More bike lanes are coming to three Lynnwood streets, and that has some residents fuming.
Craig Parsons is one of them. The 50-year-old resident of 208th Street Southwest says he’s angry that the city of Lynnwood last fall put up “no parking” signs along both sides of his street. Not only is it an inconvenience, he said, it has encouraged drivers to ignore the speed limit.
“I’ve tried to negotiate with the city and they won’t make any concessions,” said Parsons, who’s asked the city to reconsider its decision. Every affected resident along his street agrees with him, Parsons said.
Neighbors share Parson’s outrage and are also upset that they’re being inconvenienced even though the north-south running Interurban Trail, used by cyclists, exits onto their street before continuing north and east.
“The thing that’s frustrating for me is the Interurban Trail is just a few hundred feet away,” said Richard Geveshausen, who lives next to Parsons. “It’s going to push the traffic 4 feet closer to the curb.”
City officials say 208th Street Southwest, between 66th Avenue West and 54th Avenue West, will be redesigned beginning in April. “No parking” signs went up last fall and lane striping and bike route signs will be added next month. The street also will get a new turn lane.
In addition to 208th Street, Lynnwood is adding bike lanes along 188th Street Southwest, from 60th Avenue West to 44th Avenue West, and along 168th Street Southwest from 62nd Street West to Highway 99.
A $150,000 federal grant is paying for the new lanes.
City officials say they followed public notification guidelines by sending notices to affected residents beginning in 2007 and again last year.
Public hearings were held. Bill Franz, the city’s public works director, said the city heard from residents along 188th Street. Most of them opposed the idea. Residents along 208th Street, however, were quiet, he said.
The City Council went ahead with the plan anyway, approving it 6-0 last year.
Councilman Jim Smith said he likely would have voted “no” if he’d been present.
Last fall, Parsons, who had led efforts to get the city to pay more attention to speeding drivers, petitioned the city not to take away street parking. He said most council members ignored his pleas.
Parsons said he conducted an informal poll of neighbors.
“Every one of them that I asked (living) between 60th and 99 said they never got notification,” he said.
The three streets, which run east to west, are each considered major connecting streets. The city’s main land-use plan says alternatives to cars have to be part of the plan, so more bike lanes are being encouraged.
And the Washington Department of Transportation, when it looked closely at Lynnwood’s application for that federal grant, took into account the frequency and location of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists, said Paula Reeves, who oversees pedestrian and bicycle safety grants for WSDOT.
“We carefully select projects that are addressing risk where there’s been a crash history,” she said.
That analysis, provided to the state by city officials, showed there were 84 serious injury accidents on the three streets where bike lanes are en route. Hot spots include 188th Street’s intersection with Highway 99, 188th Street’s intersection with 48th Avenue West and 168th Street’s intersection with Highway 99.
Reeves said adding bicycle lanes should also help control speeding problems.
“The research shows it has benefits for pedestrians as well,” she said. “It’s been shown to have a calming effect on traffic.”
Traffic studies have shown that if motorists and cyclists have clearly defined lanes, “it generally reduces the conflicts between the two,” Reeves said.
But neighbors say the city could and should have done more to meet them half way.
“The amount of bicycle traffic is just freaking minimal,” said Dave Brown, owner of Corso’s Pasta Co., 5530 208th St. SW. “I would hate to live in the neighborhood and have somebody visit me and have to park a block away.”
Smith said he agrees with Brown.
“I look at the bike lanes on 200th (and) I hardly ever see anybody there,” he said. “I don’t see why we can’t simply have them as vehicle lanes that bikes also use.”
Bicyclist Charlie Buchalter said he sees both sides of the issue.
“I totally see what they’re saying,” he said of residents along 208th. On the other hand, “as a cyclist, I say ‘hey, you know, you bought a house on a major thoroughfare.’ Things change.”
The Interurban Trail is great but it’s a north-south route, Buchalter said.
“The city’s very specifically trying to put in east-west access for non-motorized routes,” said Buchalter, a member of the city’s Transportation and Traffic Task Force.
Councilwoman Lisa Utter said she doesn’t remember receiving the petition but acknowledged residents made “a good point” about the Interurban Trail’s proximity.
“It’s unfortunate they didn’t get involved sooner,” she said.
On the other hand, Utter said, public rights-of-way can never be guaranteed as parking spots for homeowners.
“People feel very proprietary that the places in front of their houses are their parking spots,” she said. “That’s not quite correct. It’s not technically your parking spot.”
City regulations say the council has the authority to prohibit parking along 15 city streets, including 208th, 188th and 168th.
That’s no consolation to Dan Wollin, a neighbor of Parson’s, who plans to add more parking on his own property. City regulations prohibit cars on front lawns, but some residents say they don’t have much of a choice.
“I guess what you have to do is make another parking space,” he said.
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