It’s supposed to be a residential street, not the Bothell-Everett Highway.
That’s the opinion of residents of 25th Avenue SE in the Heatherwood West subdivision just outside the Mill Creek city limits. They’ve become tired of a steady stream of cut-through traffic thanks to construction on 35th Avenue SE and the Bothell-Everett Highway. But at least they can see the end of that problem.
The real problem, however, is also an ongoing one. And now that school’s started, it’s back. The problem: school related traffic going to and from Jackson High School and Heatherwood Middle School.
“It’s pretty noisy in the morning,” said Lisa Hopp, a 25th Avenue SE resident who has taken the lead in trying to solve the problem. “You definitely know when it’s 2 o’clock with the cars racing down the hill, and at 7 o’clock (in the morning) it sounds like a regular thoroughfare.”
Hopp has been waging a crusade to do something to at the least slow the traffic down when it goes through the neighborhood. And the main offenders, according to neighborhood residents, are students going to and leaving Jackson High School. Residents say the students speed through 25th Avenue SE, particularly in front of Hopp’s house, which is on a slope.
“I’d say a large percentage of our problem comes from the school,” said Paige Opstad, a 25th Avenue SE resident.
Traffic has forced adjustments in daily routines, residents say.
Heather Ross, who home-schools her children, said that one early afternoon she and her children wanted to take a walk through the neighborhood, but traffic was so heavy on 25th that they couldn’t even cross the street.
“We couldn’t get anywhere,” Ross said.
Jeff Surerus, another resident, said the problem is also one of safety. He says he has almost been hit by speeders while trying to back his car out of his driveway.
“It’s not just kids there, it’s a general malaise,” Surerus said. “I think the whole problem is a general lack of respect for traffic rules. I have no problem with people traveling on our street, just observe the traffic laws, that’s all.”
Some residents have taken matters into their own hands. Surerus said he’s seen hand-painted speed limits painted onto neighborhood roads.
And residents are not just upset about some traffic coming through their neighborhood; there are hard facts to prove that 25th Avenue SE is indeed a busy street. A traffic study conducted in October 2002 by the Snohomish County Public Works Traffic Operations revealed that 2,000 cars daily travel on 25th Avenue SE, almost 10 times the number of daily trips a street like 25th should have.
“We have been reviewing traffic conditions in that area for a while,” said Jack Sleasman, the county’s neighborhood traffic coordinator.
The county’s public works officials, along with Everett School District officials, say they have agreed to meet with neighborhood residents at a yet-to-be-determined date about the traffic problem. In addition, the county’s public works traffic operations division has begun a proposal to install speed bumps on 139th Street SE and 28th Avenue SE, possibly as early as the end of this year, as a possible solution to traffic problems in that neighborhood.
A meeting regarding 25th Avenue SE, however, is on hold for now, because the county and residents have decided to see whether an increased law enforcement presence, along with installation of speed bumps on nearby streets and the end of construction on 35th Avenue SE and the Bothell-Everett Highway later this year have any impact on neighborhood traffic flow.
“Those could mitigate the problems on 25th,” Sleasman said.
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