WSDOT mulls SR-28 turn lane south of Ephrata

EPHRATA — The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is considering adding a center turn lane to a stretch of SR-28 south of Ephrata because of the number of accidents on that stretch of road.

According to WSDOT engineer Jeff Deal, the 1.4-mile long segment of SR-28 from the city limits to the Oasis Park entrance sees a quarter more accidents than it normally would thanks to a combination of a 50 mph speed limit and the amount of traffic on a two-lane road with a lot of left turn opportunities.

“It’s spread out through the whole section, and we need to do something to address the whole,” Deal told the Ephrata City Council on Wednesday. “We want to reduce crashes of vehicles making left turns.”

Deal said that while the optimal solution would be to widen the road for the entire stretch, there’s no guessing how much time it would take to find the funding. And WSDOT wants to do something that will have an immediate effect.

“In an ideal situation, (widening the road) is what you would go with,” he said. “But it could take years to widen the road.”

So WSDOT is proposing adding a center turn lane without widening the road, which would require narrowing both the lanes and also narrowing the shoulders, Deal said. The department expects the work would take about a week to complete, and hopes to do this in the fall.

Members of the city council, however, wanted to know if WSDOT had looked at other alternatives — such as lowering the speed limit — and why the department wasn’t considering taking the turn lane all the way to Martin Road.

Deal said simply lowering the speed limit without rigorous enforcement wouldn’t have much effect. 50 mph is very close to the speed most cars travel on that road, though he said narrowing the lanes would affect that.

“You need to change the context of the road,” Deal explained. “Narrowing lanes is something we do naturally to lower speeds.”

As for going all the way to Martin Road, Deal said a guardrail along SR-28 doesn’t give WSDOT adequate room to add a center lane that far south.

Area cyclists, however, were very concerned that the current eight-foot shoulders on SR-28 would be halved to four feet.

“Eight-foot shoulders sound huge to those who don’t ride a bike. They’re OK, but not overly roomy,” said Jake Meadke. “Four foot is not much wider than a person riding a bike.”

Meadke said he didn’t feel comfortable riding so close to traffic going 50 mph, and certainly didn’t want his kids — or anyone else’s — out on that road under those conditions.

Deal said the middle turn lane, if unoccupied, would give motorists plenty of room to carefully pass cyclists.

However, Mayor Bruce Reim was impressed that WSDOT even bothered to come and tell them of their plans.

“Usually the state does what it does,” he said.

“We like to reach out,” Deal said. “This is important to your city, and there could be other alternatives.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.