By Bill Sheets

For the Herald

EDMONDS — Brooke Evans lives on a "cut-through" street.

Eighth Avenue S. between Elm Street and 15th Avenue W. is one of the streets drivers use to get around closures of Pine Street during peak ferry traffic periods, Evans said.

"They go down to Pine Street, find it’s closed and go back up," Evans said.

Evans is one of 14 people who serve on a citizen advisory committee on the city’s six-year update of its road and walkway plans.

His concerns are the type city traffic planners are hoping to hear from citizens to help them plan improvements to the city’s transportation system, to be done in the years 2003-2008.

"A citizen who lives on a street is going to have better insight than any designer will," city traffic engineer Darrell Smith said.

To that end, the city will host a public open house from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursdayin the Plaza Room of the Edmonds Library, 650 Main St.

Cut-through traffic is one of many concerns expressed by citizens, Smith said.

Streets without sidewalks, poor pedestrian crossings, lack of bicycle access, dangerous roads with sharp corners that need a guardrail, along with just plain too much traffic or speeding traffic are the most common concerns, Smith said.

The city adjusts its street projects every year based on new priorities. But the coming six-year update will be tied in with the periodic land-use update that is required under the state Growth Management Act, Smith said.

Planners like to do traffic planning along with planning for land-use "because that’s one of the predictors of traffic," he said.

Safety — a combination of the traffic on the street and the number of people who walk there — is the determining factor on when a street will get a sidewalk, he said. That means that roads in the vicinity of schools, parks, churches and other centers of activity are at the top of the list.

"Sidewalks near schools are pretty much going to be our number one priority," Smith said.

Evans said it won’t be easy for the city to please everyone.

"There’s a lot of other people (in every part of the city) that have a lot of issues. There’s only so much money to stretch around."

Edmonds is hosting an open house at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Plaza Room at the Edmonds Library, 650 Main St., to discuss transportation issues.

The city is updating the transportation element of its comprehensive plan this year.

For more information on the open house or to report a traffic or street problem, call city traffic engineer Darrell Smith at 425-771-0220.