Consultant visits Sammamish barricades
August 2, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
New: August 2, 4:35 p.m.
Dan Burden has worked on street network planning in Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue, and many other cities across the state and nation, and removing barriers is always the most controversial part of his work, he said.
“People have been used to one way of living all their lives. This represents a change right in their backyards,” Burden said. “I can’t think of a more contentious topic than street closures and openings.”
Mayor Don Gerend points down Southeast 32nd Street where 18 people on a city-led bus tour examined barricades in Sammamish July 28. Residents hitched a ride with four members of the City Council and five city staffers. Photo by J.B. Wogan
Burden is the city’s consultant on the possible removal of some 22 barricades and roughly 57 dead ends (25 of which are marked to become through-streets in the future). Burden and two of his staff led a bus tour July 28 to six sites where the city might remove a barricade to create better connectivity. The bus tour, and the subsequent debriefing at City Hall July 30, were initial parts of a process the city is developing to make their decisions about barricade removals as transparent as possible.
Dianne Melling, a resident of West Beaver Lake Drive Southeast, was one of about two dozen people who appeared at a barricade on that road. Residents posted signs like “Save our streets,” “Leave the barricades” and “Reject the connect!”
“We bought our house on a quiet street for a reason. This is why we chose to move here,” Melling said.
Her line of reasoning echoed others throughout the day: She moved to a residential street where cars wouldn’t come whizzing past her house each day, but without the barricade, that might be what happens.
Residents repeatedly voiced concerns about safety, neighborhood character and quality of life, all of which they perceived to be in danger if the city opened up a specific street.
Marilyn Hargroves, who lives in the Hidden Ridge neighborhood, challenged the assumption that children would be safe from oncoming traffic so long as there were bike lanes and sidewalks.
“I would love to agree that kids stay on bike paths and sidewalks. They don’t,” Hargroves said.
A few residents disagreed, and at least two people on the tour said they wanted a barricade removed.
Tara Rose-Large, who lives on Northeast 42nd Street, said she considered herself to be in the minority but didn’t like the barricade by her house. If the city removed this barricade, she would have more direct access to state Route 202, which would be important for emergency medical purposes. She said the barricade also encouraged loitering.
Tom Odell, a City Council candidate, said he thought any barricade removals would have to addressed in systemic fashion.
“It sounds like none of these can be dealt with individually,” he said. In other words, to ensure that a street opening didn’t create unreasonable traffic loads in one place, several streets might have to open simultaneously to better share the overall impact.
Burden and his team didn’t commit to any solutions at the July 30 debriefing, but they did suggest that traffic calming techniques would be integral to the process. Burden’s associate Ian Lockwood talked about pinch points, speed humps and raised pedestrian crossings as some features that could enhance pedestrian safety.
Lockwood said that the criteria for removing a barricade would include reducing vehicle miles traveled, prioritizing safety in several respects, maintaining a cohesive community feel and being aware of potential traffic volume changes.
City Engineer Laura Philpot said the bus tour and public meeting had opened her eyes to existing traffic and safety issues at many of the barricade sites.
“There is a sense that the roadway isn’t safe now,” she said.
Philpot said the Public Works Department would hold discussions with citizens between September and February 2010, with a finalized set of criteria approved by the City Council in June 2010. Actual barricade removals would not take place until 2011, she said.
She also said she hoped to have a separate link on the city’s Web site that would be devoted to the barricades process, including a summary of the bus tour and City Hall debriefing
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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3 Responses to “Consultant visits Sammamish barricades”
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I live on Beaver Lake Drive in Beaver Lake Estates and we have cars speeding down the street every day throughout the day. If they open the barricade it would ruin the park like neighborhood my family has lived in for the last ten years.
Our house backs up to Beaver Lake Drive and when we turn on our back yard lights its as if the cars rev their engines louder to ruin our evening. I NEVER, EVER SEE THE SAMMAMISH POLICE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
This would be terrible for everyone within the Beaver Lake community if the barricade is removed.
I live on NE 42nd in the Waterbrook neighborhood above HIdden Ridge. The removal of this barrier would be a complete disaster for my neighborhood and especially for Hidden Ridge. There are already some very dangerous curves in these neighborhoods that cannot possibly be mitigated with a few speed humps. It amazes me that the city would use a so-called “expert “from Florida. You have to live here to know what we deal with just within our own neighborhood. The children of Hidden Ridge will be subject to many more dangers than they are now. Will it take the death of a child to wake up the city to the fact that the removal of these barriers is a huge mistake? The removal of these barriers will never happen if I have something to say about it.
To all those complaining that their neighborhood will be ruined – you live in Sammamish. Where everyone should share in the pains of growth. I have lived here for 25 years and I don`t need to tell you about the growth over that time. My once quiet street is now subject to the constant din of 228th Ave. So tell me why your neighborhood should not share in the growing pains? I have no sympathy. If it`s a legitimate safety issue it should be handled accordingly and every effort should be made to take the barriers down. The majority of residents should not be subject to increased traffic backups and be inconvenienced because a few development homeowners think they have a right to be shielded from the pains of city growth.