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Drivers will start seeing work on State Route 167 (SR 167) between State Route 410 (SR 410) in Sumner and Meridian this week.

Tree removal and high-visibility fencing will be the first steps in widening the freeway and improving the interchanges on that two-mile stretch of freeway. A bunch of gravel and dirt will then be brought in. It will serve as part of the embankment of the new expressway.

SR 167 was supposed to go from where it ends in Puyallup all the way to Interstate 5 (I-5), but funding was cut in the 1980s. The project subsequently died on the vine. Now it’s time to .

Over the next three years, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will build two new bridges, one over North Meridian Avenue and another over Milwaukee Avenue East. The existing bridges at those spots will be converted to on and off ramps from the new expressway.

When will this project end?

The expansion from Sumner to Puyallup should wrap up in 2028, but it won’t open to drivers until 2030. That’s when the four-mile freeway between I-5 in Fife and Puyallup should be finished.

When all is done, SR 167 will go from Renton to the Port of Tacoma. This road will be tolled.

“Improving and modifying this existing section of SR 167 sets the stage to build the new tolled expressway between I-5 and North Meridian Avenue, beginning in 2026,” Puget Sound Gateway Administrator John White said in a WSDOT press release. “When the full 6-mile expressway is complete, travelers can opt for a more direct route between Puyallup and Tacoma with connections to I-5 and SR 509 or continue to use surface streets. The connection will provide a huge benefit to freight traveling between the Port of Tacoma and manufacturing and distribution centers, removing many of them from those local streets.”

The SR 167 extension from I-5 to State Route 509 (SR 509) in Fife and Tacoma is expected to open in 2026.

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