The Montesano City Council discussed changes briefly before ultimately approving a letter outlining their expectations for a traffic revision near downtown. The letter will be sent to the state Department of Transportation.
A traffic revision has been proposed for the intersection where the Highway 12 westbound off-ramp meets State Route 107 and the Monte Square parking lot.
The city paid for an initial drawing of the intersection, and that drawing included a roundabout, which drew the ire of a vocal portion of the public. At a past city council meeting, a couple proponents came out to support the concept of a roundabout at the intersection.
The city also held an open house late last year with engineers and a representative from the state Department of Transportation. Former mayor Doug Iverson, a vocal opponent of the traffic revision, immediately criticized the meeting for lacking a public comment period (the city did however accept comment cards from the public), and Iverson referred to the open house as “a dog and pony show.”
Mayor Vini Samuel has said that the project is a DOT project and that prompted the city council to draft a letter to DOT.
The Department of Transportation has said that the project is a city project and DOT only would be expected to have final approval.
Both Samuel and a DOT representative have emphasized that the goal is for both entities to work together for the best possible solution at the intersection.
While a roundabout could be a solution, it’s not the only possible solution for the intersection.
At the open house late last year, engineer drawings showed solutions involving a traffic signal, a reconfiguration of the intersection, two types of a roundabouts, and a left turn lane.
That said, the council’s letter, approved on March 13, spoke mostly to their concerns regarding a potential roundabout.
Councilman Ian Cope asked why the council doesn’t just address the issue head on.
“It was always my understanding that we were going to write a letter urging DOT to take a certain action – these four points to me say to DOT ‘Don’t build a roundabout,’” Cope said. “And if we’re going to say, ‘Don’t build a roundabout,’ let’s just say it.”
The letter highlights concerns about ease of semi-truck traffic, pedestrian safety and traffic being stopped by train traffic to the north. The council also is opposed to a solution that requires eminent domain.
Samuel noted that the council should tread lightly in their letter due to potential financial restrictions.
“We’re not at a stage yet where we know what we’re being recommended, because some recommendations will be such that they’re too expensive for us,” Samuel said.
She also said that the letter seemed moot on a lot of points because the current policy is that traffic be maintained or improved with any project. So the city could not move forward with a project that created more problems at the intersection.
The council had some back and forth discussion clarifying vocabulary.
Councilman Dan Wood noted that he was “frustrated” that the committee already had approved the list of concerns for the letter, yet members of that committee still were debating the finer details.
Samuel basically said Wood’s frustrations were unfounded.
“A committee can make a recommendation, but the brain doesn’t stop thinking and processing, so if a committee member wants to make a change to that, it is perfectly in their rights to do so,” she said.
In the end, the council approved the letter with the four concerns.
The letter will be sent to appropriate DOT staff.
The traffic revision project is in the traffic analysis phase. It could take as many as six months for the intersection to be studied before an engineering consultant makes recommendations.
