You are coming up Elhi Hill on state Route 410 doing 55 mph until you get to the Ascent Gateway and you slow to 45 mph (or if you don’t you will frequently be under the scrutiny of a traffic officer with a radar gun).  If it is a clear day, the beauty of Mount Rainier looms large in front of you. Welcome to Bonney Lake says the sign. Then when you get to the signal at the top of the hill by the Dairy Queen, the speed drops again to 35 mph until you pass the next signal (at the Chevron) and it goes back up to 45 mph.

What? Confused? Impeded? Speed trap?

With the upcoming intersection improvements at Veteran’s Memorial Drive and SR 410, consideration is being given to the aesthetics of putting a 3-foot landscape median from Veteran’s Memorial Drive to Main Street on SR 410.

The city plan is to redevelop downtown and make it as attractive and accessible as possible for current and future businesses in the triangle area. The construction of the median would impede ingress and egress to businesses that currently use the two-way center left turn lane to access businesses such as Grocery Outlet and the businesses near the Park-and-Ride on the south side of SR 410.

Another concern is a median, such as the 3-foot tall median installed in Eastown, blocks your vision of seeing the business on the other side of the median.  While trees are traffic calming, they in addition to the height of the barrier are a concern. The city is looking for something more aesthetically pleasing, perhaps curb height. This will require a lowering of the speed limit from 45 mph to 35 mph.

Another goal of the city has been frontage roads, ways to circumvent SR 410 but keep the traffic moving, especially for business access.  During recent construction of the Main Street and SR 410 intersection, that driveway near Wendy’s accessing the Park-and-Ride was used to move traffic to and from Sky Island Drive. With the construction of a barrier, this option is gone; however Veteran’s Memorial Drive fits the bill.

Public Works Director Dan Grigsby said the design is 100 percent complete. In a memo in a recent city council packet, City Engineer John Woodcock stated that in a September 2013 meeting with WSDOT the city sought options to remove or reduce the impacts of the median barrier in Downtown.  Subsequently, WSDOT conducted a speed study in that area of SR 410 and determined 85 percent of vehicles in that stretch are currently traveling under the 45 mph limit.  In fact, the average speed is 40 mph, but of course we who travel that corridor already know that.

The memo goes on to state the objective is to continue to provide a safe condition for the traveling public while enhancing the economic viability of the future for this portion of the corridor.  The city is aware of the number of accidents that have occurred in this section of SR 410 and (John Woodcock) therefore supports the lowering of the speed limit between Veteran’s Memorial Drive and Main Street to 35 mph which still requires a future median construction but allows for a lower profile design that will enhance a more “Downtown feel” in the area of the study.

Couldn’t the visibility be resolved with signage at the left turn gaps? This was a solution proposed when the divider was installed at 182nd Avenue and Veterans Memorial Drive. I sit at Java to Go at AM/PM, waiting for my latte and watch people try and cut through the Bonney Lake Auto Parts parking lot to turn left.  Or, when I am sitting at the light on Main Street and Veterans Memorial Drive I watch cars turn north on Main, turn into the first driveway on the left (future site of the EPFR headquarters), turn around and head back to westbound Veterans Memorial Drive to access the auto parts store, the Windermere building, AM/PM and 182nd Ave.  They do not realize that Main Street will take them to 182nd Avenue and by turning left they can access all those businesses without U-turns. The argument for not providing signage when I was on the council was “people will figure it out.”  I have been off the council for about two years and drivers still have not figured it out.

You see, Downtown is my part of town.  It is where I bank, get my dry cleaning done and take my cats to the vet.  It is where I buy auto parts, purchase this newspaper out of a box and keep trying to buy a winning lottery ticket.  I buy my GF Thai food on the way home from work.  Before my diet changed, I ate delicious pub grub and deli food in downtown long established eateries. I alternate getting my ice cream after a late night craving between DQ and Wendy’s.  I can run to the store to pick up a missing ingredient.  My dentist is there. I have gone to the chiropractor’s office, the podiatrist and my daughter took dance lessons in Downtown 20 years ago.  I have had my hair styled and used the services of an attorney. I get my computer fixed at the Computer Shack.  We get license tabs for our three vehicles there. I attend meetings at the Municipal Justice Center, go to the library, go to the post office, donate to the food and clothing banks and attend meetings at the Public Safety Building.  People tend to shop and use services in their neighborhood, and downtown is mine.  I shop Bonney Lake first.

I agree that businesses must be visible and accessible to be profitable and that is part of the balance the city has to strike.  They have not done it yet with Main Street and the curb at 182nd on Veterans Memorial Drive. Things like changing street names affects business’ budgets, having to change checks, stationery, websites, advertising to reeducate their customers where they are.  Are you on 184th or Main Street or Sky Island Drive? Is The Old Naches Trail, Old Buckley Highway, Sumner-Buckley Highway and Veteran’s Memorial Drive the same roadway? Why doesn’t my GPS show that? I do believe traffic flow is better with the recent improvements made at the SR 410 and Main Street intersection. Kudos for that, and I hope the improvements at the Veterans Memorial Drive intersection do the same as far as traffic flow.

However, there have been 163 accidents in that short 2-3 block distance, and one of which was a fatality.  WSDOT wants a median to prevent those accidents that kill, maim and impede traffic. The two way left turn lane (some refer to as a suicide lane) must go.

Bottom line, safety is more important than aesthetics.  There are too many separate driveways in that short distance coupled with increased growth on the plateau which will continue. I look forward to the City Council arriving at a compromise.

This item was moved to the Public Safety Committee for more consideration. It was discussed at the Public Safety December meeting. The committee is asking WSDOT if it is possible to expand the zone to avoid public perception of it being a speed trap if it is too short a stretch. The suggestion was retain the 35 mph speed to perhaps 192nd.  Will this mean residents in that area can expect to hear more Jake brakes heading downhill to the Angeline Bridge? Discussion will continue at the committee level at their January 2014 meeting before it comes back to the full council for action.

I wonder if this will also go to the economic development committee, since if speeds are reduced up to 192nd it not only impacts the Downtown shopping district but also Midtown?  And the median affects the Downtown businesses. Please watch the agendas and consider attending future meetings on this important topic.  Contact your councilmembers at council@ci.bonney-lake.wa.us.