From: Phil Miller
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2003 9:46 PM
To: council@ci.redmond.wa.us
Subject: West Lake Sammamish Parkway Comments and BackgroundTO: Redmond City Councilmembers
West Lake Sammamish Parkway Input
Dear friends and neighbors,
I am writing both in support of the City's proposed improvements to West Lake
Sammamish Parkway and to provide some background information requested by Mr.
Cole and Ms. McCormick at the recent Grass Lawn Neighborhood Open House. I
believe that the proposed design both rectifies a glaring problem on the parkway
for bicyclists and pedestrians while addressing in an efficient manner the
concerns of local residents.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Collisions with Motor Vehicles in King County
As many of you know, from 1987 through 1999 I was employed as a Senior
Transportation Planner for the King County Department of Transportation during
which time I served as Program Manager for the County's Non-Motorized
Transportation (RoadShare) Program. During this time, I collaborated with the
Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (Dr. Fred Rivara and Dr. Abe
Bergman) on a number of projects, including a comprehensive study of all
pedestrian and bicycle collisions with motor vehicles during the 1985-1990 time
frame. This study involved examination of original filed collision reports on
all King County and State surface highways during the study period. During a
portion of this time, WLSP was a state highway and was thus included in the
study.
One of the notable findings of the report was that fully one third (33%) of ALL
bicycle collisions with automobiles and trucks involved wrong-way cycling as
either a primary or contributing factor. Wrong way cycling is one of of over
twenty factors considered, yet represented 1/3 of all accidents. This is a very
significant and relevant statistic in that the current configuration of WLSP
essentially mandates counter-flow (wrong way) cycling on the Parkway. This
characteristic of the parkway has remained unchanged since installation of the 2
way lane in the late 1970's.
While the changing jurisdictional character of
WLSP during the study period made calculations of accident rates difficult, WLSP
was far and away the single road with the greatest number of recorded collisions
during the study period. ALL collisions involved counter flow cycling in the
designated bike facility. It is truly rare that the negative impacts of a
design are so clearly demonstrated. Almost all of the collisions involved a
driver entering WLSP from a west side access road or driveway failing to scan for
unanticipated northbound bike traffic before pulling into the path of a
bicyclist. All collisions resulted in transportable injury to the bicyclist.
Standards & Liability
The proposed project finally would return WLSP to
a configuration consistent with the design standards and guidelines adopted by
the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
and the Washington State Department of Transportation. Neither of these
organizations can be claimed to be held hostage by bicycle advocates -especially
so in the case of AASHTO. AASHTO's guidelines are the basis not just for
bicycle facility design in the United States, but for all aspects of highway
design. AASHTO for years has strongly discouraged the practice of two-way
parallel facilities for bicyclists - for the same reasons so graphically
illustrated by the King County/Harborview Collision Study. It is one thing to
maintain a facility designed poorly but in good faith as it was built - but to
rebuild the road and then knowlingly fail to apply the universally accepted
design standard invites what will seem to you to be a never-ending series of
claims and lawsuits against the City, and with good reason. The City has a
ministerial responsibility to apply sound engineering and design judgement,
particularly if it is aware of a deficiency in the design of a facility under
its jurisdiction. The City has heard for years from bicyclists regarding the
unsafe conditions on WLSP. I believe that the City has heard these concerns and
made an excellent effort to rectify the problem. Making a change at this late
date that would leave the status quo intact is a mistake for which the City will
likely pay dearly for years to come.
Property Rights or Public Right of Way
This project is about the public's use of the
public right of way - while some of the adjacent waterfront property owners have
concerns about the project, those concerns which are legitimate have been
addressed. Driveways will be modified to improve vertical sight distance, even
if the responsibility for creating the problem likely rests more with the
property owners than with the City. Parking will be preserved to a significant
degree, although as we have all learned in the RV ordinance, parking in front of
one's home is not a limitless right.
Some of the waterfront owners would have you
believe that creating a bikelane on the east (northbound) side of WLSP creates a
hazard to traffic - obviously the opposite is the case. If the northbound
shoulder is paved but not reserved for a bikelane, parked cars will block the
sightlines of drivers exiting homes far worse than is the case today. At some
point, we have to recognize the value of WLSP to the whole community, and let
public projects reflect public values and not the strongarming of those who
think they can create their own private retreat in defiance of the needs of the
rest of us. Building the bikelane and pathways only moves pavement on average
TWO FEET to the east - more than enough is left for residents to park their
speedboats and Navigators on the remaining shoulder. I don't even mind them
parking these vehicles on the public right of way, so long as the safety and
mobility needs of the citizens of Redmond are addressed first.
The proposed project is well designed and best
meets the needs of the whole community - let's get going and do the job.
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