What should the City of Issaquah do with Newport Way?

The important arterial will soon undergo a rebuild as the city seeks to improve safety and traffic flow and facilities for cyclists and pedestrians in a mile-long section of Newport that passes Issaquah Valley Elementary School.

At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 3., the city will host an open house to discuss design and objective options for the reconstruction of Newport Way.

The open house will be held at the King County Library System Service Center (not the library) at 960 Newport Way N.W.

In the past few weeks The Reporter has heard from a number of residents who believe the city has been lapse in only notifying those residents who live along the section of road about the redevelopment plans. There is some opposition to the current reconstruction plans, and a growing group of locals is eager to have their opinions heard at the upcoming open house.

Newport Way Northwest currently includes one lane of vehicle traffic in each direction, as well as narrow shoulders (less than two feet), ditches and asphalt walking paths. From West Sunset Way to Northwest Maple Street, about half of the road is located in a school zone.

More vehicles are using Newport Way Northwest as a principal arterial and congestion is expected to continue increasing due to traffic entering and exiting from driveways and side streets.

In November, the city presented to the public two possible alternatives for improving Newport Way.

The options were a three-lane alternative with signalized intersections, or a two-lane alternative with roundabout intersections.

Comments from that open house were then used to revise the original two options, which will now be presented at the Feb. 3 open house for additional public input.

Following this open house, comments will then be presented to the Council Transportation Committee on Feb. 4 for its review. After an option is selected by the full City Council, design work will commence.

Construction of the project will be dependent on the availability of funding and grants.

As part of the City’s “Complete Streets” program, the proposed project would also improve connections for walkers, as well as add bicycle lanes.

New stormwater facilities — such as stormwater vaults, low-impact drainage facilities or stormwater ponds — would also be added.

Six months ago, the Issaquah City Council announced that improving the mobility of the city’s transportation system was its number one goal for 2010, and improving the capacity of Newport Way was slated as a key to that objective.

Chair of the city’s transportation committee Joshua Schaer, and founder of Getting Around Issaquah Together (GAIT) Jeff Youngstrom are two people with an interest and expertise in transportation issues who felt the city needs to look at other ways to reduce congestion and make Issaquah easier to get around.

In June of last year, Schaer told The Reporter that although projects like Newport Way could relieve congestion in the short term, the long term solution will not involve continually widening roads.

“At some point you come across a saturation point, and people have to change their habits,” he said.

For more information on the Newport Way project, call 425-837-3400, or e-mail City Public Works Director Bob Brock at bobb@ci.issaquah.wa.us.