As part of its
auxiliary lanes and sound wall project, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) – with the request of a financial contribution from the City – included plans to relocate a retaining wall along Northwest Sammamish Road at the “pinch point” to provide room for future intermodal improvements.
At the
regular meeting on March 18, the City Council discussed WSDOT’s financial request, and voted to commit up to $3 million for the project.
Leveraging the work WSDOT is already doing along the Northwest Sammamish Road corridor, the funding commitment would allow the move and rebuild of a retaining wall — creating a widened right-of-way that will be deeded to the City after the completion of the auxiliary lane project.
This is the first step toward the City’s longer-term goal of making Northwest Sammamish Road more accommodating for cyclists and pedestrians. Any multi-modal improvements to the road, such as building sidewalks, marking bike lanes or improving connectivity are on the City's long-term capital improvement list.
WSDOT is slated to begin the bid process for their auxiliary lane project in the next few weeks. Should the bids exceed WSDOT’s allocated funding for the entire project, the project would be postponed and potentially revisited at a later time.
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