Mayor John
Marchione is living up to one of his goals for Redmond - "becoming a regional leader". Several months ago, Mr.
Marchione and his Council met with the City of
Sammamish. Mostly, they talked about developing a Park in northern Lake
Sammamish from a patchwork of land owed by Redmond in cooperation with the City of
Sammamish. Then, on January 27, John
Marchione and Council invited the City of
Woodinville officials to Redmond city hall to discuss economic development, tourism, transportation alternatives and of greatest interest, the
BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) rail corridor,
Woodinville's Mayor Scott
Hagerman and his Council are profiled here
(click here to read their biographies.) Woodinville has a "council form" of government where they hire a city manager and their Mayor is appointed by Council. We elect our Mayor directly.
Woodinville Councilmembers Chuck Price, Jeff
Glickman, and Hank
Stecker had the most to say about transportation. Two transportation corridors reviewed were: 1)
The Willows Extension to 522 and 2) The
Avondale "Eastside Loop". Mr. Price insisted
the 522 interchange flyover project must be complete before Willows Road is extended. McCormick warned traffic could be drawn off of 405 onto a Willows Extension. I hope we can work with
Woodinville and the State to build that 522 interchange pronto. Red-Wood Road has bottlenecks and can't carry growing traffic loads much longer. A
Roundabout on RED-WOOD Road by Hollywood Hills is planned and may help some.
While we await construction of the 522 interchange (
PSRC) I sincerely hope Redmond can cooperate with
Woodinville for their tourism needs in the Willows corridor. As Mayor
Marchione said, both cities can partner by "showcasing our strengths" and "build together vs. steal together." A Willows Road
extension built for compatibility with tourism and convenient to Redmond hotels is a win-win. I often drive my out-or-town guests down the green valley corridor to Woodiville.
Councilman Stecker, brought up the idea of an "
Eastside Loop".
Avondale would need to be expanded to four lanes from NE116 to Wood-
Duval Road. "
Backroads" would have to be build-out through Paradise Valley Road to a major
Maltby interchange. My two cents: an alternative to Paradise Valley Road is probably necessary. The County needs to work with cities to widen Wood-
Duval.
It appeared the the
BNSF corridor decisions to remove or keep the rails were made before the meeting started.
Woodinville wants the rails, Redmond wants them removed. Mr. Cole threw out a caveat that once the rails are removed they will never come back. He also, said there are still wide
discrepancies in cost and usage estimates (see next post). Nancy McCormick referenced an
un-named study claiming the best use for the rails was "scrap metal".
Glickman stated it costs much less money to reuse the track and lease light-weight cars. Mayor
Marchione likened the rails to a knife in the heart of downtown.
I remember as a salesman in Oregon seeing the Portland East-West Connector Street
Car being built decades ago. The roads were torn up forever. Mr.
Glickman noted that while it was being built fear of cost over-runs and under-use raged. According to
Glickman, it paid for itself in 6 months.
Though Redmond and
Woodinville have understandable differences about the
BNSF Trailway Corridor both cities emphasised they have many good reasons (including state funding) to work together. Mayor
Marchione suggesting developing a "Corridor Vision" story to present to the State - not just focusing on "projects". Stickler talked about a long range state plan to build a
business arteriole that parallels 405 from Woodinville,
Bothell, to Everett and
Snohomish County. Deputy Mayor
Vogt and Councilmember Price summed up the meeting looking forward to future talks to coordinate multi-
jurisdictional efforts. I am pleased Mr.
Marchione is working with our neighboring cities. Do you have any comments?
Sound Transit/PSRC Burlington Northern Santa Fe Feasibility Report, 1/30/09, contributed by Councilmember Richard Cole.