From mid-August to the end of September 2026, every main route off Fobes Hill changed in some way. A river bridge job closed Lowell-Snohomish River Road around the clock. WSDOT removed lanes from the busiest roundabout on SR 9. State legislators set a November target for a US 2 trestle decision. The County Council sent a rural road rule back to committee. Each change got its own short news item, and the hill itself was rarely mentioned in any of them.
Read together, they show that most of the changes that will shape this hill's driving for the next ten years are being decided this fall. Only one of them has crews working on the ground. The rest are lane layouts, cost estimates and committee drafts, and several of them reach a decision point before the year ends.
A Hill Built Around an Old Highway
Fobes Hill is an unincorporated community along Fobes Road, northwest of the city of Snohomish. Fobes Road once carried US 2. Today it ends at the dike trail, and the hill depends on Highway 9, Highway 2, Homeacres Road and River Road to get anywhere else.
Because of that, the hill's daily traffic depends on infrastructure that serves the whole county. The SR 9 river crossing, the Lake Stevens roundabout and the US 2 trestle are regional bottlenecks, and Fobes Hill sits between all three.
The River Crossing Is the Only Job With Crews in the Water
The state's SR 9 Marsh Road to Second Street project is a $142 million job, and WSDOT's project page lists a 2018 to 2028 timeline. WSDOT describes SR 9 as a road that was once a rural two-lane highway and now serves as a key north-south alternative to I-5 for commuters and freight.
The project list is long:
- A new bridge west of the existing Snohomish River bridge to carry southbound SR 9
- A new overflow bridge south of the river bridges
- A rebuilt southbound on-ramp from Second Street
- An exit-only lane on northbound SR 9 to Second Street
- Widening between Marsh Road and Second Street
- ADA improvements at SR 9 and Marsh Road
- Restoration and repainting of the existing river bridge, which was originally built in 1959
Since the start of 2026, crews have driven several dozen metal pilings for the new bridge's foundations, and pile driving and bridge construction continue through 2027. The part of this work drivers on the hill felt most directly began August 17. Lowell-Snohomish River Road closed in both directions 24 hours a day so crews could build bridge foundations and two new piers on the riverbanks, working inside a cofferdam in the Snohomish River. The closure was first planned to end sooner, and WSDOT extended it through Wednesday, September 30. Through traffic was sent along South Second Avenue and Lowell-Larimer Road to Marsh Road, then on to Airport Way and Avenue D.
As of this week, WSDOT's project page says Lowell-Snohomish River Road near SR 9 alternates traffic starting September 30. The road is open again, with one lane at a time. Traffic control on an active bridge site can change week to week, so check the project page before relying on a route.
The finished layout will change everyday trips over the river. WSDOT has described a southbound on-ramp from Second Street with its own free-flowing lane onto the new bridge. Northbound traffic will exit from the right-hand lane after the bridges.
Marsh Road in October Sits at the Edge of That Work Zone
The SR 9 project's south end is the Marsh Road intersection, and two of the valley's best-known fall farms are on Marsh Road. Stocker Farms at 8705 Marsh Rd. runs its fall festival October 1 through 31, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and you need a ticket to enter the pumpkin patch. Down the road, Thomas Family Farm at 9010 Marsh Rd. offers free parking and general farm access. Its weekend daytime activities started October 3, and its Friday Fun Park starts October 9.
Neither farm's website mentions the construction or gives traffic guidance for peak weekends. The road between these farms and the hill runs through a highway widening site in its busiest season. Allow extra time for a Saturday afternoon trip to the patch.
The Roundabout Lost Lanes on Purpose
The second change is a few miles north, at the SR 9 and SR 204 roundabout at Seventh Place NE in Lake Stevens. Overnight from 8 p.m. Saturday, August 22, to 6 a.m. Sunday, August 23, WSDOT closed the roundabout and changed its lane layout. Crews removed one circulating lane between the westbound Seventh Place NE and eastbound SR 204 approaches. They also removed one southbound SR 9 lane in and out of the roundabout, cut the westbound Seventh Place NE approach from two lanes to one, and adjusted striping on eastbound SR 204.
