Dysfunction Junction Increasing Traffic Is Making The Problems With The Intersection At 29th And Regal More Evident

There’s an art to maneuvering the intersection at 29th Avenue and Regal Street.

Cars back up for blocks trying to get into the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center. Cars back up end-to-end trying to get out of the center.

Cars try to turn north into McDonald’s. Cars try to turn south onto Regal.

Cars bound for the multitude of retail shops and services on every corner head in all directions, balling up at the intersection infamous among South Hill residents for delays and dysfunction.

“It’s just crazy,” says Bonnie Abernethy, coordinator of the Lincoln Heights steering committee. “It keeps getting worse because of all the (new) businesses.

“It’s a mess up there.”

Don Ramsey, the city’s traffic engineer, may not be ready to call 29th and Regal a “mess,” but he agrees the intersection has countless problems.

“It’s a congestion point,” he says. “It’s been a long-standing planned project.”

There are no quick fixes, traffic engineers say. All the proposals to ease traffic along the South Hill’s main drag come with high price tags.

About the only solution for those drivers irritated by the intersection’s countless delays is patience: The wait to turn is nothing compared to the yearslong wait expected before 29th and Regal sees improvements.

These days, the widening of 29th from Southeast Boulevard to Mount Vernon is making an already bad situation worse, piling up cars all the way from Crestline to Ray. The $500,000 project adds a center turn lane to that section of 29th, but the widening stops about a block west of Lincoln Heights.

“With all this huge remodeling, they’ve got the perfect opportunity” to fix 29th and Regal, says a frustrated Dave Davenport, the owner of a South Side janitorial business. He admits he takes side streets to avoid the intersection when he can.

Without a turn lane at Regal, Davenport says, “it’s real difficult to get across.”

South Hill resident Beth Davis echoes Davenport’s comments.

“They need a turn lane there,” Davis says. “That would really be a bonus.”

Continuing the widening project on down to Regal is a nice idea, but the dollars aren’t there, says Ramsey. “The reality of it occurring just isn’t there with available funding.”

Several commercial buildings lie in the right of way needed to add a turn lane to that stretch of 29th. That means buying the necessary land would be very expensive, Ramsey said.

While adding a turn lane at 29th and Regal isn’t in the city’s six-year plan, there are two projects aimed at decreasing traffic in that area.

One would extend Southeast Boulevard south and link it to Regal at 34th Avenue.

“That would allow some of that traffic to avoid” the intersection at 29th and Regal, Ramsey says.

So far, state and federal taxpayer dollars have paid for about half the $1.9 million project, Ramsey says.

Engineers have started designing the project, and the city has bought the necessary right of way.

But dollars for construction haven’t been found.

The second project would extend Ray Street from the Palouse Highway to 35th Avenue.

The city is looking for federal and state dollars to pay for the $3.7 million project aimed at diverting traffic around 29th and Regal.

Twenty-ninth Avenue desperately needs traffic relief, Ramsey says.

“It’s the only (east-west) arterial between Third and 57th,” he says. “It carries a lot of traffic.”

Nearly 21,000 cars travel between Regal and Southeast Boulevard every day.

Nearly 15,000 of those continue east to Ray Street.

While the North Side has Division, a miles-long stretch of road dedicated to commercial pursuits, the South Side just has that short stretch of 29th from Grand to Ray.

It’s crammed with grocery stores, fast-food restaurants, barber shops, veterinary clinics and insurance agencies.

“South Side commercial areas are very limited, compacted into a small area,” Ramsey says.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)