At the Snoqualmie City Council meeting on Monday, June 27, council members approved the six-year transportation improvement plan (STIP) for 2017 through 2022.

A public hearing on the STIP project was held before the council’s vote but no members of the public spoke during that time.

Before voting, council members agreed to move a roundabout on Snoqualmie Parkway and S.E. 99th Street to manage traffic in and out of the hospital, from 12th up to the ninth spot on the priority list.

The STIP lists improvement projects planned for the next six years in order of priority based on recommendations from the public works committee. Each item placed on the list details the project’s status, scheduling and cost. The STIP approved by the city council has 15 items listed.

The top of the priority list includes replacements for two wooden bridges on S.E. Meadowbrook Way, a pedestrian-activated crossing signal at the intersection of Fisher Avenue S.E. and Snoqualmie Parkway, widening the westbound ramp to I-90 from Snoqualmie Parkway and making pavement and sidewalk improvements on S.E. Center Street and S.E. Swenson Drive.

The council also addressed a letter received from the Snoqualmie Tribe Chairperson Carolyn Lubenau earlier that day opposing the 13th project on the list, a pedestrian bridge over the Snoqualmie River next to the existing S.R. 202 bridge. City Attorney Bob Sterbank said the letter states the Tribe didn’t know about the project until the agenda packet was put online and that all work on it should stop until there is a government to government consultation.

Both Sterbank and councilmember Brian Holloway stated that the project had already been on the previous STIP for at least five years and was never identified as a problem by the tribe. Council also discussed that no one showed up to the public hearing to discuss the issue that night and Holloway added that despite tribal representation at the last public works meeting, no comments were made in regards to the bridge project.

Sterbank went on to explain that when the bridge project receives state or federal grant funding, consultation with the tribe would be required by law. Consultation could still be years away as work on the project is projected to start in 2020.

“If the city obtains state or federal grant funding for the project, then that consultation will be required as a matter of state or federal law,” Sterbank said. “At such time that the project actually starts to move forward, I would anticipate there would be grant funding and the city would be required to, and would, initiate a government to government consultation process.”

The STIP itself is updated annually based on changes in the city’s comprehensive plan and transportation facility plan. The annual updates reprioritize the projects in the STIP and update funding based on completion, cost and need. Updates of cost estimates are also made.

The STIP priority list is available online at www.ci.snoqualmie.wa.us on the City Council agenda page.