Alabama Traffic and Bike Lane Update

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.