Safety on Stratford Road

Thanks to some much needed improvements, Stratford Road, one of the busiest streets in Moses Lake, will soon be safer for drivers and pedestrians where it intersects on Knolls Vista Drive.

The 30-day project started last week and adds a mid-block pedestrian crossing 100 feet north of Knolls Vista Drive to cross Stratford Road.

The project helps meet a need for people seeking a closer crosswalk in that area, which many pedestrians would use to access the town's activity trail along the lake crossing to Neppel Park. Instead of walking down to Valley Road to cross Stratford, they can safely walk, run or bike across Stratford at Knolls Vista Drive.

Sometimes pedestrians don't want to walk to Valley Road and cross where there isn't a designated crosswalk, according to Mike Moro, a city engineer. The improvements address that problem, as well as increasing pedestrian visibility for drivers, who are mostly looking to the north when waiting to turn.

The activity trail crosswalk at Knolls Vista Drive is being reduced by about 20 feet to include pedestrian lights to warn drivers of pedestrians, according to the city's grant application. A pedestrian refuge island is added on Knolls Vista Drive, so if traffic becomes heavy, there is place for walkers and bikers to wait to cross.

Another project benefit is the added control that will be gained of left turning movements at Knolls Vista Drive and Stratford Road.

Two similar mid block crossings can be found in Moses Lake on Broadway Avenue that the state installed a few years ago.

According to state Department of Transportation (DOT) statistics, there were nine pedestrian involved collisions in Moses Lake in 2009 with one fatality, and eight pedestrian involved collisions with one serious injury in 2010.

The City of Moses Lake is paying for the project with a $150,000 pedestrian and bike safety grant from the DOT.

We are glad city officials were forward thinking about preventing a worse case scenario and applied for the grant.

In the meantime, we encourage drivers to be patient and obey the speed limit as they navigate around the work. The last day of the project is Oct. 8.

- Editorial Board