Plans for U.S. 2 roundabout near Mead scrapped by Washington

State engineers have scrapped plans to construct a $3.7 million two-lane roundabout at the intersection of Day Mount Spokane Road and U.S. Highway 2 near Mead, electing to slow traffic on the accident-prone corridor by other methods.

The announcement was made Thursday morning at a meeting between Washington Department of Transportation engineers and about 30 business and property owners upset by plans for the roundabout and pouring a median down the middle of the four-lane highway. Pam Culp, owner of Cinola Restaurant and Lounge off Walker Avenue, led a petition drive that collected more than 700 signatures opposed to the plans aimed at curbing accidents on the highway. Officials tabulated 269 accidents on the stretch of road between 2003 and 2013.

Culp said before the meeting that she agreed with the Transportation Department’s intent, but disagreed with its execution.

“We know it’s dangerous out here,” Culp said. “We’re not stupid.”

In an email to supporters this week, state Rep. Matt Shea said a meeting he and Rep. Jeff Holy had with the Transportation Department changed the engineers’ minds. Holy could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The roundabout was just one target of business owner scrutiny following the December announcement of the design plan, which was crafted following a public meeting and a survey sent to about 11,000 people who lived in the vicinity, said Mike Frucci, assistant administrator for development in the department’s Eastern Region.

“What we were illustrating is what we thought we heard” from the surveys and public meeting, Frucci told business owners Thursday.

County Commissioner Todd Mielke, who represents the area, said he heard concerns from business owners.

“I give them credit for reaching out and taking public comment,” Mielke said. “I give them credit for listening to people.”

The alternative proposal unveiled Thursday received a generally positive review from Culp and others, with some major caveats. Owners are still upset that engineers will not install a stoplight at Lane Park Road, near North 40 Outfitters. Frucci said he heard from “a few” residents along the highway near Lane Park who wanted a stoplight, but Lloyd Torgerson, who owns the land where the outfitter sits, pointed to the hundreds of signatures residents had gathered.

“More and more people want a light at Lane Park,” Torgerson said. “That’s not a few, Mr. Frucci. That’s a whole bunch of people.”

Harold White, a traffic engineer with the state department, said his office was bound by a statistical analysis of traffic volume. Those indicators have not yet shown that the intersection needs a stoplight, he said. Without the threshold met, putting in a light where a future crash takes place makes a potential lawsuit likely.

“In this state, if you’re familiar with our tort liability issues, we will get sued,” White said. “And we’ll lose.”

Torgerson said he’d ask other engineers for a second opinion on the numbers used to determine if a light is needed at Lane Park.

Ned Wendle, facilities and planning director for the Mead School District, attended the meeting to inspect the new plans for the roadway, which feeds to Mountainside Middle School to the north and Mt. Spokane High School to the south. He said adding a stoplight would be building for the future as Spokane County considers placing the area within its urban growth boundary. That would enable the extension of sewer lines and an increase in housing development, leading to more traffic, he said.

Instead of the roundabout, engineers plan to place artificial curves in the highway feeding into the intersection, separated from the opposite lanes by a raised barrier. Frucci said that design would slow speed, especially from the north where motorists are traveling upward of 60 mph leaving the separated highway.

“This is an attempt, through introducing these curves, to influence how the driver feels,” Frucci said. The new speed limit for the stretch of highway will be 45 mph, down from its current 55 mph.

Officials also abandoned plans to run a median down the entire length of highway, an idea that was to reduce dangerous left-hand turns. Business owners said the inability to turn left into private drives would kill businesses along the highway.

Plans to carve out bike lanes on either sideway remain on the table, department spokesman Al Gilson said.

Larry Naccaratto, who owns the property where the Maw Phin Thai restaurant is, said he remained concerned after the meeting about traffic effects on the business. Frucci said the department had not yet developed a plan for the Walker Road corridor, which includes the Thai restaurant, Cinola, a gas station, a veterinary clinic and a Subway restaurant.

“You’re talking about taking down a historic site,” said Naccaratto, expressing concern that traffic changes could hurt business at Maw Phin, which occupies a building that’s been a restaurant since the 1950s. “I used to go there for breakfast with my dad.”

Frucci acknowledged after the meeting that developing a traffic plan was “a challenge,” but the department was committed to working with land and business owners to come to an agreement.

“It is a challenge to balance all needs, and that’s what it comes down to,” Frucci said. “It’s a balance.”

Construction on the project is not expected to begin until at least the fall.