Government Transportation
Stoplight finally directing traffic at Wollochet-Wagner crossing
Gig Harbor’s long-awaited traffic signal at Wollochet Drive and Wagner Way is up and operating.
Active Construction began the $1.4 million project in July 2024, and expected to complete it within 80 working days. Back-ordered signal system components slowed and ultimately stopped progress.
Orange traffic barrels replaced by striping
Last week, crews hoisted forest green mast arms into place across each of the intersection’s four legs and hung the signal heads. Overnight Wednesday, Aug. 27, they removed the orange traffic barrels that channeled drivers through the junction for more than a year, and striped the pavement. The signals went live on Thursday.
Workers completed much of the project long ago. They installed concrete crosswalks, sidewalks, ADA curb ramps, driveways, curbs and gutters, chipped out and replaced the asphalt roadway, and poured bases for the signals and streetlights.
Functioning traffic lights at the intersection of Wollochet and Wagner. Photo by Ed Friedrich
The project was suspended in January after crews ran out of tasks. Workers returned in May to install light poles that arrived and underground wiring, but still waited on LED signal components. A beacon system at a trail crossing on Wagner Way and a bike lane on Wollochet were also part of the job.
New light joins several others
The signal is one of six in less than a 1-mile stretch of Wollochet Drive/Pioneer Way between Hunt and Grandview streets. They will be synchronized. Now drivers pulling out from Wagner Way or the Shell gas station across the street will have a green light instead of darting into or across often-congested Wollochet with limited visibility.
Wollochet carries about 17,000 vehicles per day and Wagner, which didn’t exist a couple decades ago, 2,000. Thirty-seven collisions with 14 injuries occurred in the vicinity since 2018, according to police reports.
Cones filled the intersection before contractors finished installing the traffic signal.
The new signal features the city’s first flashing yellow light. Federal studies suggest that including a flashing yellow arrow increases driver awareness and improves safety. Flashing yellow means yield to pedestrians and cars, turn if safe.
State funds funded about $1.2 million of the project. The city covered the remaining $200,000.
More construction ahead for Wollochet
More improvements are planned for Wollochet Drive. On the east end of the Highway 16 overpass, a right-turn lane will be built on Wollochet to access the westbound on-ramp to Highway 16. On the east end, a right-turn lane to Wollochet will be added to the eastbound off-ramp from Highway 16.
Each project is expected to cost $990,000 and begin construction next summer. The Legislature allocated $840,000 for each in the 2023-25 transportation budget and reallocated the funds in April to the 2025-27 budget.