A proposal to reduce traffic in downtown Federal Way is crawling ahead.

Last month, the city announced its final selection of a plan for an Interstate 5 off-ramp at South 312th Street.

The City Center Access project would extend the street east beyond the freeway in an attempt to evenly distribute traffic in the downtown core. A minimum of four and a maximum of 17 properties could be displaced by the project. The city council votes in March on whether to move forward with the project.

Another public meeting on the project was held Jan. 22. A team of engineers, parks commissioners, city staff and public stakeholders brainstormed ways to minimize the City Center Access project’s impacts to Steel Lake Park.

The project began in 2003 and environmental studies are still in progress. The effects of construction on Steel Lake Park, a much-used 52-acre park at 2410 S. 312th St., has long been a concern.

Pedestrian crossing at South 312th Street, sidewalks and use of a baseball field in the northeast corner of the park will be affected most.

The group also spoke about two federal requirements that must be met before the project can go further. Stakeholder and resident H. David Kaplan told the group he anxiously waited six years to have Thursday’s discussion.

Federal requirements

The park is split in two between 28th Avenue South and 24th Avenue South by South 312th Street.

Street widening, cutting and filling will impact the park and its users. For this reason, the city must meet requirements set forth by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 and Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965. Both acts require the city to make a de minimis (minimal) impact to the park.

“We are going to look at this from an engineering aspect and say, ‘Where can we have mitigations?'” assistant city Mmanager Cary Roe said.

The DOT Act prohibits the Federal Highway Administration from approving projects that use land from a public park, recreation area, wildlife refuge or historic site without first ensuring the projects are planned in a way that minimizes harm to the area.

The Land and Water Conservation act requires the National Park Service to ensure land used in such a project is offset by the purchase of property not previously classified as a park, of equal value, location and usefulness.

Street crossing

Bridges, tunnels and street level crossing were presented as ways to get pedestrians across South 312th Street’s projected five traffic lanes while also meeting USDOT regulations.

Overpasses, by law, must provide approaches that meet grade requirements. These would measure about 500 feet, would encroach upon the park and would not likely be highly used by pedestrians, engineers said. The solution was ruled out.

A tunnel could pose drainage and safety concerns. But if constructed well, a tunnel would fit with the park’s atmosphere and be better used by visitors, they said. Cameras, lighting and a consistent effort to control graffiti would be needed, public works director Marwan Salloum said.

Street-level crossing would require signage and traffic alerts.

A pedestrian refuge is absolutely necessary for this approach, traffic engineer Rick Perez said.

“I would be adamant about that,” he said.

Sidewalks

The group wishes to see sidewalks hug the park’s boundaries at the east, west and south ends. As the sidewalks approach the park’s main access points on the north side they may meander, offering a nature walk. They could provide a good start to future construction of a trail through the park, said parks and recreation commissioner George Pfeiffer.

Northeast baseball field

A baseball field (labeled field five) and an unregulated soccer area located in the north side of Steel Lake Park will be affected.

Though a worst-case scenario requires tree removal near the field with the play area abutting a mound of dirt, Roe assured the group a retaining wall will be used instead. Trees and shrubbery will restore the natural look and seclusion of the land, he said. Overall, minimal impacts to the field are expected.

“Keeping that area as functional as we can and improving it could be possible,” Parametix engineer Curt Warber said.

Offsetting park impacts

A list of eight plus sites that satisfy the Land and Water Conservation Act were presented. Property near Laurelwood and Wildwood are being considered. Land near South 356th Street, to the east of Interstate 5 and near Steel Lake Park were also discussed.

Final mitigations will be presented to the public at an open house Feb. 11. Here, the public will have a chance to weigh in on its preferred solutions to the impacts.

“Let’s get the feedback from the open house and pick what’s best to go forward,” Roe said.