NASCAR plans face more obstacles

06:07 PM PST on Saturday, November 6, 2004

By PAT McREYNOLDS / KING 5 News

MARYSVILLE, Wash. – A Marysville traffic study shows a Nascar track may cost the state millions more than originally thought. The news has further enraged the anti-Nascar groups in the area.

Ttaffic was always gong to be the sticking point in the deal, not only on Interstate 5, but at several exit points through the entire corridor. The new estimates are bound to send the whole deal back to the bargaining table.

While traffic congestion is expected and even encouraged on the racetrack, it’s not what Marysville residents want on their highways and side streets.

Eyleen Shouman is convinced that many of the 75,000 race fans will use her neighborhood streets to get around the I-5 logjam.

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NASCAR fans would add a lot of cars to Marysville streets.

"People are going to cut through this 25-mile an hour residential area to get to the track because it is a shortcut, and we will have the traffic right here on our streets,” she said. “That's inappropriate, we have kids who play on these streets."

The city of Marysville released a traffic study this weekend showing the improvements needed to make the track viable. But the $85-million cost came in well above the original $50-million estimate.

"i would much rather have a high figure and have it come in lower, than have a low figure and have to come back and explain why it was higher," said Mary Swenson, chief administrative officer of Marysville.

Most of the $85 million would fund projects needed in Snohomish county regardless of whether the track is built, and Nascar supporters say the revenue stream would more than pay for the short term costs.

"It brings in a huge amount of revenue, it's like having a Superbowl, so you equate that revenue that comes in now only to Marysville but to the region," Swenson said.

But the Legislature would have to chip in $285 million while the International Speedway Corporation spends only $50 million.

Those numbers may be too far apart to get this deal across the finish line.

"The more that we find out that the public has to put in to a private venture for a profit of a private billion dollar company, the more people are saying it is not a good idea,” Shouman said.

The $85 million also counts on thousands of race fans to utilize Park and Rides in the area and then take buses to the track. If they don't, the numbers in this study may still be too low.

Of the $85 million needed for Snohomish County improvements, only $8 million is essential specifically for the proposed Nascar track.

The rest would eventually be built in the next decade or two.