Police received dozens of calls for service on this busy roadway in NE Tacoma
After The News Tribune published a story last month about a busy roadway that Northeast Tacoma residents are concerned about, some commenters online speculated about the cause of the danger and local law enforcement’s response to it.
Through various inquiries and public-records requests to local law enforcement agencies, here’s what The News Tribune discovered about calls for service on the roadway.
The road in question is Marine View Drive, technically part of State Route 509. Residents in the area have called for a greater investment from local officials in the road to encourage drivers to reduce their speeds and eliminate potholes. Managed by the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Washington State Patrol and Tacoma Police Department split jurisdiction in the area.
State Route 509 starts perpendicular to I-705 near downtown Tacoma. The Washington State Patrol’s jurisdiction starts from there and continues across the Tideflats to Taylor Way East. The Tacoma Police Department’s jurisdiction begins right along the water in Northeast Tacoma from Taylor Way East to Le-Lou-WA Place Northeast in Browns Point, according to Washington State Patrol public information officer Daniel Southard.
Tacoma Police Department spokesperson Shelbie Boyd told The News Tribune that Tacoma police officers generally respond to calls for service outside their jurisdiction if they can respond quickly and if they’re available. But the process of investigating incidents in areas outside their jurisdiction ultimately falls under the responsibility of the agency that has the jurisdiction, Boyd said.
Southard said that between October 2024 and October 2025, the Washington State Patrol responded to 76 collisions in the portion of State Route 509 under its jurisdiction in Pierce County.
“Of those collisions, 15 have speed listed as a cause of the collision,” he told The News Tribune.
Troopers issued 151 tickets related to speeding in the same time frame, and made 32 DUI arrests, Southard added.
Along Marine View Drive, South Sound 911 received 60 calls for service related to vehicle incidents along Marine View Drive in Northeast Tacoma roughly from October 2024 to October 2025. Those incidents ranged from fatal motor vehicle collisions to collisions that resulted in no injuries to hit and runs.
Of those, the Tacoma Police Department reported on its crime dashboard 19 vehicle-related incidents in the same timeframe on Marine View Drive. Of those incidents, 15 were traffic collisions that did not result in fatalities or injuries, three were liquor-related DUIs and one was a motor vehicle theft.
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
