WSDOT, residents debate traffic

County has plans to implement traffic mitigation

Matt Baide | Mar 10, 20220

State Route 3 runs through Belfair and is the main artery connecting north Mason County communities.

In Belfair, the intersection of Route 3 and Ridgepoint Boulevard has become a contentious topic of conversation between residents and the state.

The intersection is the only entrance to the new Olympic Ridge and Olympic View developments, up the hill from the post office, McDonald’s and NAPA Auto Parts, among other businesses.

Department of Transportation spokesperson Doug Adamson said about 17,000 vehicles per day use both directions of Route 3. Olympic Region Traffic Engineer Sarah Ott said WSDOT has permanent recorders on Route 3 in certain locations and calculates the traffic daily to come up with the average yearly number.

According to a traffic analysis by SCJ Alliance consulting services that was reviewed by WSDOT for the construction of the Olympic Ridge and Olympic View developments, the new developments are estimated to generate about 262 trips during peak afternoon travel. The analysis does not recommend any traffic changes. SCJ Alliance conducted a traffic count on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, as part of the analysis.

Level of service refers to the time it takes to make the most difficult movement at an intersection. For this intersection, it means taking a left turn from Ridgepoint Boulevard onto Route 3. LOS C means it takes about 15 to 25 seconds per vehicle to make the most difficult movement and LOS D takes 25 to 35 seconds per vehicle.

“The Ridgepoint Boulevard/SR 3 intersection currently operates at LOS (level of service) C and is projected to operate at LOS D with completion of the project. This falls within the WSDOT level of service standard for the intersection,” according to the traffic analysis.

Brian Petersen, who graduated from North Mason High School, said he thinks the intersection of Ridgepoint Boulevard and Route 3 has been a problem for a while.

“I was baffled to read WSDOT’s comment that even after adding 1,800 trips a day, they don’t think there would be times where people would sit over 30 seconds and that just really exhibits their disconnection from our community, just a really uninformed statement,” Petersen said.

He said with the addition of the new homes up the hill and that being the only intersection to access the new developments, he said not adding mitigation to the intersection is irresponsible.

Petersen also stated the traffic count on Jan. 8, 2020, is not an indication of the traffic at the intersection.

“It was a Wednesday, midweek, in the first week of January. Obviously, if you only take one test in the middle of January, around here especially, and try to extrapolate that throughout the year of what you could expect for traffic flow and how much it might impact a true calculation in high season at that intersection. Obviously, the developer is trying to come up with a low number in order to show that the additional 1,800 trips won’t impact it.”

Petersen said he has credible information that WSDOT knows it screwed up and is trying to sweep this under the rug.

Jack Johnson, who owns the property across the street from the intersection, says he sees a lot of accidents in those intersections. He says in the summer, there is a lot more traffic volume and said he hopes there will be some traffic mitigation.

“There are not a lot of serious accidents because of the speed limits but there’s a lot of congestion and there’s a lot of fender-benders,” Johnson said. “What happens is people get anxious, try to jet out into the lanes, there’s people who don’t know how to use a center turn lane. There’s all kinds of different reasons, but there’s a lot of congestion in both those intersections.”

Johnson agreed with Petersen that he believes WSDOT screwed up.

“I think WSDOT knows they screwed up. I don’t think they’ll admit to it,” Johnson said. “A mistake was made, the whole traffic impact analysis was done on a snapshot of information that was taken on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020. It could have been a rainy day. We hardly have daylight that time of day. It’s a time frame from 4 to 6 p.m. ... To think that volume of 450 units coming into an intersection ... isn’t going to put that intersection into a failure is just totally unrealistic. I’m very certain and concerned that it is going to become a big problem in the future.”

One of the improvements to help with the intersection will be the construction and completion of the Route 3 freight corridor, although construction is not set to begin until 2024. Ott said the planning study for the freight bypass was predicting a quarter to a third of traffic would be reduced through Belfair once the freight corridor is complete.

“With the freight bypass, that is the solution that was identified with our community partners,” Ott said.

Johnson, chair of the Mason County Transportation Improvement Program Citizen Advisory Panel (TIP-CAP) but who said he wasn’t speaking for the panel, said he believes even once the freight corridor is completed, there will still be a need for traffic mitigation at the intersection.

Mason County plans to act on traffic mitigation at the intersection. During the Feb. 15 public hearing about the Belfair Urban Growth Area environmental impact statement, a resident asked about Route 3 and Ridgepoint Boulevard intersection. Mason County Public Works Director Loretta Swanson said the traffic that is anticipated for the intersection is going to “trigger the need for some improvements.”

“That is one of the projects that is listed and included and calculated in a mitigation fee,” she said. “We’ve got this list of capital projects, the estimated cost to make those improvements and one of the things the commissioners will be considering today is what’s that traffic mitigation fee that would then pay for those future improvements. What’s identified in the plan here is a single-lane roundabout but as you heard earlier in the testimony, it’s possible that that could be a signal. That’s something that as we get to the design phase, we would be working closely with Department of Transportation to see what is the most effective improvement there. The single-lane roundabout is the preferred alternative and as noted, is probably likely to be the more costly so that’s used for a conservative estimate in this.”

Mason County commissioners approved a traffic mitigation fee after the public hearing. The mitigation fee is $1,000 with a 5% annual escalation payable upon the issuance of an occupancy permit. The commissioners voted unanimously to approve it. In conjunction with the fee, the period of expenditure is 10 years for those fees, which was approved unanimously in a separate vote by the commissioners.

Adamson said WSDOT must follow state law when it comes to the intersection.

“We did our due diligence in this. We’ve looked at the numbers and the in-depth review satisfied our requirements that no additional improvements are needed,” Adamson said.

If you’ve ever driven through the intersection or tried to get onto state Route 3 from Ridgepoint Boulevard, you may have a different opinion.

“It’s not only a wait, it’s rarely 30 seconds as it is now before the 1,800 extra trips,” Petersen said. “It’s probably usually a minute or more and depending on the time of day, it can be very treacherous at times.”