A car drives down a section of Flynn Street in Silver Beach. The lack of sidewalks or
bicycle lanes on the street has prompted some residents to contact the city over
pedestrian and bicycle safety concerns.
Residents of
“Cars can’t see me,” said Jerry Harris, who uses a wheelchair when he walks his dog along
The city’s Silver
Beach neighborhood plan describes Flynn
Street as a narrow road with several blind corners
that is a heavily used bicycle and pedestrian route. There have been three
hit-and-run traffic accidents on Flynn Street
since 2002, according to Bellingham Police Department records, and city
documents indicate one of those involved a pedestrian.
Neighborhood residents agree that
“We walk on that street a lot
with our kids,” said Renay Fredette, adding that her husband “bikes to work on
that street.
“I have contacted the city, but
it doesn’t seem like they are going to do anything,” said Fredette, who
stressed the need for sidewalks as she carried a baby in her arms.
The city determines the need for
sidewalks or bicycle lanes for streets on a case-by-case basis, according to Rory
Routhe, assistant director of Public Works.
“We currently have a pedestrian
master plan and are working on a bicycle master plan for city streets,” said
Routhe.
Last year,
One involves installing a 927-foot
sidewalk along Flynn between Dakin and Kansas
streets at an estimated cost of nearly $560,000. The cheaper option, with a
cost of approximately $136,250, calls for a 218-foot sidewalk on Flynn between Electric
Avenue to Dakin Street .
In the past year and a half, Bellingham
conducted two separate citywide surveys of residents as part of developing
pedestrian and bicycle master plans.
The
first survey, completed in 2012, addressed residents’ opinions of improvements
for pedestrians. Results indicated that Silver
Beach residents are most concerned
by a lack of sidewalks and high traffic volumes and speeds in their
neighborhood. Less than a third of the streets in the neighborhood have
sidewalks, city records show.
The second survey, conducted in
May of this year, focused on bicycle transportation in the city. Respondents
reported that their top concerns about bicycling are a lack of bicycle lanes
and feeling unsafe around cars and trucks, and that they want the city to spend
money developing more bicycle lanes. That survey also found that 85.6 percent
of residents supported the idea of a physical separation between cars and
bicycles, and 86 percent agreed this would improve pedestrians’ safety.
To create sidewalks or bicycle lanes
on Flynn Street , money
would need to be included in the city’s annual budget, according to Routhe.
“It depends on how the project is
funded,” he said, adding that typically there is no direct affect on neighborhood
taxes when sidewalks or bike lanes are developed.
However, if residents’ taxes were
raised to contribute to the installation of sidewalks or bicycle lanes, Harris
would be supportive of it.
“Yeah, that’d be alright,” he
said, adding he would not mind the inconvenience caused by constructing
sidewalks and bicycle lanes on Flynn Street .
“We will listen to any concerns
people have,” said Routhe, adding that the city cannot take action unless funding
for projects is included in Bellingham ’s
master plans and annual budgets.
The city is holding a meeting
open to residents to discuss the development of the bicycle master plan at 5:30 p.m. , on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at Whatcom
Middle School .
The
results of this meeting will guide the city’s judgment of fund distribution for
the bicycle master plan. This funding was approved by Bellingham
voters in 2010 and is reserved for bicycle and pedestrian projects and improved
transit service. For more information, visit the city’s bicycle master planning
website at http://www.cob.org/services/planning/transportation/bike-master-planning.aspx.