State Route 167 (SR 167) is a
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in the
Seattle metropolitan area
The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierce ...
of
Washington state. It is commonly known as the Valley Freeway and serves the
Green River Valley from
Tacoma to
Renton, primarily as a four-lane freeway. The highway begins in Tacoma at an interchange with
Interstate 5 (I-5) and travels southeast to
Puyallup as an undivided road. It then turns northeast onto a freeway and passes through interchanges with
SR 512 in Puyallup and
SR 410 in
Sumner
Sumner may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica
* Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica
Australia
* Sumner, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane
New Zealand
* Sumner, New Zealand, seaside ...
, continuing north through
Auburn and
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...
. After an interchange with
I-405 in Renton, it terminates at an intersection with
SR 900.
Route description
SR 167 begins at an interchange with
I-5 in
Tacoma, adjacent to the
Emerald Queen Casino and near the
Puyallup Indian Tribe headquarters. The interchange is fed by ramps leading to and from the
Tacoma Dome area and
Downtown Tacoma, with auxiliary ramps to East 28th Street and East Bay Street that connect to Portland Avenue East. SR 167 travels southeast along the south bank of the
Puyallup River
The Puyallup River ( ) is a river in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. About long, it is formed by glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier. It flows generally northwest, emptying into Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. The ...
as a four-lane undivided highway, passing through farmland and industrial areas. It then enters the city of
Puyallup and traverses an
auto row
An auto row or auto mall is a business cluster with multiple car dealerships in a single neighborhood or road. Auto rows are distinct from car supermarkets which are a single, large dealership.
Economics
Auto rows, like mall food courts, are an ...
at the north edge of downtown before turning north onto Meridian Avenue near the
commuter rail station. SR 167 crosses the Puyallup River on a pair of bridges and turns east onto a freeway, where it begins a short
concurrency
Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to:
Law
* Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea''
* Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...
with
SR 161, which continues north on Meridian Avenue towards
Federal Way.
The four-lane freeway travels east over Milwaukee Avenue to a
trumpet interchange
In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usin ...
with
SR 512, where the concurrency with SR 161 ends. SR 167 gains a set of auxiliary lanes and enters a long curve to the north along the Puyallup River in
Sumner
Sumner may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica
* Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica
Australia
* Sumner, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane
New Zealand
* Sumner, New Zealand, seaside ...
, where it meets the west end of
SR 410 near the city's
train station
A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing s ...
. The highway turns north and follows a section of the
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
through an industrial area along the
White River in northern Sumner.
SR 167 continues under a bluff along the west side of the White River Valley and crosses into
King County as it passes through the suburban towns of
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...
and
Algona. The
Interurban Trail begins to parallel the freeway in Pacific, but veers northeast in Algona to follow the Union Pacific Railroad.
SR 167 then gains a set of
high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes with variable rates of 50 cents to $9 for non-carpool and motorcycle traffic. The southbound HOT lane ends in Pacific, while the northbound lane begins in
Auburn, forming a six-lane freeway. It then passes
The Outlet Collection shopping mall, served by interchanges with 15th Street Southwest and
SR 18, an east–west freeway with connections to
Federal Way and
Covington.
SR 167 travels along Mill Creek and the Interurban Trail on the western side of downtown Auburn, passing the
Emerald Downs racetrack and
Auburn Municipal Airport, and traverses a rural part of the
Green River Valley as it enters
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...
.
The freeway crosses over the Green River into downtown Kent and intersects
SR 516, which continues west to
Highline College and
Des Moines
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines ...
and east to Covington and
Maple Valley.
SR 167 turns northeast, crossing over the Interurban Trail and Union Pacific Railroad near the
accesso ShoWare Center sports arena and the
Maleng Regional Justice Center. The freeway continues through an industrial area on the outskirts of downtown Kent and crosses over the
BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, tr ...
's
Seattle Subdivision before turning north to follow the east edge of the Green River Valley.
SR 167 separates the Green River industrial area and the residential neighborhoods of Benson Hill and East Hill as it crosses into
Renton near the
Valley Medical Center at Carr Road.
The freeway reaches a
cloverleaf interchange
A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange (road), interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passes ...
with
I-405, which includes a direct access ramp from the HOT lanes to the
high-occupancy vehicle
A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, i ...
(HOV) lanes on I-405 heading north towards
Bellevue.
SR 167 continues onto a six-lane section of Rainier Avenue, which passes northeast through a commercial area with car dealerships and
big-box retailers. The street bends northwest and crosses under a railroad viaduct before reaching
SR 900 at Sunset Boulevard, where SR 167 terminates.
