By Racquel Arceo
Based off of the results from a
series of studies conducted by the Department of Public Works, there will be a
variety of changes made along Alabama Street to improve safety.
In Sunnyland, the changes will including
the addition of bike lanes, C-curbs, various types of pedestrian crossing
lights, and “refugee islands,” the relocation and reduction of transit Gold Go
line bus stops and “road dieting.”
The second open house for the
Alabama Corridor Project was held on March 5 at Roosevelt Elementary School.
At the meeting, the Department of
Public Work’s proposed plan for the Alabama Street renovations was revealed. The
proposal included three variations of the road diet and other measures to
improve safety.
The open house was for residents
from all affected neighborhoods, including Roosevelt, Sunnyland, Lettered
Streets, Silver Beach and Alabama Hill, and the Bellingham Police Department
and Fire Department, to review the analysis and proposal for safety
improvements along Alabama Street.
In 2011, Alabama street was found
to be the street with the second most collisions in Whatcom County, right
behind Guide Meridian, according to the Department of Public Works. The
following year, Bellingham received over $1.4 million in federal grant funds
allowing them to conduct studies for improvements along the 1.75-mile long Alabama
Street.
Michelle Nancy, Sunnyland resident,
has concerns about minimizing the main road through Sunnyland through the “road
diet.“
“I don’t want to see traffic on the
spillover streets,” Nancy said.
The “road diet” consists of moving
the painted lines of the road leaving fewer lanes traveling in either direction
and, as it would be for Sunnyland, adding bike lanes.
With the growing traffic on Alabama
Street, Nancy said she doesn’t think the roads in Sunnyland are made to support
the larger masses.
“Most of the people I have talked
to, by in large, like the way it is now,” Nancy said.
Through the stretch of Alabama Street,
the only portion that will include bike lanes would be in Sunnyland. The west
end of Alabama has been recommended to have a hybrid 4-to-3-lane “road diet” between
Dean Street and Iron Street. This “road diet” will reduce the road from two
lanes going either direction to one lane going either directing, a left turn
lane, and bike lanes going either direction.
Though the majority of Alabama
Street is unable to sustain bike lanes due to the heavy traffic, most of the
traffic was found to dissipate at James Street.
Although Nancy said that very few
people she knows of approve of the bike lanes in the Sunnyland section of
Alabama Street, Rory Routhe, city Engineer and Public Works Assistant director,
has had the reverse reaction.
“A lot of people that I have talked
to from this area are pretty happy with the changes,” Routhe said. “I think
this will provide more safety, which is the main objective in the area.”
Along the length of Alabama Street
there are currently eight stops on the Golden Go transit line, which, in the
proposal, will be reduced to five.
“We are proposing to consolidate
some of the stops,” Rick Nicholson, Whatcom County Transportation Authority’s
director, said.
With the revised stops, only the outbound
stops will be affected.
In Sunnyland alone there will be
one less outbound stop leaving three inbound stops and two outbound.
Some of the changes to the stops
will be to move them up the street more, past a cross walk.
“We are having buses stop on the
far side of cross walks so the people getting off the bus will cross behind the
bus instead of in front for safety reasons,” Nicholson said.
For some people they will have to
walk further to get to their stops but “that is the trade off for making them
safer,” he said.
The proposal also included the
addition of C-curbs or “mountable curbs”. The curb is a divider between lanes traveling
in opposite directions restricting left turns.
There are existing C-curbs in
Sunnyland, through a portion of Alabama Street, but with the proposal they will
be replaced and upgraded.
The longest stretching C-curb to be
added to Alabama Street will go for three blocks.
The reduction of left turns will
add time to people’s drives but it will not interfere with any emergency
response vehicles.
“If we really have to we can drive
over them,” Jason Monson, Bellingham Police Lieutenant, said.
Though the project got off to a
rough start last year, after the first Alabama Corridor Project open house,
with the proposal, people are starting to understand the changes more.
“I’ve heard mostly positive
reactions,” said Lt. Monson.
Some residents are still skeptical
of the changes.
Resident Bill Black has been
running Alabama Street for years and sees no major issues with the street.
“I have never, in my 25 years of living here, seen an accident [on Alabama Street],” Black said. “I think they simply need to reduce the speed limit to 30.”
“I have never, in my 25 years of living here, seen an accident [on Alabama Street],” Black said. “I think they simply need to reduce the speed limit to 30.”
