By CARA LORELLO
Staff Reporter
Airway Heights City Council got an update Monday night on the status of Washington Department of Transportation's ongoing Route Development Plan (RDP) for Highway 2 spanning between the Lincoln County line and I-90, and learned project developers are contemplating the use of roundabouts to help ease traffic congestion at busy intersections.
The RDP was initiated by WSDOT in January 2007 to study current highway conditions and identify deficiencies that could affect transportation over the next 20 years, and propose feasible solutions in cooperation with the needs of the community the highway services.
The plan, which spans 16 miles, RDP engineer David Dean said is 16 months along. An advisory group made up of people from the state, county and public, is managing it. Since June 2007, according to the project web page (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/US2/LincolntoI90RDP/default.htm) the group has worked with the WSDOT RDP team to come up with a number of conceptual solutions by taking public input through various “listening posts.” Posts were held at Yoke's Fresh Market and Fairchild Air Force Base, and ideas took into account a preliminary accident analysis of the corridor, plus traffic counts. Proposed solutions got ranked based on local issues relative to Highway 2.
RDP representatives presented the council with conceptual solutions for improving corridor traffic that included coordinated signals, widening or adding lanes, alternate routes, and roundabouts. Dean said the city's busiest intersections like Hayford Road, Craig/ Rambo, and Garfield/Lawson, show aggressive growth patterns. A study of traffic collisions between 2003 and 2007 showed a total of 43 collisions at Hayford's intersection.
Councilman Larry Haskell asked officials what they would suggest to ease congestion at these locations, to which Dean and transportation planning manager Mark Rohwer recommended for the short term, the city continue developer mitigation along Highway 2 as new growth happens. Intersection control at the above intersections through added capacity, and possibly roundabouts were other ideas.
Council members weren't sure about the latter suggestion, as Haskell pointed out roundabout use and the way they function aren't well known with area commuters.
“We've not seen any modeling speaking directly to the make up of Highway 2. The council, I would say at this point, is not in favor [of using roundabouts],” Haskell said.
Top priorities on the city's six-year transportation improvement plan are more traffic lights along intersections with coordinated pedestrian control systems.
Dean said it's not WSDOT's goal to sound “pro-roundabout,” although roundabouts used around Spokane County “function very well.”
“Statistics we've seen show they do reduce the number of accidents and you don't have the maintenance costs of a signal,” Rohwer added.
Haskell said the city recognizes its TIP solutions are more expensive than other options, however “flow could be severely obstructed [with roundabouts], and you might find some opposition from real estate acquisitions coming in along the highway. That's something the city isn't willing to sacrifice.”
Both parties agreed more should be done to educate the public on the function and benefits of roundabouts, and the council requested more data from the state on the benefits of these and other solutions WSDOT is proposing for the corridor at a later meeting. Input and support from the public, Councilman Mark Rushing added, is crucial if the state wants to push the concept in their plan.
Dean added there would be chances for citizens to provide input and acquire information on what the RDP is proposing at an upcoming open house, where options will be a topic of discussion among the advisory group.
“Any input for this community will be included in this improvement plan,” Rohwer said.
WSDOT doesn't have a set date for its open house, which Dean said he expects to happen in January next year. Meanwhile, citizens seeking background on the RDP may visit the project web page, or call (509) 324-6147.
The RDP planning effort is paid for by general planning funds from WSOT.
Cara Lorello can be reached at [email protected]
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