Town Center: Main St & Wood Ave Intersection Improvement

The project to improve the intersection of Main Street and Wood Avenue and replace the aging traffic signal is moving forward. This intersection heralds back to the historic old town Sumner. Now, with street and sidewalk upgrades along Main Street, it is time to update this remaining gap for accessible and safe walking and vehicle use of the intersection. The traditional 3-light green, yellow, red signal needs to be updated to modern equipment that provides better visibility. Sumner High School students and residents frequently cross here to get to local businesses or on their routes to and from school. This busy pedestrian route is in the midst of drivers and passengers making their way to shop downtown or nearby, or to get to the Sumner Train Station. The aim of this project is to integrate an updated intersection into the vibrant Sumner Town Center boundary between Fred Meyer, Sumner High School, residential areas and the Sumner downtown.


The project design features new traffic signal with pedestrian signals upgraded to today's standards, a raised intersection that prioritizes pedestrians over vehicles, back-in angled parking to promote driver visibility and awareness, and vital ADA-compliant sidewalk improvements to improve safety for all users.



The project to improve the intersection of Main Street and Wood Avenue and replace the aging traffic signal is moving forward. This intersection heralds back to the historic old town Sumner. Now, with street and sidewalk upgrades along Main Street, it is time to update this remaining gap for accessible and safe walking and vehicle use of the intersection. The traditional 3-light green, yellow, red signal needs to be updated to modern equipment that provides better visibility. Sumner High School students and residents frequently cross here to get to local businesses or on their routes to and from school. This busy pedestrian route is in the midst of drivers and passengers making their way to shop downtown or nearby, or to get to the Sumner Train Station. The aim of this project is to integrate an updated intersection into the vibrant Sumner Town Center boundary between Fred Meyer, Sumner High School, residential areas and the Sumner downtown.


The project design features new traffic signal with pedestrian signals upgraded to today's standards, a raised intersection that prioritizes pedestrians over vehicles, back-in angled parking to promote driver visibility and awareness, and vital ADA-compliant sidewalk improvements to improve safety for all users.



  • Design 90% Complete

    The design consultant has provided a 90% progress set, and City staff is reviewing the documents now. This is a major milestone for the project development. The remaining work still under development is the architectural elements, which are not ready to share quite yet.

    The project is on schedule and is planned to be under construction in 2022.

  • Survey Results: Architectural Elegance

    The survey is over and Architectural Elegance is the selected guidance. We will be working on finalizing design elements and working with the City of Sumner Arts Commission as we move forward.

    The next few months are exciting, as plans are coming together and we approach the end of project design!

  • New Inspirational Imagery Released

    We heard you! Thanks for taking our Poll in the fall. The vast majority of respondents wanted a design that was "Tied to History" (and some wanted to know what that meant!). Well, we wanted to determine what that meant too! So we have a new survey with four new categories of "history" to tie to. They are 1950's Car Culture, 1920's Agriculture, Architectural Elegance, and Historical Railroad. Please review the included inspirational photos and see what we are thinking of when we use those phrases. Then, vote for your preferred option. Simple as Rhubarb Pie!

    We know people want more detail and exactly what we are thinking of installing, but it is difficult to show exactly what can be done, and we wouldn't want to guarantee something that we can't actually procure. So the inspirational photo choice is the best we can do. But it really will help us select items and treatments that will give the intersection the right look & feel. Thanks for participating, and we are looking forward to seeing what people want to see at the intersection!

Page last updated: 06 May 2022, 09:35 AM