Highlands Traffic Calming

Overview

The City has partnered with the Highlands Council to promote traffic safety for Highlands residents and travelers, focusing on education first.

History

In July 2017, Highlands residents met with City staff to discuss speed concerns throughout the neighborhood. This meeting resulted in a shared goal to promote a safe and pleasant neighborhood.

The City made plans to focus on an educational approach to traffic calming. Starting in fall 2017, the City and the Highlands neighborhood teamed up to influence the behavior of those using the roads in the Highlands. The City installed signage and pavement painting to remind drivers to drive slowly. The Highlands used social media, web and newsletter articles to push a "Drive with Care, Walk Aware" campaign.

In January 2018, City staff held another meeting with Highlands residents to follow up on speed concerns and report progress. The conversation expanded from reducing speeds to improving traffic safety.

On Feb. 15, 2018, Senior Engineer John Mortensen provided an update to the Issaquah City Council Infrastructure Committee regarding the City's Traffic Calming programs. View the update on YouTube.

Concerns Identified

Concerns identified at both meetings included:

Pedestrian safety:
- Vehicles ignoring posted "no turn on red" signs
- Pedestrians confusing white rumble strips for sidewalks
Parking:
- Vehicles parking in no parking zones
- Congestion near on-street parking
Speed and traffic:
- Speeding along 24th Avenue Northeast, 25th Avenue Northeast and Central Park
- Not enough police enforcement of traffic laws
- Traffic turning wrong way on one-way streets
- Driver confusion and conflicts at the merge along Park Drive in vicinity of fire station
- Vehicles stopped on 24th at mailbox south of Park Drive
- Parked cars obstructing visibility

Next Steps

The City has compiled the comments received regarding transportation in the Highlands and created a plan to address them. This spring, the City will take the following steps to address identified pedestrian, parking, speed and traffic calming needs:

Pedestrian safety:
- Partner with the Issaquah Highlands Community Association to install pedestrian flags at key crosswalks (PDF)
- Add additional signs (PDF) to reduce illegal right turns on red (PDF)
- Remove white rumble strips (PDF) that people sometimes confuse for crosswalks

Parking:
- Design and install educational parking signs at two fire hydrant locations (PDF)
- Provide parking education guidance to be included in Issaquah Highlands Connections
- Review the possibility of closing on-street parking along College Drive (PDF)
Speed and traffic:
- Install 25 MPH marking (PDF) along 24th Avenue Northeast and 25th Avenue Northeast
- Install three temporary radar speed signs for rotating use in Issaquah Highlands and elsewhere in the City
- Install one-way arrows and additional signs at locations to help prevent wrong way turns
- Install new channelization to merge traffic along Park Drive further back from the fire station (PDF)
- Use signage to eliminate selective parking where visibility is obstructed

Future steps include obtaining updated speed data and determining whether there is a need for pilot traffic calming devices.

Continue the Conversation

Help us continue the conversation! Learn more about what the City has heard from residents, what we have done and what we plan to do in the future, and leave feedback.

Highlands Traffic Calming Survey