Lakewood staff present 2027''2 TIP; council members press for more analysis before adding 75th Street extension

Troy Pokwinski, city transportation staff, briefed the council on the draft 2027''2 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), saying the document is required by state law and is mainly used for revenue-based planning and grant applications. "The TIP is required by state law that the city updates its program annually and presents it to the state department of transportation by July 1 of every year," Pokwinski said, and he emphasized that "The adoption of the TIP does not commit the city to constructing the improvements." He described new prioritization criteria that weight safety, multimodal accessibility and funding (70 percent) along with other factors used to score projects and guide grant pursuit.

Staff reviewed funded projects (including Lakewood Station access improvements and local resurfacing and lighting programs), newly added items and a short list of unfunded projects. Pokwinski said Sound Transit priorities dictate sequencing for some station-access projects and that the city expects to complete priority 1 work and proceed to priority 2 in 2028''9 if funding and design align.

A central dispute during Q&A focused on a newly listed 75th Street extension, an East-West connector proposed to relieve pressure on Silicon Boulevard. Council member Talbot raised concerns that adding the extension to the TIP before comprehensive-plan analysis could amount to illegal piecemealing under SEPA and could expose the city to legal risk. "SEPA prohibits piecemealing of or segmenting," Talbot said, and asked for transportation-modeling, service-level and environmental analysis before the project is advanced.

Pokwinski and staff responded that parts of the right-of-way have long been identified and that some segments are already classified as collector arterials in the municipal code; they acknowledged additional NEPA/SEPA and engineering analysis would be required for any funded, constructed project. Staff outlined next procedural steps: a required public hearing on the TIP next week, tentative council adoption around June 1, and formal submission to the state by July 1. Pokwinski noted the prioritization matrix is intended to help staff seek grant funding, but council retained authority to change priorities through the CIP and budget processes.

Councilmembers also discussed whether the prioritization weighting sufficiently rewards projects that support economic development and job access; staff said the scoring focused on grant competitiveness but council can adjust priorities for CIP and budget decisions. No TIP adoption vote occurred at the study session; council will take public comment at the scheduled hearing and consider adoption in early June.