Why is  the City doing this Project?

Ninth Street is a minor arterial in Wenatchee that terminates at N. Western Avenue to the west and Walla Walla Avenue to the east. Ninth Street between N Miller Street and the BNSF railroad tracks is listed as the 8th priority project for the City of Wenatchee in the 2022 Wenatchee Valley Bicycle Master Plan. It is a supporting freight system with connections to the T-3 Freight Route at both Chelan Avenue and Mission Street as identified in the 2014 Wenatchee Valley Urbanized Area Freight Study, and it is home to Major Destinations identified in the 2018 Human Services Transportation Plan. This is a very busy corridor with a variety of users. The road is narrow, has four lanes and there are no exclusive left-turn lanes in the corridor. Drivers making left turns along the corridor must yield to oncoming traffic and the observed back up of traffic leads to risky turning movements, affecting safety for all users. In the time frame spanning from 1/1/2020 to 12/31/2022 there were 69 officer reported crashes along this project area. Sixty six (66) of these crashes took place at intersections and 21 resulted in injury. 

What will this Project include?

The City of Wenatchee completed a corridor study in the fall of 2020. During this study our consultant analyzed vehicular, freight, bicycle and pedestrian traffic as well as the existing crash data. At the conclusion of the corridor study that included safety analysis, level of service analysis and public outreach, the consultant recommended reducing the number of travel lanes from four to three with the center lane operating as a left-turn lane at intersections and Two-Way Left Turn Lane (TWLTL) at select segment locations, protected-permissive left-turn phasing for 9th Street traffic at N. Miller Street and at N Wenatchee Avenue, permissive left-turn phasing for 9th Street traffic at N Chelan Avenue and at N Mission Street, supplemental signal heads for westbound movements and retroreflective backplates on all vehicle signal heads for enhanced visibility, leading pedestrian intervals at N. Chelan Avenue and at N. Mission Street, and bicycle and intersection signing. These improvements will maintain existing LOS for traffic, improve the Level of Traffic Stress rating for pedestrians, provide bike lanes for those users and provide space for left turn movements. This will reduce the need for risky turns and will increase safety for all users of the corridor.

What to expect?

This construction is set to kick off in Spring 2026.  The working hours will be a consecutive 8-hour period between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm.  Please expect partial road closures during working hours.  There is a possibility of power outages and water shut offs.

 Timeline

Last Updated: October 2024