City Council members from Issaquah and Sammamish gathered to discuss a variety of local topics on Jan. 25 at Tibbetts Creek Manor in Issaquah.

Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler kicked off the meeting stating the top concerns in Issaquah were “transportation and traffic, transportation and traffic and transportation and traffic.”

Sammamish Public Works director Steve Leniszewski provided a brief overview of traffic projects taking place in Sammamish, which include improvements to Issaquah-Fall City Road, Southeast Fourth Street and the Zackuse Creek culvert project to allow kokanee passage under East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast.

Issaquah-Fall City Road construction is expected to take place during the summer of 2018 and last through 2019, Leniszewski said. Construction for the Southeast Fourth Street improvements is expected to be underway this summer and the design work is just beginning for the Zackuse Creek culvert.

Sammamish City Manager Lyman Howard acknowledged the city was working on a “robust communication effort” to notify neighborhood residents of the significant traffic impacts from closures related to construction projects.

“It will be painful, no doubt about it, and we need to get out in front of it,” Howard said.

Sheldon Lynne, Public Works engineering director for the city of Issaquah, called Issaquah valley a “funnel for traffic,” noting the area gets regional traffic from the Issaquah-Hobart Road, East Lake Sammamish Parkway, Northwest Sammamish Road and I-90.

Lynne provided brief overviews of Issaquah’s Providence Point signalization project, which would help to address pedestrian crossing and safety issues. He discussed the Southeast 62nd Street extension, a $44 million project that will add a new arterial connecting East Lake Sammamish Parkway to the Lake Drive retail area.

Lynne stated the project will cause “a lot of congestion,” as it will require Southeast 62nd Street, Fourth Avenue Northwest and 221st Place Southeast to close for a period of 18 months.

WSDOT is also planning a fish passage culvert project that goes beneath East Lake Sammamish Parkway, which Lynne said would require closure of East Lake Sammamish Parkway in its entirety for four to five days in June.

Lynne said city staff was also working on a communications package to inform the community about the project impacts.