PORT ANGELES — Plans to improve Race Street were unveiled this week at an open house in Port Angeles, where city officials gathered feedback from citizens.
An online survey showed that the public was nearly evenly split among two main design concepts for the “multi-modal corridor” for pedestrians, bicyclists, vehicles and transit users.
“Everybody agrees that Race Street needs improvements for pedestrian and bicycle safety,” project manager Ben Braudrick said of the feedback he had received in the Tuesday open house at the Port Angeles Senior & Community Center.
Of the 185 who had responded to the online survey, 49.5 percent preferred multi-directional bicycle lanes on each side of Race Street.
The 50.5 percent majority favored a shared-use trail for pedestrians and bicyclists on one side of the city arterial that serves as a gateway to Hurricane Ridge.
Both concepts would narrow existing vehicle lanes and add vegetation buffers and sidewalks.
“I just don’t want to see any trees in the road like Sequim Avenue,” said Saralyn Petersen, who lives off Mount Angeles Road.
The Race Street project affects a 1.1-mile corridor between Front Street and the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, where the city street becomes Mount Angeles Road.
Braudrick, an assistant planner for the city, has said the project will improve the safety and functionality of Race Street for all users and enhance the natural connection between the Olympic Discovery Trail and Hurricane Ridge.
The listed project goals are mobility, operations/maintenance, economic development, stormwater, experience and land use.
The city received a Federal Lands Access grant to complete the $462,000 design for the Race Street project next year. Construction is slated for 2019 or 2020.
Race Street was divided into six sections to address varying land uses along the corridor.
“This is really a celebration of what we have here,” Braudrick said while displaying a drawing of the “festival” section between Second and Fourth streets near Civic Field and Erickson Park.
The design concepts show plans for stormwater, trees, pedestrian gathering spaces and drop-off zones.
“It’s really hard to visualize on a two-dimensional drawing,” Braudrick said at the open house.
Alta Planning of Seattle, the city’s design consultant, will help prepare construction documents with a preferred design later this year. Alta representatives were on hand at the three-hour open house.
Fifty-five citizens had signed in during the first 2½ hours of the event.
While construction costs are not yet known, Braudrick said the design is typically 20 percent of the overall project cost. The city will look for ways to reduce construction costs and future maintenance, Braudrick said.
Saralyn Petersen and her husband, Joe, said trees would reduce visibility and require additional maintenance.
“You can’t turn,” said Joe Petersen, a retired state engineer, of the tree-lined islands in the middle of Sequim Avenue.
“If you live there, you can’t get into your driveway. You have to turn around and come back.”
The Race Street project drawings show trees separating vehicle lanes from bicycle and/or pedestrian paths. There would be no trees between the vehicle lanes.
Given the width of Race Street, Joe Petersen said, striping would be a more cost-effective way of separating motorists from other users.
“If they had better signage and striping, [Race Street] would probably function better,” Saralyn Petersen said.
Braudrick has said the project will not reduce the volume of traffic that Race Street can handle but might reduce speed.
The current speed limit on Race Street is 30 mph.
Clallam Transit, which provides fixed-route bus service on Race Street, has participated in the city’s planning process, officials said.
“Clallam Transit supports the efforts of the city of Port Angeles to make Race Street more accessible for users of alternative modes of transportation,” Clallam Transit General Manager Kevin Gallacci said in a Thursday email.
“We are pleased that both design concepts include accommodations for transit users and bus stops.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
