Plans for Othello street changed

OTHELLO - The intersection of Othello's First Avenue and state Route 26 is changing after the city council endorsed redesigned plans.

The endorsement came after Department of Transportation (DOT) officials presented the $763,662 plan during a recent city council meeting. The plans included changes suggested by Mayor Tim Wilson after an initial plan was presented.

"This has been going on since 2005. There's been a series of meetings ... to come up with the best solution to skin a cat," Project Engineer Bob Romine said. "This cat here is this intersection with a lot of accidents, a lot of cross accidents, a lot of turning accidents."

The city and the DOT pursued and received grant funding to change the intersection. The state changed state Route 24 last year to allow more trucks to pass beneath the bridge, he said.

Initial proposals called for an island to prevent left hand turns from First Avenue onto the state highway. The business owners, who benefit from the highway traffic, balked at the suggestion. City officials replied with a proposal to place an island which would allow turns back onto the highway, but prevent traffic from crossing the highway to get to the First Avenue spur.

Romine agreed with the city's plan, saying they could convert the former left turn lane into a refuge lane for people turning onto the highway.

"Folks taking a left into this refuge lane, pause here, before merging into the eastbound lane," he said. 

Other changes included narrowing First Avenue to two lanes and a turning lane to accommodate truck traffic. Columbia Street and Wahluke Street are going to be turned into one-way streets, Romine said.

Suggestions for changing the overpass crossing Broadway Avenue would cost too much, he said. Instead the state suggested moving the stop line on the First Avenue spur forward, giving drivers the ability to see further.

"It increases the sight distance to 1,100 feet, but there's a little window in that 1,100 feet (where) the columns block it. So about 300 feet of that 1,100 feet are blocked by the columns," he said.

The plans didn't include suggestions for adding a place for pedestrians to walk under the bridge. Romine said the change would be too costly.

"We did look at the design and came up with a ballpark estimate, and we can pass that along to the city for future consideration," he said. "At this point in time, we simply didn't have the money in the bucket ... It's definitely a worthwhile project for the future, and I would encourage you folks to think about it."

Councilmember Ken Caylor asked where the pedestrians are supposed to walk when crossing under the bridge.

"This is ridiculous. We requested that we have some place for those people to walk," he said. "I think we need to stay with that walkway. That's part of the project. If we say, 'Oh we'll do it in the future.' Yeah, after we killed two or three people ... What's a life worth?"

Romine pointed out the scope of the project focused on decreasing the amount of vehicle collisions.

"We consider the pedestrian component as much as we can. This is an add-on to the original scope of the project. We tried to see if we could do it. We don't have the money. The state doesn't have the money," he said.

The department also rejected a suggestion to lower the speed limit on state Route 26, Romine said. Traffic studies indicate safety wouldn't improve.

"Let's implement these intelligent safety (signs). These flashing things that say, 'Your speed is,' and then flash your speed on it, so as they're approaching an intersection it will catch their eye," he said. "That should bring them down."

After the changes, Romine suggested the department can do another traffic study to see if the changes improve safety.

"If at that time, if something is showing up then we can continue the conversation about the reduction in speed," he said.

Caylor and Councilmember Marc Spohr disagreed with leaving the speed limit the same. Caylor called reducing the speed limit a priority and he didn't care what the experts say about it.

"That highway, it's not like it's out in no man's land. That actually goes through the center of Othello," he said. "Maybe not quite the center, but it's right through our city limits and I think you should bow to the city and lower that speed limit."

Spohr said the state should reduce the speed and follow it with a study showing whether the speed limit needs to be increased.

"They base the speeds on the current studies," Romine said. "Right now, the current studies don't indicate a compliance issue ... Take a step back, recognizing what your wants are, let's see what happens when this intersection goes into place with the flashing signs."