The City of Sequim is now officially onboard of a grassroots movement to improve safety at U.S. Highway 101 and Happy Valley Road intersection.
Sequim city councilors unanimously agreed to support a resolution on Jan. 25, advocating to the “State Legislature to work with the Washington State Department of Transportation to fund safety improvements to SR101.”
David Garlington, Sequim Public Works director, said the request includes improvements at Happy Valley Road, Whitefeather Way and Palo Alto Road intersecting the highway.
City officials say they’ve been in discussion with the Washington State Department of Transportation about this stretch of highway for a number of years.
“The answer we continue to get is that it doesn’t rate because there are so many intersections with worse accident records so that’s where the money has to go,” Garlington said.
In a previous interview, John Wynands, WSDOT’s assistant region administrator for project development, said, that there are 700 worse intersections in the state than Happy Valley and safety projects are prioritized by the number of car wrecks.
In the past 10 years, 24 incidents have been reported by WSDOT within a quarter-mile radius of the Happy Valley Road intersection ranging from from vehicles striking deer and rear endings to vehicles overturning. City officials say traffic has increased 23 percent from 2000-2014.
For those unfamiliar with the intersection, there’s a rise in the road that prevents drivers from seeing if there is a break in traffic from the left.
Garlington said there isn’t any simple solution to improve safety such as posting signs that would “make it safer for people leaving Happy Valley to come into town.”
Drivers not wanting to turn left choose one of two options: go east and look for a U-turn or drive up Happy Valley in a large detour, he said.
Wynands said previously that WSDOT is committed to low-cost improvements to improve safety but Garlington told city councilors he’s skeptical of those recommendations.
“They are trying to do a large number of cheap fixes to intersections hoping some of them will have a positive effect but recognizing a number of them won’t — things like putting up a sign that says intersection up ahead,” he said.
Garlington said they could do this but he’s “concerned about offering a cheap, simple solution when we need more.”
Letters to Legislature
To find funding for the projects, city officials say they must advocate to legislators.
“There’s no program that’s going to produce the magnitude of safety improvements that we want to see,” Garlington said. “Legislators will have to put it into the transportation bill.”
City councilors Dennis Smith, Candace Pratt, Bob Lake and Genaveve Starr and City Manager Charlie Bush, City Attorney Craig Ritchie and City Clerk Karen Kuznek-Reese traveled to Olympia on Tuesday, Jan. 26, to meet with legislators. Bush said this is a topic they plan to bring up.
Happy Valley Road resident Shirley Rudolf and her husband Gary have been advocating for improvements to legislators and WSDOT for some time through petition signatures and writing letters, which include support from the Clallam County Fire District 3, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and Sequim School District.
Rudolf said she’s excited to see the city council support the safety proposals and she plans to deliver an informational packet to Sen. Patty Murray’s office to wait and see what happens.
“If I have to follow up, I will … I’m not going to let it die,” she said.
Rudolf said her household continues to use the intersection and she’s still worried about school buses using the intersection and the growing population south of Happy Valley Road that will use the road more over time.
“It’s going to take somebody getting killed (to get attention) and we’re trying to prevent that,” Rudolf said.
Other options
The plan prior to construction of the U.S. Highway 101 bypass would have improved the geometry of the highway including Happy Valley Road, Garlington said, but funding was cut short for finishing projects like restructuring the road to parallel the highway and connect with Simdars Road.
However, Garlington said the plan recognizes that WSDOT believes there is “substandard geometry on the highway.”
He also continues to propose a temporary, cheaper alternative plan at Happy Valley by moving the intersection about 200 feet west.
Garlington said they could accomplish this for a few hundred thousand dollars and the City of Sequim purchased right of way there as part of its undeveloped Keeler Park property.
He feels this could be a selling point to legislators because the city already owns the right of way at the Happy Valley and Palo Alto roads intersections, which could lessen the cost of the earlier proposed plans.
Garlington said the ultimate plan will be a multi-million dollar effort but they have enough right of way to go ahead with it when the state is ready.
Keeler Park will remain an undeveloped park until some improvements are made, Garlington said because he feels “it would be irresponsible to put that kind of traffic at that intersection.”
