Snohomish official underestimates width of road shoulders

Published 1:30 am Sunday, May 29, 2022

Snohomish city engineer Yosh Monzaki needs to learn how to use a tape measure! In a recent Street Smarts column about the Bickford Avenue/Hiway 9 roundabout he estimates that the shoulders available to non-vehicular traffic across the Bickford Avenue Bridge are “about 3 feet wide” (“Roundabout coming to dangerous Bickford/Highway 9 intersection,” The Herald, May 23).

I often walk along Bickford Avenue and across that bridge and that estimate seemed a little off, so I took some measurements today. The paved walkway from just before to just across the bridge varies in width from 15 inches to 37 inches. So yes, Mr. Monzaki, 37 inches is about 3 feet; 15 inches is not. A pedestrian can squeeze through that bottleneck, a wheelchair most definitely can’t. The column says it’s a “dicey” situation for people in wheelchairs. Actually it’s more like an accident waiting to happen.

Susan Abraham

Snohomish