FOLLOWUP: Community meeting Wednesday for 16th SW rechannelization plan
Two years after first word of a major rechannelization plan for part of 16th SW surfaced in a presentation to the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, it’s still moving ahead, and King County Road Services plans a community meeting this week to talk about the design status.
Planning on the project has continued, and the county now plans on construction next year (one year later than originally announced). County spokesperson Brent Champaco summarizes where it’s at now:
To reduce speeds and calm traffic, which makes the area safer for pedestrians, the project narrows the road from four lanes to two and includes a two-way center turning lane. It adds many pedestrian safety features like bumped out sloped curbs at corners and traffic crossing lights with flashing beacons.
The project does not remove the total number of parking spots in the project corridor. Currently there are 43 existing on-street parking spots between SW 100th and SW 107th streets. The design option with bike lanes on both sides adds a total of three spaces to bring the total number of on-street parking spaces to 46. It also moves parking spots around, depending on the block, to accommodate travel lanes and bike lanes.
The design option with no bike lanes brings the total number of parking spots to 67, again, up from 43. It also moves parking spots around, depending on the block, to accommodate travel lanes.
We did community surveys and outreach in 2022 and got to a 30-50% design. It was during the peak of COVID so in-person outreach was difficult. We are holding another meeting, at the community’s request, on July 24 to share updated information about the two options.
If you are interested in seeing the latest plans and asking questions, that meeting is happening this Wednesday (July 24), 6:30 pm, at the White Center Food Bank headquarters, which is in the future project zone – 10016 16th SW. The meeting will also be accessible online; the link is on this page. The project cost is just under $2 million, funded by a federal grant.
P.S. The latest online survey for the project is open, too – find it here.
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