EDMONDS
City and state officials are at loggerheads about what to do with what critics call one of Edmonds’ most dangerous intersections.
While citizens and most City Council members want to see a stoplight at the intersection of 196th Street Southwest and 88th Avenue West, state officials call that unnecessary.
Drivers from 88th trying to merge into westbound traffic on 196th have only half of the nationally-recommended sight distance, city officials said.
Still, there are too few accidents, too few cars and too many breaks in traffic for a stoplight, according to state officials.
It is too early in the process for the city to settle for anything less, council members said Dec. 4, as they voted to block a minor intersection improvement.
The state supports a $15,000 project that would allow right turns only from the south leg of 88th. The city doesn’t want that. The council voted 4-2 against the improvement.
“The safest option there is a light,” said Councilmember Dave Orvis. “That is what would protect pedestrians and allow better use of the intersection.”
Ultimately, a stoplight isn’t Edmonds’ decision. The state owns the street, which is also called Puget Drive for the portion that winds downhill toward downtown Edmonds and is technically State Route 524.
“We want to see what we can do,” said Bertrand Hauss, the city’s transportation engineer. “But it all depends on what the (state Department of Transportation) says. Without their approval, we cannot do anything.”
The city recently wrapped up a $20,000 study which officials hoped would justify a stoplight — or stop signs, or a crosswalk — at the intersection that some residents call the “Intersection of Death.”
Limited sight distance contributed to at least four accidents in 2006. Excessive speed contributed to a fifth.
The intersection has already seen five accidents in 2007, but officials haven’t yet determined how many are the intersection’s fault.
The city study results didn’t justify a stoplight, state officials said. Before a stoplight can be built, various conditions called “warrants” must be met.
The two most important warrants deal with whether traffic volumes on the primary street are comparable to the side street, and whether there are regular breaks in traffic on the primary street so drivers can safely merge.
The study showed there is only one hour a day where those levels become problematic, said Mike Swires, a state traffic engineer. The intersection would likely need to be a problem for eight hours a day before a stoplight would be necessary, he said.
The DOT has a list of hundreds of intersections in Snohomish County that are being considered for stoplights, and while 88th and 196th is on that list, it isn’t very high, Swires said.
“(Stoplights) are not the be-all, end-all solution,” he said, adding that a stoplight would increase rear-end collisions.
But, a stoplight would increase safety, Orvis said.
The intersection’s danger discourages residents from crossing 196th to visit Maplewood Park, he said. That, among other things, needs to be fixed, he said.
The fact that some citizens are already avoiding the intersection and traveling minor side roads like Meadowdale Lane, which is so small it doesn’t have a center stripe, means the problem is only being spread, he said.
Orvis is working on a resolution which would call on state legislators to create a stoplight, he said Tuesday.
He hopes to bring that before City Council in January, Orvis said.
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