Border upgrades won’t be done by 2010 games

Upgrades to the U.S. Peace Arch border crossing won’t be complete in time for the 2010 Olympics, but General Services Administration officials have promised to have 10 southbound lanes available by then.

That’s what U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett, told local officials at a Friday meeting.

As of last fall, the GSA was predicting the $71 million project would be complete in January 2010, just weeks before the February start of the winter games in Vancouver, B.C. But delays have made that impossible.

Larsen said he has now been told that construction will start no later than July 1 on an expanded building for Customs and Border Protection and a bridge that will route traffic over the top of that building.

Larsen said GSA officials have acknowledged that the final phase of construction work will still be going on during the Olympics, but they expect traffic disruption to be minimal during that time.

“GSA is committed to having 10 southbound lanes open and for the station to be fully operational by the 2010 games,” Larsen said. “There will still be construction going on. Not everything is going to be done.”

Traffic disruption will likely be more than minimal at times between the start of major construction and 2010, as Interstate 5 lanes are restricted and traffic is detoured. But Larsen noted there’s no easy way to do a project that has to be fitted in around the water, railroad tracks, an international boundary and a state park.

“Whether the Olympics are coming or not, this is a project we need to have,” Larsen said.

As of now, he added, the best estimates are that Olympic traffic levels won’t be unprecedented. Larsen said he’s been told that at its peak, Olympic traffic will likely be at about the same level as a busy summer weekend.

“It won’t be unusual traffic,” Larsen said. “It will be unusual for that time of year.”

Blaine City Manager Gary Tomsic said he was cautiously optimistic that the biggest local border crossing would be functional when Olympic crowds arrive.

“If they can have that many lanes … and they have some good plans for how they’re going to operate, I don’t see where that’s going to be a major problem,” Tomsic said.

Tomsic said Blaine business owners are also optimistic about traffic diversions during the 12- to 14-month construction period, since those diversions are expected to funnel more traffic through Blaine.

Tomsic said it’s more important to do the project right than to do it fast, because Blaine will have to live with the results for many years to come.