The wheels were in motion at Redmond Junior High last night! City officials and staff conducted a well-planned, thorough and helpful presentation of their 4 to 3 lane rechannelization proposal. Over 75 concerned citizens had opportunity to enjoy some food, ask questions, give speeches, and make comment after hearing staff's presentation.
I live a 5-minute walk from the Junior High and found only 9 of my neighbors at the meeting! I know they were aware of the meeting. All but two councilmembers were present, possibly 8-10 staff, Martin Snodgrass (past chair of the Planning Commission) but, no current planning commissioners. BTW, there's an opening on the commission.
Councilmember Dave Carson came all the way from his View Point neighborhood to learn about the project and gain some empathy. Council President Nancy McCormick traveled from her Overlake neighborhood. Councilmember Pat Vache left his North Redmond neighborhood home to attend. John Marchione lives so close he may have walked. Richard Cole lived in N. Redmond for years but now lives downtown. Richard attended. Kimberley Allen lives on Ed. Hill. She was present, but I didn't get a chance to talk to her.
A few councilmembers, months ago, had some serious concerns about the proposal but they appeared to have mellowed after the excellent presentation by staffer Don Cairns (a Redmond resident) and a qualified traffic consultant, Victor, from Evans Associates. Ostensibly, travel delays along the corridor would be only about 30 seconds, even when buses, trucks, and cut-though traffic is included.
The gathering public was polite and receptive with ample opportunity to participate. SAFETY is the primary benefit of the project and wasn't argued by anyone.
- Pedestrians and students will have fewer lanes to cross.
- Left land turns are separated from traffic with a dedicated 3rd land - reducing collissions.
- Extending the 3 lane coversion to 100th Street was proven to be the least risky and best improvement option.
- The RHS Prinicpal Prato Barone was emphathic about the safety needs for rechannelization. Many students are walking and 40 student bicyclists are commuting on narrow, unbuffered sidewalks now. To encourage these positive behaviors bike lanes and buffered sidwalks are critical.
A final Public Meeting is planned for the Spring and construction is expected to begin in the summer.
A large white Notice Board announcing the meeting was installed on 104th & 166th for any passerby to see, redmond.gov website was posted, and bulk emails were sent to those who previously commented.
Clearly, Mayor John Marchione is holding up on his promise to "involve the public early in the process" and improve public notice. The complete project review, including a power point presentation and survey from the meeting is found HERE.
Staff engineer Tricia Thomson at tthomson@redmond.gov is project planner.
The decision here is really easy. Do what is right for this walking neighborhood and for our Education Hill schools. I really have a hard time understanding the argument for "I won't be able to pass people anymore", or "I won't be able to take a left." Today, there is no dedicated turn lane, which means a left is more dangerous than if a turn lane existed. The rationale of this project should be reducing people's ability to pass and speed which is really out of control right now.
ReplyDeleteHey, it is clear the police don’t see it as a problem because they are never up here.
ReplyDeleteI am with you about the project should go forward, but the idea of having drivers control the speeds on the road by reducing the numbers of lanes is what really pisses me off.
If the police did there job up here we would not have the problem with the traffic on that road and have a safe road.