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Letter | SR-520 and South Kirkland Park & Ride will have a negative impact on Kirkland

By on June 1, 2010 in Archived, Headlines, Opinion

I submitted the following to the media hoping the citizens of Kirkland will understand the flaw in Council’s thinking and action, not their political BS, regarding the South Kirkland Park & Ride.  The key is that the Council will not increase capacity through Kirkland leaving those who use the South Kirkland Park & Ride no place to go when they get off the bus.  Will the added congestion benefit Kirkland?  I don’t think so.  To understand what the council has done and what they plan to do is to understand what is not to be done.  I also responded to the affordable housing issue through Kirkland Views on the Internet.  We have many public documents that are based on a 10 percent housing figure.  There’s one based on 20 percent and one based on 41 percent.  Pick one.  Making sure that service people can live within their own jurisdiction becomes bogus when you also discuss mass transit.  The goal of mass transit is to provide inexpensive mass transportation in their service area so people can get to and from work, shops, and entertainment.  Jobs and homes can be anywhere negating the need for localized housing.  Recognizing the independent jurisdictional rights of cities to determine their own destiny, the Growth Management Act assigns the duty of locating affordable housing to counties, not cities.   Here’s what I submitted to the media. On May 25th, the city conducted a combined meeting of Lakeview and Central Houghton neighborhoods at which transportation representatives from METRO, the transportation commission, and the city’s Transportation Engineer Manager Mr. David Godfrey presented information on how the expansion of SR-520 will impact Kirkland.  During his opening remarks, Mr. Godfrey and the other speakers said it would benefit Kirkland.   I asked how.

Many more cars (at least 250) will find easier access to the south Kirkland’s Park & Ride.  There, the benefit stops.  Since Kirkland’s council has refused to add capacity to its transportation grid system to handle the added traffic, congestion will increase.  The bottle neck of getting through Kirkland using Lake Washington Blvd and 108 Avenue NE will increase congestion, create greater traffic jams , and cause through traffic to use residential side streets to get home.

Mr. Godfrey acknowledged the Council does not want to add capacity.  That only leads to one conclusion – the Council will cause the quality of life in Kirkland to decrease.  As Mr. Ray Steiger, the city’s Public Works Director said, if you think congestion is bad now, just wait until Kirkland’s build out plans are completed.

The plans to expand SR-520 will benefit Kirkland only if cars can find their way through Kirkland.  Most of the traffic from the South Kirkland Park & Ride goes north.  More traffic from SR-520 doesn’t help.  SR-520 expansion is funded.  Regional transportation planning is preempting local neighborhoods.  What will this Council do?  Will they protect neighborhoods?  Will they agree to regional plans?   We wouldn’t have long to wait.  In the mean time, it doesn’t look good for our quality of life in Kirkland.

Bob Style

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  • Karen

    Mr. Style, you obviously have a lot of time on your hands. How wonderful if you were to spend it doing good, instead of writing bitter, angry, divisive tirades. If you want to make the world a better place (I think that's your goal…), how about putting some of your immense time and energy into positive pursuits? Be part of the solution!

  • Brian

    Mr. Style,
    Please tell us what you would like the Council to do. The 520 Rebuild will happen, either because an earthquake will topple the supports for the Western Highrise (unpredictable timing), a strong storm will overwhelm the bilge pumps and anchors in the Floating Sections (perhaps predictable timing), or WSDOT will get it done before either of those (predictable and plannable). What specific roadways and other infrastructure should the City of Kirkland encourage, change or add to alleviate your concerns?

  • Bob Style

    The 520 project is good. The easier access to the South Kirkland Park & Ride would be great if Kirkland, King County, and the DOT would find a way for those using the Park & Ride to get through or around Kirkland. If not, then I see no other recourse but to make traffic matters worse in Kirkland. Peak hour traffic will change to peak two hours soon to become 3 and 4 hours. Kirkland has a history of not adding a much needed capacity to support road traffic not only for residents but to support commercial activities. Kirkland should be allowed in the permit process to deny any development north of Kirkland that will adversely impact congestion in the city. The county and the state have been ineffective in providing access to those areas.

  • Bob Style

    I would be part of the solution if the council addressed my concerns. That would be good. Until they do, a solution that benefits the citizens of Kirkland will be hard to come by.

  • mavio

    karen, Did we read the same letter? Mr. Style was just stating facts, asking questions and stating his opinion that he doesn't believe the changes being proposed will improve our quality of life.

    I failed to see a bitter, angry, divisive tirade.

  • Brian

    Bob-I understand, but truly I'm interested in what specific roadways and other infrastructure should the City of Kirkland encourage, change or add to alleviate your concerns? If you've proposed those specifics to the Council previously, I would very much appreciate your restatement of them.