County engineers are encountering more environmental roadblocks than they expected.
Homeowners on Mount Baker Road met with county staff on July 26 about the proposed road improvement projects. Concerns about wetlands and stormwater drainage were among their primary concerns.
“We realized three are a lot of wetlands, and the impact is significant,” county engineer Dan Vekved told the Sounder. “So we have some significant costs associated with that. We also have a lot of stormwater requirements, including treatment and flood control. We need to step back and take a look at what we’re doing.”
Vekved said the critical item right now is getting a handle on the wetlands. Engineers are meeting with wetland experts soon to get estimates on permitting and mitigation or if they need to “ratchet this thing down a notch,” he said.
The entire project is slated to cost $2.75 million. State funds are supplying 90 percent of the money, and the county is paying for 10 percent. Vekved said it is “very probable” that the environmental issues will cause the total cost to increase.
“We’re not the point where we want to release a final preliminary cost because we are not 100 percent happy with some of these impacts,” he said.
Vekved says the county will most likely do what worked for the Fisherman Bay Road project two years ago: use state funds for right of way acquisition and design, and apply for grants to fund the rest.
The improvements aim to boost public safety and road quality from 600 feet west of North Beach Road (before it splits off into Lover’s Lane) to Terrill Beach Road. The road is a designated truck bypass route around Eastsound, and at 20 feet wide with no shoulders, it is unable to safely accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. The roadway surface is deteriorating and the road base is failing. There are drainage issues in several spots, and while the posted speed limit is 25 and 35 mph, traffic speed has been recorded as high as 51 mph. There have been a number of car accidents, including one fatality, in past years.
The proposed Mount Baker Road improvements include: widening the road to 30 feet (two 11-foot lanes and four-foot shoulders), rebuilding the failed road base and adding drainage features, designing for a 35 mph speed limit, removing or relocating road hazards such as trees, fences, and culvert ends to at least 10 feet from the edge of the new lanes, and enhancing or replacing wetlands.
Public works is still considering three design alternatives, all of which include widening the road to 30 feet. Alternative A is a rural road, Alternative B includes a five-foot pedestrian path, and Alternative C features a curb and gutter and five-foot sidewalk inside the UGA boundary with the rural road section and 5-foot path the rest of the way.
The pedestrian trail, which the county hopes to include in its final design, is not being funded by state money. While it has been denied grant money three times in the past eight years, the county hopes to secure funding by the time construction begins on the road in 2012. It just received $88,000 of Federal Transportation Enhancement Funds to continue the pedestrian trail design process.
Public works just applied for a $450,000 “Safe Routes to School” grant, partnering with Orcas School, Orcas Pathways and the Sheriff.
Vekved says they are completing the road project in phases, so if the trail money does not come through, they can still complete the improvements.
“But I am really hopeful we’ll be able to come up with enough money we can do both projects at the same time,” he said.
By the end of 2010, the county plans to have finished right-of-way acquisition, environmental permit strategizing, mitigation planning, and permit applications. Design will be completed in 2011 and construction will be finished in 2012.
Rick Christmas, a homeowner on Mount Baker Road, says the county is not being clear about how much land will be taken with right-of-way acquisition.
“I am still confused on what they want,” Christmas said. “I don’t know how Eastsound is going to support this road when they understand what this means. Are we creating a major thoroughfare, and how is the community as a whole going to be impacted by it? I am also concerned about what the real cost is.”
When asked what the county will do if homeowners fight land acquisition, Vekved said, “we’re really trying not to think that way yet.”
“That’s why we’re having these meetings,” he said. “We’re trying to have everybody get on board … and realize how important the project is. There are significant road maintenance and safety issues we need to address here.”
For more information
To read the county’s wetland, stormwater, and tree studies, email Dan Vekved at danv@sjcpublicworks.org. The next meeting is set for October.
