The following is written by Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow:

It’s really nice to see progress being made on the things that affect so many of us.

There’s no question that the Traffic Avenue/E Main/SR 410 interchange is a bottleneck that affects Sumner, Puyallup, commuters, freight mobility and even emergency services response.

The good news about so many people being affected at once is that funding can come from a variety of sources.

In this last State session, our legislators in both the 31st District (Sumner) and 25th District (Puyallup) really worked hard to get $300,000 in funding to help design the overpass and intersection changes that will remove that bottleneck.

The Port of Tacoma and Sound Transit have also joined Sumner in funding this, and Sumner was successful in getting a $2.5 million grant from the Freight Mobility Board for construction.

In this “instant” age, it’s sometimes easy to forget that progress isn’t just when flaggers are on site and actual work is being done.

I wanted to let you know that fighting for the funding to do that is just as important, and we’re making great headway.

In Sumner, we’re also working to get funding for the Bridge Street bridge, fix the paving on 142nd Avenue and replace the Stewart Road (8th Street) bridge.

The number of projects and amounts needed may seem daunting, but with the support of friends like our State legislators, who understand its importance, we’ll get there!