Traffic in the north end of Bellingham has long been a problem, but some people say a plan that intends to alleviate traffic buildup on the I-5/ West Bakerview Road interchange could make matters worse.
The project would ease traffic at the interchange by adding new lanes and modifying existing ones.
It’s a collaboration that includes the City of Bellingham, Washington State Department of Transportation, the Port of Bellingham and various other public and private stakeholders.
Plans to ease traffic along the I-5/West Bakerview Road interchange could help potential customers access retailers, but some people are worried it will cause more traffic buildups to other sections of West Bakerview Road.
Cordata resident Don MacDough said traffic on Bakerview is one of his biggest frustrations with living in the north end of Bellingham and has gotten worse over the years.
“It doesn’t matter what time of day it is, Bakerview always gets backed up and Meridian is like a parking lot,” he said.
The project is still in its early stages but will be designed and have its impacts weighed over the course of the year, said project engineer Shane Oden.
At this point, there has not been an assessment modeling how traffic will be impacted at other intersections but it is likely there could be some buildup, he said.
“Traffic is no different than water, it’s going to follow the path of least resistance,” Oden said. “Naturally If you resolve traffic congestion in one spot there is a likelihood that congestion to a certain degree would occur elsewhere because you’re moving that volume of traffic further down.”
However, by the time traffic gets to other intersections along West Bakerview Road and Airport Drive it will be more dispersed, Oden said. Between the traffic dispersing out among multiple roads and strategic planning of traffic lights, additional traffic buildup along those roads shouldn’t be too much of an issue, he said.
The proposed construction is intended to help mitigate traffic buildups along the interchange which block access to local streets and businesses but could do more harm than good, said Nick Zaferatos, a Western Washington University professor specializing in urban planning and development.
Projects such as this are often quick-fix solutions to big problems that needed more initial planning to begin with, Zaferatos said.
The reason traffic on the arterial roadways in the north such as Bakerview and Meridian is so bad is because of poor planning, he said. The region was zoned for commercial retail purposes but little thought was given to the infrastructure that needed to be in place to support the high volumes of traffic that those retailers would experience, he said.
Similar projects in other neighborhoods have had disastrous results, Zaferatos said. The intersection at Sunset Drive and James Street is a good example of an area that was modified to alleviate traffic concerns but turned previously pedestrian friendly area into an area with swaths of concrete built for cars, he said.
“Traffic engineers simply want to make cars happy,” Zaferatos said. Reconciliation needs to be done between the continued emphasis on car-flow planning and our attempt to humanize the Bellingham community. The latter objective seems to always lose out.
Oden said managing and modifying existing infrastructure are common problems when it comes to rezoning for new development. Planners take these considerations into effect when rezoning and utilize things like the Transportation Improvement Program that looks for potential issues.
According to the plan, traffic at the interchange is expected to increase 10.4 percent during peak hours by 2015 and that number is expected to climb to 48.6 percent by 2030.
The proposed plan is not the ideal solution for the traffic problem happening at the interchange but it’s currently the best, most cost effective option, Oden said. A full rebuild of the interchange is what would be needed to most effectively cope with the predicted 2030 traffic increase but at $30 million, it’s an option that is simply not financially feasible, he said.
“The design we’re putting forward now was not meant to resolve any long term transportation issues that that intersection sees,” Oden said. “It was meant to alleviate the immediate impacts of current transportation issues.”
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