determined, Slimak said. Public hearings will be held in spring.
Lane shift
Drivers passing by Alexander Avenue on SR 509 might have noticed work, including the construction of columns, going on nearby in the road’s median. It’s all part of the new interchange linking the toll road with SR 509.
Those SR 509 drivers will soon be making a slight diversion while the road is realigned, allowing the installation of girders for the exchange’s new bridges. The shift will happen at the end of December or in early January, depending on weather, Slimak said.
For 1.2 miles, the toll road will have two lanes in each direction between I-5 and the 54th Street East exit/entrance. From that point toward SR 509, the road will have only one lane in each direction — a 0.65-mile-long stretch.
Riparian entertainments
The project is really two in one. While drivers will be using the newly created roadway, salmon and other animals will be using their own newly created waterway — toll free.
A 20,000-linear-foot section of Hylebos Creek has been completely rebuilt. The stream, pushed and shoved over the years into a narrow human-made channel, has been rejuvenated.
“We’ve put the meander back in the stream,” Slimak said. Some fish have already been spotted using the newly renovated creek.
Today, wide banks, able to accommodate flooding from upstream or downstream, are filled with logs that slow water flow and create eddies and other shelter for a variety of aquatic species.
The project’s downstream work ends at the Hylebos Natural Area, where WSDOT contractors have built an arching footbridge over Hylebos Creek. Over the winter, new native plants will be installed along the creek’s banks. By project’s end, some 400,000 plants will have been put into the ground.
Saltwater from normal high tides usually reaches around 4th Street East, Slimak said. Historically, water has backed up to I-5 and even encroached on a traffic lane during floods.
“We’d have to close that lane due to safety concerns because water was starting to get onto the roadway,” Slimak said. “We’re putting flooding where it’s supposed to be, where it’s naturally supposed to happen, but we’re also protecting the infrastructure now and in the future.”
A part of the 12-mile-long spuyalepabš Trail will follow the route between the expressway and Hylebos Creek.
