The city’s soon-to-be-updated Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) includes many projects, though parents and School Board members are concerned about a potential safety issue that the program doesn’t address: the intersection at S.E. 40th Street and 86th Avenue S.E.
Students at the new Elementary School No. 4, which will be open for the 2016-17 school year, will need safe walking routes. The District expects to have 150 to 200 students per day walking to and from the new school, according to a letter sent by the School Board to the city on April 30. Some may have to cross at one of the busiest intersections on the Island.
The letter suggests constructing a left turn lane off of S.E. 40th Street onto 86th Avenue S.E. heading westbound, to help accommodate traffic to the school.
The city has already planned a few projects to improve walkability in the area, but recognizes that there’s also a traffic flow problem at that intersection. The TIP adopted in 2014 included five projects to build pedestrian facilities and Safe Routes to School, like putting a new sidewalk in the Madrona Crest neighborhood and upgrading the gravel trails along 88th Avenue S.E. and S.E. 43rd Street.
It also included an unfunded “placeholder” project to create a westbound to southbound left turn lane at the intersection in 2018, which would be re-evaluated after the school is in full operation in 2016.
David D’Souza, a parent who is running for the School Board this fall, said that traffic on S.E. 40th Street can back up down Gallagher Hill, as people wanting to turn left at 86th Avenue S.E. hold up the line and frustrate other drivers. Often, drivers use the small space on the right to maneuver around cars turning left, coming dangerously close to pedestrians waiting to cross.
S.E. 40th has other problems. It has blind spots caused by the crest of the hill, and citizens and members of the School Board and Council suspect it has become a cut through for drivers wanting to avoid I-90 traffic.
City and school district studies of the area found issues with traffic flow, but not with pedestrian safety. When the new school comes online, there will be crossing guards at that intersection, and because of the later start time, traffic won’t be as bad as when there was a “triple whammy” of people trying to get to the high school, day care and work during the morning commuter peak, said Patrick Yamashita, city engineer.
Still, there is a perception that the intersection is unsafe for pedestrians, especially children.
“It’s a very scary place for K-5 kids,” D’Souza said.
The city will shuffle funding to see if the left lane project is feasible, possibly drawing from money that would go toward Phases 9 and 10 of the East and West Mercer Way shoulder projects to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians on those curvy roads.
Many of the public comments received for the TIP update encouraged the city to continue improvement of the Mercer Way shoulders.
Councilmember Benson Wong asked if funds could be drawn from other projects, like Town Center street improvements. Yamashita said that those projects are still undefined, as the city is waiting for results of the Town Center visioning process, where already many street reconfigurations and projects involving parking, bike lanes and possibly new intersections have been proposed.
Other TIP highlights
-Restoring the transportation engineer/manager position eliminated as a cost saving measure.
-Participating in funding a new Metro shuttle to serve the Mercer Island community.
-Repaving on portions of Island Crest Way, East Mercer Way, West Mercer Way, S.E. 40th Street, S.E. 53rd Place, S.E. 68th Street, S.E. 70th Place and Gallagher Hill Road.
