Mount Baker Road is one step closer to its facelift.
Improvements for the road are 60 percent completed, and the project is now entering its right of way acquisition phase.
Public Works Director Jon Shannon told the county council on Feb. 15 that “90 percent of the property acquisition will be negotiated. The remaining will be condemned. There will be condemnation involved – there always is.”
Project manager Dan Vekved said the county will be seeking 12 easements from 11 property owners. The improvements require 30 feet of right of way on both sides of the section line, except for 35 feet along two parcels on the North side at the East end of the road because of wetland impacts. The final price the county pays for those easements is confidential.
“Sometimes the negotiations stop and we can’t reach agreement on price or terms,” Vekved said. “So then we have to ask the county council for approval to condemn the property. It’s used as a last resort when you need to buy land for a project.”
He said once a condemnation hearing is scheduled, land owners generally settle on an agreement with the county.
“Then people realize we are serious,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of the people agree with the proposal at that point. We never usually make it to court.”
The goal of the construction is 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, the county says 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 improvements are: 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.
The entire project is slated to cost $3.6 million. State funds are supplying $2.5 million, and the county is paying for the remaining amount through public works funds and grants. Design will be completed in 2011 and construction will be finished in 2012.
A pedestrian trail, which the county is including in its final design, is not funded at this time. Public works was denied grant money three times in the past eight years, and its most recent grant application for a $375,000 “Safe Routes to School” (done in partnership with the Orcas School, Orcas Pathways and the Sheriff’s Office) was turned down in early 2011.
“I am really bummed,” Vekved said. “It’s one of the few sources of money we had left to go after. One thing it does say is that we really need to come together as a community and think about whether or not we want the trail. How are we going to pay for it? Let’s try to build it with local money or local labor. I think this is equally as important on this project as the road improvements. We’re still looking for money.”
Public works is designing the road and pedestrian trail together, and worst case scenario, the trail could be added on after funding is obtained. Vekved hopes islanders will attend the next open house in May to discuss the future of a trail. A gravel, five-foot wide, mile-long path will cost around $300,000 for materials and labor.
What the community thinks
Response from residents about the proposed improvements for Mount Baker Road has been mixed. Some of the comments from public works’ past community meetings were:
“Please don’t add concrete or paved pathways. If needed, expand the paved shoulder. This will eliminate the cost of maintenance of paved pathways and eliminate the ‘urban’ blight of a concrete path.”
“I appreciate that people are thinking of the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists.”
“We are not in favor of a pathway on the north side of Mount Baker Road. It does not make sense because it does not service any foot traffic … It seems that a single path on the south side would save considerable funds instead of having another path on the north side.”
“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.”
