Priorities set for sidewalk work in Everett
Published 9:38 pm Sunday, June 27, 2010
Chris Luscher of Everett writes: The time of year has come once again where I wince when I travel down W. Mukilteo Boulevard between Olympic Boulevard and Glenwood Avenue. This section has a high level of pedestrian traffic this time of year, with Howarth Park and the beach being a major attraction, and many of the pedestrians are kids exploring the neighborhood. Unfortunately there is no sidewalk and pedestrians share the bike lane of the roadway with bicycles and vehicle traffic. To compound the problem, this section of W. Mukilteo Boulevard is tricky to drive, with hills and turns to negotiate, making it unsafe for pedestrians to access their neighborhood. The lack of a sidewalk through this entirely residential neighborhood is troubling. W. Mukilteo Boulevard serves as a thoroughfare from Everett to Mukilteo, and the section between Olympic and Glenwood handles a bulk of Boeing traffic that accesses I-5 at 41st Street. I believe the lack of a sidewalk on W. Mukilteo Boulevard is a very real safety concern.
Dongho Chang, traffic engineer for the city of Everett, responds: We are building sidewalks as opportunities arise, but we do not have funding to construct sidewalks along the length of W. Mukilteo Boulevard between Olympic and Glenwood. Mukilteo Boulevard between Crescent Avenue and Forest Park Road is first on the city’s priority for sidewalk construction along this corridor since it will complete a missing section of sidewalk that will provide sidewalks from Rucker Avenue to Olympic Boulevard. We were unsuccessful in securing grant funds in 2008 but will be continuing to look for ways to build the sidewalk. This section of sidewalk will link Forest Park, our most popular park, to the residents east of the park and to people who travel by bus from south Everett to the new Swift bus stop on Rucker Avenue. Once this sidewalk is built, we would try to extend the existing sidewalk from Olympic Boulevard as resources become available.
Steve Cole of Snohomish writes: I travel southbound Highway 9 in the early morning hours to work when there is very little traffic. I am perplexed by the traffic lights at Marsh Road, Broadway, and the new one at 164th Street SE. They all change to red constantly without any traffic there to trip them. I have watched with dismay as they have installed each of these lights over the years, but to not have them work properly is frustrating. Are the traffic engineers not aware of this problem? Or are they trying to impede and slow down traffic on the highway?
Bronlea Mishler, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, responds: We received several questions about why the new signal at the Highway 9-164th Street intersection didn’t seem to work properly. Some drivers noticed longer waits than usual, and others noted that the signals would often give a green light to a direction of the intersection with no traffic waiting. When this signal was installed, traffic detection loops were placed in the pavement near the intersection. When vehicles approach or wait at the intersection, they cross over or sit atop these detection loops. The loops then send a message to the traffic signal that allows it to give a green light to waiting traffic. This allows the signal to work “on-demand,” which means that drivers typically don’t have to wait through a timed light cycle for a green light.
Recently, the detection loops stopped working properly. We changed the signal so that a green light would show up for westbound traffic on 164th, whether there was traffic waiting or not. This meant some drivers experienced longer waits, and others noticed certain directions of the intersection getting a green light, even when there was no traffic waiting. Our crews recently installed a temporary video detection system that uses cameras to observe waiting vehicles and time the signals appropriately, so drivers should notice an improvement. We hope to have the detection loops repaired this summer.
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