The entire route of SR 167 is listed as part of the
National Highway System, identifying routes that are important to the national economy, defense, and mobility, and the state's Highway of Statewide Significance program, recognizing its connection to major communities. The highway is maintained by the
Washington State Department of Transportation
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington. Established in 1905, it is ...
(WSDOT), who conduct an annual survey of traffic volume that is expressed in terms of
average annual daily traffic
Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...
(AADT), a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. Average daily traffic volumes on SR 167 in 2016 ranged from a minimum of 8,400 at its southern terminus in Tacoma to a maximum of 129,000 at South 277th Street in Kent. Approximately 8 percent of all traffic on the highway is freight, mainly serving industrial areas in the Green River Valley.
History
Modern-day settlements in the area between Puyallup and Renton were established in the late 19th century along the
Puget Sound Shore Railroad, which opened in 1885 as the first north–south railroad in the
Puget Sound region
The Puget Sound region is a coastal area of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. state of Washington, including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountain ...
. A series of
wagon roads following the railroad and the
White River (later replaced by the
Green River) in the valley were built within a decade.
The corridor was proposed as an addition to Washington's state highway system as early as 1909 and was ultimately added in 1913 as part of the
Pacific Highway, although most of this was then deleted in 1923. The only portion kept was that between Auburn and Renton, which became part of
State Road 5. The rest of the route (between Auburn and Tacoma) was added back to the state highway system two years later in 1925, also as a part of State Road 5. This route was extended north along Rainier Avenue into
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
in 1937.
When Washington's current numbering system was developed with the
1964 renumbering, State Route 167 followed what is now
State Route 164 from
Enumclaw to Auburn before turning north towards Renton and Seattle. What is now SR 167 between Tacoma and Auburn was numbered
U.S. Route 410 (later
SR 410) between Tacoma and Sumner, and
State Route 163 between Sumner and Auburn. These highways were renumbered to their current designations in 1973. The highway between Renton and Seattle was removed from the state highway system in 1991, although the law did not take effect until April 1, 1992.
The Puyallup River bridge on Meridian Avenue was built in 1925 and twinned with the addition of a two-lane bridge for southbound traffic that opened in 1971. The northbound truss bridge was replaced in 2015, with the original structure moved to a nearby plot of vacant land while awaiting a sale.
The northern half of the Renton interchange with I-405 was altered in 2003 to separate weaving traffic through the use of a flyover ramp that leads into the southbound-to-southbound loop ramp. The overloaded interchange with I-405 resulted in routine backups on I-405 as far as
Tukwila to the west and the Kennydale Hill to the north. A larger overhaul was proposed as part of Referendum 51, which was rejected by voters in 2002. A direct connection between the freeway's HOT lanes and the I-405 HOV lanes was constructed from 2016 to 2019, costing $197 million.
Future
WSDOT has planned to convert the entire route in
Pierce County to a freeway since the mid-20th century. WSDOT is performing advance design and engineering work. The proposed highway would bypass the snarled traffic at Meridian Way in Puyallup and continue across
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californ ...
to
SR 509 in the city of
Fife. The project would construct a new six mile (10 km) freeway north of the Puyallup River and complete the partial interchange at Meridian Way (SR 161) with a
single-point urban interchange
A single-point urban interchange (SPUI, or ), also called a single-point interchange (SPI) or single-point diamond interchange (SPDI), is a type of highway interchange. The design was created in order to help move large volumes of traffic thr ...
(SPUI). The new freeway would be four lanes with adequate space for future HOV lanes. The interchange with I-5 would be a
diverging diamond interchange
A diverging diamond interchange (DDI), also called a double crossover diamond interchange (DCD), is a subset of diamond interchange in which the opposing directions of travel on the non- freeway road cross each other on either side of the int ...
, the third in the state. Another future project will later upgrade the diverging diamond interchange with Interstate 5 to a system interchange which would include direct HOV lane ramps between the two freeways. The upgraded SR 167 would save time traveling from Tacoma to Puyallup, as the original highway is just a four-lane road with at-grade intersections and a speed limit of . It would also, in theory, complete the gap of a bypass to I-5 between Renton and Tacoma. SR 512 currently provides a freeway bypass of I-5 between Puyallup and Lakewood (south of Tacoma).
The first component of the Puget Sound Gateway Project, a new bridge for 70th Avenue East over I-5 in Fife, began construction in 2020. The bridge will use girders, the longest to be installed in the U.S., and include a roundabout with SR 99.
Exit list
References
External links
Highways of Washington State
{{Authority control
167
Transportation in Pierce County, Washington
Transportation in King County, Washington
Washington State Route 167
U.S. Route 10