http://sammamishreview.com/2009/11/10/residents-discuss-barricades The Sammamish Review Fri, 25 May 2012 16:08:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://sammamishreview.com/2009/11/10/residents-discuss-barricades/comment-page-1#comment-4991 Cathy Bart Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:04:30 +0000 http://sammamishreview.com/?p=8362#comment-4991 In the 11/4 issue of the Review Julie James said that the 32nd Street barricade is a "stupid obstacle in my neighborhood" I find this ironic for a couple of reasons. First, for someone that lives 3/4 of a mile away to call this "her neighborhood" is a bit of a stretch. Secondly, for someone that lives on a dead end culdesac to complain that she cannot use someone else's neighborhood as a "cut through" route is slightly hypocrtical. The barricade is not a "stupid obstacle", rather an impediment to her desired route to shave a minute or two from her drive to the schools. Somehow I doubt that Ms James would be as supportive of city efforts to connect her street to SW 43rd so that all of us could get to ELSP a couple minutes faster. I have lived within sight of the 32nd st barricade for 30 years. The people living on my street are the ones that will have to live with the negative impact to this neighborhood. We are also the ones that stand to save the most in drive time to 228th, but the vast majority want the barricade to remain. The City of Sammamish paid for a traffic study in 2002 which showed over a dozen major safety issues that would need be be corrected, not the least of which is a major sight distance problem which cannot be corrected without raising the road bed several feet. The cost in 2002 was estimated at over $3 million dollars. All of this to end up back on the same road that is the current route? The fact is, this would not correct any "traffic backups". It would merely redirect speeding traffic through a residential area that is a main route for kids walking to school. We already watch people driving on 32nd, speeding with impunity, ignoring the red flashing signs saying "slow down". Each and every barricade has it's own unique issues and the decision to remove or retain needs to be looked at indivdually with major input from the "real "neighbors that have to live with the daily consequences. In the 11/4 issue of the Review Julie James said that the 32nd Street barricade is a “stupid obstacle in my neighborhood” I find this ironic for a couple of reasons. First, for someone that lives 3/4 of a mile away to call this “her neighborhood” is a bit of a stretch. Secondly, for someone that lives on a dead end culdesac to complain that she cannot use someone else’s neighborhood as a “cut through” route is slightly hypocrtical. The barricade is not a “stupid obstacle”, rather an impediment to her desired route to shave a minute or two from her drive to the schools. Somehow I doubt that Ms James would be as supportive of city efforts to connect her street to SW 43rd so that all of us could get to ELSP a couple minutes faster. I have lived within sight of the 32nd st barricade for 30 years. The people living on my street are the ones that will have to live with the negative impact to this neighborhood. We are also the ones that stand to save the most in drive time to 228th, but the vast majority want the barricade to remain. The City of Sammamish paid for a traffic study in 2002 which showed over a dozen major safety issues that would need be be corrected, not the least of which is a major sight distance problem which cannot be corrected without raising the road bed several feet. The cost in 2002 was estimated at over $3 million dollars. All of this to end up back on the same road that is the current route? The fact is, this would not correct any “traffic backups”. It would merely redirect speeding traffic through a residential area that is a main route for kids walking to school. We already watch people driving on 32nd, speeding with impunity, ignoring the red flashing signs saying “slow down”.
Each and every barricade has it’s own unique issues and the decision to remove or retain needs to be looked at indivdually with major input from the “real “neighbors that have to live with the daily consequences.

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