Ask anyone and they’ll point to the Sahalee Way Northeast intersection at State Route 202 as the crux of congestion along the commuter route.
And, while the city of Sammamish has budgeted $14.2 million in improvements for the corridor, that does not stretch outside city limits to the Route 202 intersection, much less to State Route 520.
To ease congestion on this route, it would take a collaborative effort between Sammamish, Redmond, King County and Washington State Department of Transportation officials — which happened when they met in February.
“The problem was we had four jurisdictions each with their own signals,” said Tom Odell, Sammamish councilmember and chair of the Sammamish Transportation Committee.
The signal alignment begins at Northeast 12th Place and 228th Avenue Northeast, where the city’s adaptive signal control technology that synchronizes the 228th Avenue corridor ends just north of the Safeway. The signal alignment continues to 192nd Drive Northeast at the Route 202 intersection.
There is no hard data that points to better traffic flow, just “anecdotal feedback from several commuters,” Sammamish Deputy Director of Public Works Cheryl Paston said in an email.
Though, these commuters said since the alignment, it’s “much faster” getting to State Route 520 in Redmond, she said.
The Puget Sound Regional Council awarded the city of Sammamish, the state and the county a joint grant of $1.025 million to help fund a physical connection, via a fiber optic network, from Northeast 12th Place to 192nd Drive Northeast.
The total project cost is more than $2.2 million.
The three jurisdictions applied for little more than $1.9 million, with a 13.5 percent local match of nearly $300,000, on May 6.
The funds not approved in the joint grant are on the contingency list in the category for which they applied, Paston said. The list is expected to see funding next year.
“Redmond is not able to participate in the joint project at this time; however, we will continue to coordinate with them regarding our traffic signalization plans and operations,” Paston said. “In general, coordinating signal timing and communication among jurisdictions helps improve traffic flow on a roadway corridor.”
