Council votes to reconfigure lanes on Division Street

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake city councilmembers unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday night that will reconfigure the four lanes on Division Street to two lanes.

The resolution was brought to Tuesday night’s council meeting by Municipal Services Director Gary Harer, who detailed the specifics of the plan to convert the current lane configuration on Division Street from north of the roundabout at Yonezawa Boulevard to Sixth Avenue. Instead of the existing four lanes on the road, the street will be reconfigured to include two travel lanes, a two-way left turn lane in the center and bikes lanes on each side, all the while keeping the existing parking that is currently available on each side of the street.

“The bottom line, reason, for that is to increase the safety for the motorists out there,” Harer told the council.

Harer noted over the past five years there have been 41 accidents on Division Street, 18 of which stemmed from drivers attempting to take a left turn and getting rear-ended by another driver. Other accidents on the street involved lane changes and vehicle/bicycle collisions. In a memo written to the city manager Harer stated numerous “well documented” studies show that the proposed configuration reduces accidents by 19 to 40 percent. In addition, he noted the Federal Highway Administration had endorsed the studies and recommended cities reduce four lane roads down to two lanes and include a left turn center lane.

The lane reconfiguration was endorsed by Moses Lake Police Department Chief Dave Ruffin and Moses Lake Fire Department Acting Fire Chief Brett Bastian.

“I believe that by converting the existing four lane roadway into two through lanes plus a center turn lane we will benefit both drivers and pedestrians alike. With this conversion, drivers' speeds are limited by the speed of the lead vehicle in the through lanes, and through vehicles are separated from left-turning vehicles,” Ruffin stated in a letter of support for the project sent to Harer. “It is reasonable to assume that this lane reduction would reduce vehicle speeds and vehicle interactions, which could potentially reduce the number and severity of vehicle-to-vehicle crashes. I also think that this could enhance pedestrian safety by creating fewer lanes of traffic for them to cross.”

Councilmember Mike Norman voiced concern about the proposal in regard to emergency vehicles traveling on the street and future growth leading to increased traffic. He asked if it was reasonable to eliminate the parking on either side of the street altogether and if the council should gauge the community’s support for the project before passing the resolution.

“I have some concerns about implementing what is a fairly, in my mind, a fairly radical change to a traffic pattern without public input,” Norman said. “I am sure that we as councilmembers will hear especially from people who are against it.”

Harer said emergency vehicles on Division Street will have the ability to travel in the left turn lane in the new lane configuration. He did note however there will be additional traffic over the years, but said he doesn’t foresee the traffic increasing to a point where Division Street would be adversely impacted. He also noted a number of residents who live along Division Street are not in favor of eliminating the on-street parking.

Councilmember Ryann Leonard asked if the city has looked into putting a stop or yield sign at Division Street and East Nelson Road, stating she could foresee a “scary situation” for drivers making a left turn from East Nelson Road into the turning lane on Division Street.

“We have looked at that and it doesn’t warrant a signal. You don’t want to stop traffic unless you have to, because you don’t want to delay that. But we have actually laid out a roundabout there, which would be perfect to take care of all of that conflicting traffic,” Harer said. “That’s a project on the board.”

The council unanimously voted to pass the resolution. Harer said the reconfiguration project will be started after the completion of a chip seal project, which was recently put out to bid and awarded to Central Washington Asphalt in the amount of $745,505 during Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.