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Project Timeline

Mid 2000’s

Connection between I-5 at SR 502 (NW 219^th St added to County and City Plans

2019 – 2021

WSDOT Planning Grant Funded Study. Resulted in 7 alternatives. Included limited stakeholder engagement.

Other planning studies

179^th St Corridor
Ridgefield Transportation Plan (multiple LOS deficiencies in study area)

2023

Petition for “purple” alternative received in July.

2025

City and County updating Comprehensive Plans

2026

NTP issued (1/16/26) for consultant to begin work on federal PL grant through RTC for this phase ($270K).

Anticipated duration: 18 months

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Where to Find Past (and Current) Information

I-5 South Connection Project Corridor Planning Study
179^th Street Corridor and Interchange long-term operational and simulation modeling
Future Travel Demand Modeling (County, RTC)
Traffic Impact Analyses and Forecasting for City’s Carty Road Subarea Plan and 2025-2045
Transportation Capital Facilities Plan Update

NOTE: reports from the previous planning study are now available on the Ridgefield Roundtable page:

https://ridgefieldroundtable.org/i5-south-connection

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Legislative Request

Purpose:

The I-5 South Connection project will improve regional mobility and accommodate existing and planned population and employment growth in the project area.

Need:

Even with improvements, in the future:

179^th Street corridor and interchange will experience operational and queuing issues
Pioneer Street/ SR 501 corridor will experience congestion at I-5 interchange

Amphitheater and Fairgrounds event traffic and local traffic use the same interchange (179^th Street)
Level of Service deficiencies will appear in short term along NW 209^th Street and NW 31^st Avenue
There is currently no I-5 access to/from land uses west of I-5 between 179^th Street and Pioneer Street/ SR 501
There is no east-west corridor connecting Battle Ground/ SR 502 corridor to west County and south Ridgefield

Purpose and Need

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Alternative Analysis

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MAP OF ALL ALTERNATIVES STUDIED

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ANALYSIS OF I-5 SOUTH CONNECTION PRELIMINARY ROUTE CONCEPTS

Connection	Summary	Cost Estimate
Pink	Is the shortest and most direct route; avoids steep land and does not cross additional ravines; has minimal impact to two private and one historic property.	$50–$55 million
Blue	Follows the Pink Connection but is longer. Has minimal impact to historic property; impacts one nonresidential structure; avoids the two residential properties mentioned in the Pink Connection; requires an additional steep ravine to be crossed for construction.	$52–$57 million
Orange	Follows the Pink Connection but diverges to the south to have no impact on the two residential properties mentioned in Pink Connection description; results in a longer route; has minimal impact to historic properties; avoids steep land and does not cross additional ravines.	$55–$60 million
Yellow	Including improvements to NW 31st Avenue north to Hillhurst Road, this option is the longest and least direct route. Uses a portion of the existing roadway on NW 219th Street but is a more winding path to I-5; has minimal impact to private and historic properties; has greater environmental impacts because it crosses a fish-bearing stream immediately below an earthen dam and water body.	$57–$62 million
Green	Creates an offset intersection along NW 31st Avenue; is longer than most other options, otherwise follows Pink Connection.	$50–$55 million
Red	Almost exactly matches the Pink Connection but is offset to the south for about 1,500 feet to avoid filling the headwater of a second unnamed tributary of Gee Creek; has greater impact on an historic home and historic property (the neighboring farm indicated by the red circle on Figure 7); is the second shortest and most direct route; avoids steep land and does not cross additional ravines; has the least environmental impact.	$55–$60 million
Purple	Creates an indirect route to I-5 using the existing NW Eklund Road and NW 11th Avenue roadways to connect to NW Carty Road, which will be improved in the future in a separate City project. To meet rural arterial standards, multiple curves would be redesigned and the intersections at NW Eklund Road and NW Carty Road would be improved. Private property would need to be acquired on either side of the roadway.	$90–$100 million total ($40–$45 is for Purple concept alignment. An additional $50–$55 million for the NW Carty Road project, which is a planned/unfunded City project currently included on the Capital Facilities Plan.)

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Next Steps

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Next Steps

Conducting a project kick-off meeting with the City, Clark County, WSDOT, and other agency partners
Developing a public involvement plan to include outreach activities.
Collecting traffic data and coordinating travel demand forecasts with the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council (RTC).
Developing future traffic volumes and analyzing roadway alternative alignments.
Conducting an initial evaluation of the “build” alternatives; assessing the potential environmental effects and benefits for each.

Key Tasks:
Refresh alternatives analysis;
Public involvement including consultation with agency partners and key stakeholders, public open houses.
Planning level (Tier I) NEPA and SEPA analysis for the locally preferred alternative.
Evaluation framework to assess the alternatives.
Concept development of the preliminary locally preferred alternative.
Draft and Final documentation of the Stage II study.

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Miranda.Lange@ridgefieldwa.us

487 S. 56^th Place | PO Box 608

Ridgefield, WA 98642

www.ridgefieldwa.us