Construction of a paved public road on a private right-of-way will eventually include bike lanes and traffic management measures. The upgrade was voted in by the Sammamish City Council after hearing concerns from area residents. Building may begin as soon as the end of October.

Contractors for William Buchan Homes have been continuing construction on Lawson Park, a 31-home residential development two-thirds of a mile east of City Hall. The project occupies what was once half of a secluded neighborhood along a privately owned gravel section of SE 14th Street.

The western half remains a private road, but the council authorized in March the construction of a paved public right-of-way, in light of the county hearing examiner’s determination that it could either be improved or barricaded.

Residents along the road, as well as in neighboring Renaissance Ridge and the Windsor Boulevard developments, were reluctant to accept greater thru-traffic on their roadways. A traffic study estimated increases on 14th from zero to 200 trips per day, and increases of more than 100 on each of the neighboring developments’ main roads.

Following repeated public comment on the issue at the council’s Sept. 3 meeting, city staff hosted a neighborhood meeting to hear concerns.

“100 percent” of the meeting attendees wanted the project limited to foot and bicycle traffic in order to keep potential teenage speeders cutting through from Skyline High School, Public Works Director Laura Philpot said.

“We did pose the question to them … if the road is constructed, let’s spend some time focusing on that,” Philpot told the council at its Sept. 16 meeting. “The first thing we heard is they would like to see it expand to accommodate bicycles. They didn’t want bicycles to have to share a lane with vehicles.

“They (also) felt that, if the project were to go through, they would like to see the city implement some traffic-calming features in anticipation of this.”

Connecting 242nd Drive Southeast was already wide enough to stripe bike lanes all the way to Southeast Eighth Street’s established lanes if desired, she said in response to a question from council member Nancy Whitten.

The traffic-calming measures would fall under the city’s Neighborhood Traffic Management Program, which executes in two phases. Phase One involves passive measures including volunteer watch, an information campaign, signage installation and police target enforcement. Phase Two involves active traffic calming projects such as traffic circles and speed humps. Implementation requires 60 percent approval from the affected area.

“If the barricade does get opened, then I would request this 12-month long traffic management project,” street resident Sharon Steinbis said in public comment. Steinbis said she believed Renaissance Ridge, Lawson Park, Windsor Fields, Windsor Greens and Coyote Country would all benefit from traffic intervention.

“When 248th was opened, it became a shortcut to the high school,” she said. “So we now have this intersection at 248th Avenue and 14th Street with stop signs and, typically, the high school students blow right through… They may start at 25 or 30 miles per hour near Windsor Greens but, as they hit southbound on 248th, they’re hitting 35 and 50 miles an hour.”

Mayor Tom Odell expressed hesitance at prioritizing one neighborhood’s traffic concerns over others.

“This neighborhood is not unique,” he said. “This sort of situation exists all over the city of Sammamish. I have a little heartburn with pulling this one out of the line and putting it ahead of the line. We also have not heard, frankly, from the people of Windsor Green, who would continue to bear the bulk of the so-called high school traffic that is currently on their road and will increase in the future. They were not consulted and that bothers me.”

Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama-Aramayo and council members Don Gerend and Whitten said they believed the city was obliged to give consideration to any neighborhood they had actively altered.

Only Odell voted against the motion to move forward with the improvements.

The project’s design consultant was directed Sept. 17 to add the improvements to their original road plans, Philpot said. The city will need to convert the road to public right-of-way and award a construction contract before work can begin.