Speed limits of three more roads under review; Newport corridor residents offer mixed praise, citing need for more safety measures before development increases traffic.

The Issaquah City Council on Tuesday night voted 6-1 to enforce a 30 mph speed limit on Newport Way Northwest from State Route 900 to the Lakemont Interchange — a 25 percent reduction on the current 40 mph limit. The change will go into effect Sept. 22, City Clerk Tina Eggers said.

Residents of the Newport corridor, speaking in advance of the vote, praised city lawmakers for taking action on speed limits in the aftermath of the death of 4-year-old Haochen Xu outside the Summerhill neighborhood. But many added that the speed reduction seemed like a reactionary measure that still left much to be done — such as turn lanes and stop signs at intersections, according to some suggestions. Other speakers turned a wary eye toward proposed apartment development that could increase the volume of motorists on the corridor.

“That’s a start,” Summerhill Subdivision Homeowners Association Secretary Joe Verner said of the speed limit reduction. “Summerhill and other Newport Way residents have been asking for this for seven years … It took the fatality of a 4-year-old child in front of his mother. Let that sit a minute.”

Verner and fellow Summerhill resident Amy Miller pointed to planned multifamily development along the corridor as a factor that would put more cars on the road and create a need for safety improvements sooner rather than later.

On August 13, the Summerhill Subdivision Homeowners Association published an online petition —  its second of the summer — requesting the city put three impending development projects and two developments in the further future on hold pending a traffic study and further safety revisions to the corridor.

“When we presented this to the city before we put it out, the response was ‘Don’t worry, we did a study,'” Miller said. “What study? If you can do that [produce a study], please do so. But actually do it.”

That study does exist and was completed in 2012, Public Works Engineering Director Sheldon Lynne told the Reporter as he left Tuesday’s council meeting. The Reporter has requested a copy of the 2012 study from the city clerk’s office.

But in its petition the Association argued the 2012 study did not account for increased traffic or take into account the entirety of the corridor.

“We’re not trying to irritate you,” Miller said to the council. “We’re not trying to be a nuisance. So far, it seems like the only way to get things done.”

The lowered speed limit is not the end of work on Newport Way Northwest, Council President Paul Winterstein said. He pointed to an ongoing study of pedestrian crosswalks currently being conducted by Transportation Solutions, Inc. and expected to conclude at the end of September as a course of action that could lead to further changes. Winterstein added that, as an avid bicyclist, he’s intimately aware of the Newport corridor’s shortcomings.

“I’ve seen everything everyone has described here tonight,” he said, adding that the speed reduction was a good start because vehicle speed is “one of the biggest” factors in surviving an accident.Councilor Joshua Schaer cast the sole dissenting vote against the speed limit bill after a proposed amendment to limit its scope died in discussion. Schaer argued that the 30 mph limit was necessary for the neighborhoods east of Southeast 54th Street, but less so to the road’s west, where the road is straight with few arterials.

“The road west of 54th is qualitatively diferent,” he said.

Schaer withdrew his amendment following discussion.

Tuesday’s ordinance additionally put speed reductions for three other city roads on the agenda of the Council Infrastructure Committee. The committee will review the possibility of reductions on sections of East Lake Sammamish Parkway, West Lake Sammamish Parkway and Front Street South.