WSDOT said up front that this was a trade-off. The roundabout averages about 12 collisions a month, and the agency wrote that removing a southbound lane "could create more delays than drivers currently see," though it expects the change to keep reducing collisions. For anyone heading south on SR 9 toward Snohomish and the hill, the roundabout now has less capacity than it did in July. That is intentional.
The Trestle Decision Arrives Before Thanksgiving
The project with the biggest long-term effect on the hill has no construction date yet. On September 24, the Herald reported that WSDOT will release its preferred alternative for replacing the US 2 trestle by November. The trestle is the chain of bridges connecting Everett to Lake Stevens, Monroe and Snohomish. Sam Low, a state representative from Lake Stevens who also serves on the County Council, described the next step at a Snohomish County Tomorrow meeting:
"Sometime in October or November … we'll finally get to see what the vision is for the new structure that we'll build, and how will we get there. Then it's up to all of us to figure out how to fund that replacement and how to ensure that this is a priority for state transportation leaders."
The figures behind that decision are large. Sen. Marko Liias, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said $2 billion "is probably worth thinking about, plus or minus," and that the project may become the state's first public-private partnership. He said construction could start as soon as 2031, and full completion is about a decade beyond that. WSDOT's own project page says no construction is planned at this time.
Compare the two big projects. The SR 9 river bridge has been under construction since 2026 and is scheduled to finish around 2028. The trestle has more than ten years of studies behind it and an earliest start date five years away. In practice, the SR 9 work will likely be finished well before trestle construction begins. That makes the preferred alternative due this fall the first concrete look at how the hill's other main highway connection might be rebuilt.
The Rural Road Rule Went Back for More Work
The fourth item concerns the roads on the hill rather than the highways around it. On September 9, the Snohomish County Council voted unanimously to send a proposed update to the county's road access code back to the planning committee. Had it passed, the proposal would have more than doubled the number of homes developers could build on a dead-end road in rural areas. It also would have dropped requirements for sidewalks and road shoulders in certain rural areas.
County planners said the update, in the works since 2024, was meant to give developers more flexibility and lower construction costs to support housing supply. Three commissioners from Fire District 4, which covers the area around the city of Snohomish, were among those who testified and asked the council to reconsider. Council member Nate Nehring said "there's still some more work to be done on this." The proposal has not been adopted, and its next version will come back through committee. For a hill served by rural roads, that draft is worth following.
The Hill's Calendar Through Halloween
Taken together, here is how the next several weeks line up for anyone driving off Fobes Hill:
- Since September 30: Lowell-Snohomish River Road near SR 9 has alternating one-lane traffic.
- October 1 through 31: Stocker Farms fall festival, daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Weekends from October 3: Thomas Family Farm daytime activities, with Friday Fun Park starting October 9.
- October 5 through 30: The North Cove Park picnic shelter and restrooms in Lake Stevens are closed for bathroom construction, with a portable restroom placed by the playground.
- Saturday, October 10: The Greater Lake Stevens Chamber's Harvest Market at 1806 Main St.
- October or November: WSDOT's preferred alternative for the US 2 trestle replacement.
- Saturday, October 31: Lake Stevens HarvestFest at North Cove Park, 4 to 7 p.m., free.
Bridge work at the bottom of the hill continues through 2027. The trestle announcement, expected within weeks, will set the terms for the next decade on the hill's other highway.
If you own on Fobes Hill and want to talk through how the SR 9 timeline or the coming trestle plan fits with your own plans for your home, I'm happy to share what I'm seeing in conversations with buyers and sellers around Snohomish. Reach out to Crystal Dickerson anytime. I'll be following both projects closely this fall.
