‘Woefully inadequate’ city traffic plan to be updated

Published 1:51 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – The city of North Bend is working to update its traffic plan for the next six to 20 years with the help of a new transportation study.

An ordinance that would allow the city to fund the study and create a plan was introduced at the North Bend City Council meeting Tuesday, Nov. 20, and gathered unanimous support on its first reading. A second reading is scheduled for the council’s Dec. 4 meeting.

The study would be conducted by the Seattle-based Bucher, Willis and Ratliff planning firm, the same firm the city used to look over the Tollgate master site plans. Ron Loewen, a senior project manager with the firm in charge of the study, said its goal is to devise an entire transportation plan for North Bend for the next six to 20 years.

“We will be developing a traffic model in the urban growth area,” Loewen said. “We are familiar with these kinds of towns.”

Bucher, Willis and Ratliff estimated the study would cost about $103,554 to complete. The traffic study was included in the North Bend budget for 2002, which is in the process of being finalized.

Although Loewen said his firm has no preconceived notions about what results it will get, it is aware of high-traffic areas, such as the Interstate 90 off-ramp at Exit 31 and traffic through downtown North Bend.

Councilman Mark Sollitto said he hopes the study and subsequent traffic plan would be a good replacement for what he called a “woefully inadequate” prior transportation plan that was created before current city zoning laws and regulations. He said he would also like to see the plan extend outside city limits to where future North Bend growth will be.

“We need to include potential annexation areas, such as the area east of Truck Town,” Sollitto said.

He also mentioned adding more intersections to the list of those being studied, which would boost the total number from eight to 14.

“I can’t turn left in this town without a light on weekends,” Sollitto said.

Nothing yet has been done for the traffic study and plan outside of preliminary work, and Councilwoman Elaine Webber was skeptical of the time frame suggested for completion, which Bucher, Willis and Ratliff expects to occur near the end of September 2002.

“I think that’s pretty ambitious,” Webber said. “But we welcome you [Bucher, Willis and Ratliff] for taking it on.”

Loewen said he still believes his firm can complete the study on time, adding that he is looking for ways to trim down the schedule in order to present it back to the City Council by next fall.

Once the ordinance authorizing the study is passed, Loewen said the city will host meetings to solicit comments from the public. He estimated those meetings to occur sometime in January 2002.

You can reach Ben Cape at (425) 888-2311, or e-mail him at ben.cape@valleyrecord.-com.