East Wenatchee To Install Traffic Light In Spring At Busy Intersection

The City of East Wenatchee is moving forward in 2023 with the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Rock Island Road and 3rd Street Southeast. 

The city has been working with a consultant on the design phase of the project. 

East Wenatchee Mayor Jerrilea Crawford says the intersection has gotten busier with traffic flowing from State Route 28 to businesses and retail stores in the area. 

"It won't be a roundabout," said Crawford. "People keep asking if it's roundabout, it will be a traffic light. The need for that, we've just recognized the amount of traffic coming off the highway headed to Costco, or headed north or south on 3rd Street. So we'll put in a light there." 

The city is using a roughly $807,000 grant from the Transportation Improvement Board to improve the intersection.  

City staff applied for the grant in 2019 and 2020, but came up just short despite scoring well. The city was successful in 2121 in large part because of the relocation of the police department nearby at 50 Simon Street.  

The city is committing $138,486 in match funding for the project.   

Crawford says a traffic light was chosen over a traffic circle because of heavy traffic coming to the intersection from SR 28, which is close by 

"The distance between 3rd Street and the highway is so short," Crawford said. "It's not even a block's length. It's pretty short there. And so, if a roundabout causes a backup, people to be sitting in it too long, or sitting in another intersection because of it, then that gets ruled out."  

The intersection is sandwiched between the traffic signal at 3rd Street Southeast and State Route 28 to the west and the roundabout at 3rd Street Southeast and Highline Drive to the east. 

About 13,000 cars travel through the intersection each day, and the city says it's prone to backups. It also does not have designed crosswalks and is not ADA compliant. 

The project is set to begin in the spring of 2023.