The days are numbered for the familiar four-way stop with a flashing light at the intersection of 9th Street NE and Valley Mall Parkway in East Wenatchee.

East Wenatchee Mayor, Jerrilea Crawford, says a project to install a full set of traffic signals at the intersection will soon get underway, but supply chain issues won’t see it fully realized until 2023.

“The poles aren’t expected to arrive until February, so the actual lights won’t be there until next year. But at the end of the month, people will start to see some construction for the ground work getting put in. We’ll be seeing activity like digging up of the road so crews can get it prepped and ready for the new signals.”

Crawford adds that once the new signals are installed, getting them timed accordingly to avoid issues with the traffic lights at the intersection of 9th Street NE and Sunset Highway – which are only some 500 feet away – could prove tricky at first.

“That’ll be a challenge there. That’s a very short block between the new lights and the lights at the highway. So it’ll be a little bit of trial and error until we can get it perfectly timed out. So obviously, we’ll be asking people for their patience while we work that out, but I do think it will help move traffic for sure.”

The roughly $2 million project will also include paving and sidewalk improvements.

The intersection was identified as ‘deficient’ by the city over nine years ago.

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