The News Tribune reported this weekend on the massive changes coming for Interstate 5 along the Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) corridor, now that the Legislature and governor have approved the latest transportation revenue package.

Lane-widening (at least eight lanes all directions and at a certain point 10 lanes) and new interchanges, among other improvements, are planned for this stretch of freeway currently plagued by gridlock:

A booming Puget Sound area, not just the base, has brought more cars to this part of I-5. Most of the 76 percent increase in traffic over the past three decades came before the base’s massive growth over more than a decade of war.

The joint Army-Air Force base has shed some of that growth, but it still includes the largest Army presence west of Texas. JBLM is Pierce County’s largest employer and although it’s not the largest in the state — that’s Boeing — it’s the largest in a single workplace.

More than $494 million will be spent on the JBLM projects. As The News Tribune notes, commuters will at first have to put up with even more congestion once construction starts, but “[t]hen, hopefully, comes relief.”

For more details and graphics, check out the article here.