The Alabama Street
Corridor project official plan will be released to the public in February 2015
according to Anthony Freeman, the head engineer for the project at the Public
Works Department, rather than November 2014 as originally predicted.
Alabama stretches
through the Roosevelt neighborhood from Lincoln Street to St. Clair Street and
continues through both the Sunnyland and Alabama Hill neighborhoods.
The Alabama Street
Corridor has gone through a number of changes since its first proposal in 2011.
The original plan proposed a “road diet” with a center curb, lower speed
limits, and several changes to stop signs and pedestrian walk ways. The road
will not be physically changed from the length and width it is now, with the
exception of one block where a few trees must be removed in order to complete
the design.
Freeman says one of the
issues people are torn between in the concept of “convenience over safety.” Although
it seems to be agreed, as Freeman put, “It cannot stay the way it is now.”
The Public Works
Department is emphasizing these improvements to the Bellingham Pedestrian
Master Plan but they are also developing a new bike boulevard project as a part
of the Master Bicycle Plan for the city. This is forecasted to begin either
concurrently with the Alabama Street project or directly afterwards and
executions plans are currently being developed.
This bike plan is being
enacted in an area of the Alabama corridor that is not designed to include bike
lanes, such as Texas Street. The overall bicycle plan for the city of
Bellingham aims to add over 50 miles of new bike boulevards and 45 miles of new
bike lanes.
Freeman says the Public
Works Department has an ideal hope that the traffic will become less of a
concern as Bellingham continues to create more biker-friendly roads such as
this upcoming proposal. The ultimate goal for this project and other similar
road construction in Bellingham, according to Freeman, is to make the city
“more porous” as the population continues to climb.
Another concern voiced
is the increase of traffic not only on Alabama Street but surrounding back
roads. David Dopps, president of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association or RNA
says, “We would love to see traffic move down to Iowa Street” and steered away
from Alabama.
The RNA has noticed a
significant amount of skepticism but they say many are just waiting to see how
it will “play out.” The RNA say they will continue to discuss the plans with
the community, including in the new and developing master neighborhood plan.
One particular problem
that arose was the center curb originally proposed for the entire stretch of
Alabama Street which put into question the entire project.
The Kid’s Korner,
works with the Head Start program to
offer both full and part-time childcare and learning service for kids age one
to pre-school. This center is located just off Alabama Street. The location of
a daycare center directly off a main arterial has led to some concerns for
those working at the Kid’s Korner. Ana Sheppard says, “We see parents running
across the arterial with the kids rather than walking down to the crosswalk.”
Sheppard says they are
“really excited” about the new crosswalk being placed however they helped
protest the center curb originally planned.
The plan for crosswalks
is to add hawk signals to warn drivers of pedestrians walking. This kind of
signal is relatively new to the Bellingham area according to the RNA.
Although the final
design release date has been changed, Freeman says the project is still to be
completed in mid-summer 2015. After the basic outline of the corridor is
constructed, they plan on improving the already existing roads with
improvements such as fresh asphalt. Freeman predicts that Roosevelt will be the
next “hip neighborhood” in Bellingham if it continues to adapt the way it has
been over the past few years.
