Sammamish holds open house, shows preliminary design of SE 4th St

Details of the long-planned Sammamish Town Center, the heart of the city, are starting to come together.

Sammamish residents got a glimpse of what Southeast Fourth Street might look as part of that completed town center, a plan that city officials and community members began crafting in 2006. The presented roadway, shown at the Jan. 28 open house at Pine Lake Middle School, is a preliminary design concept.

“The exciting thing is the town center is moving forward,” said project manager Peter De Boldt, the design director for Perteet, Inc. “It really is evolving at a more rapid pace now.”

The Sammamish City Council authorized at the end of 2015 a nearly $1.2 million contract with Perteet to design the roadway and acquire the right-of-way to make necessary improvements.

Southeast Fourth is a “critical component” to the city’s town center plan, according to city documents, as it’s the central roadway running east to west.

“We have very few east-west connections in the city,” said Andrew Zagars, city engineer, at the open house.

Today, the two-lane roadway, from 228th Avenue Southeast to 218th Avenue Southeast, retains its rural feel with narrow shoulders and its lack of sidewalks.

“It was just all cars and more cars,” said Jim Grueber, city senior project manager for Southeast Fourth Street. Grueber said the preliminary design aims to build a “complete street,” accommodating for more than just vehicles.

The city would see the roadway expanded on either side to include sidewalks, planting strips, bike lanes,two driving lanes and a center planter bed (which could be replaced with a center turn lane).

Courtesy of the city of Sammamish

The preliminary design for Southeast Fourth Street, as shown at Jan. 28 open house.

Several roundabouts link the roadway’s intersections, the center planter bed running parallel to the two-lane road.

The southern sidewalk would be slightly wider, 8 feet compared to 6 feet, to accommodate for more foot traffic, coming from Big Rock Park and the Lower Commons.

The “green spine,” a crossing between 224th Place Southeast and 225th Place Southeast, links the LowerCommons to the town center. The specifics of the crossing have not been refined, though planners are considering things such as raising the crossing (as a sort of speed hump) or using different materials to make the crossing stand out and enhance pedestrian visibility.

“We’re trying to build a walkable town center,” Councilmember Bob Keller said at the open house,regarding the green spine.

Intersection crossings are not flush with the intersection but set back a bit. This gives pedestrians greater visibility and allows for one vehicle to pull forward in front of the crossing to yield to oncoming traffic, while not impeding foot traffic behind the vehicle.

The roadway calls for five roundabouts. Two roundabouts, closest to 228th Avenue Southeast, are considered “normal” roundabouts. The remaining three, moving westward toward Lake Sammamish, arecalled “mini-roundabouts.” These do not require as much space in the roadway, meaning less right-of-way the city will have to purchase, and its center circle is designed more like a speed hump, which allows larger vehicles and trucks to traverse the roundabouts.

“They’re designed to operate just like the larger ones, but they don’t have as much traffic volume,” De Boldt said.

The road would likely be marked as 25-30 miles per hour.

De Boldt estimates construction could begin as early as late summer or as late as spring 2017.

Once the design is approved, Perteet will need to begin acquiring the necessary right-of-way. Officialswill need to work with about 30 homeowners to acquire the extra space.