Whatcom County roads plan prioritizes Birch Bay, Yew Street Road projects

JARED PABEN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Whatcom County will improve a narrow stretch of Yew Street Road near a new elementary school next year, and it'll follow up the year after by improving a heavily traveled section of Lincoln Road in Birch Bay.

That's according to a six-year transportation plan approved by the County Council on Tuesday, Sept. 29. The council held a hearing before voting 6-0 late Tuesday, with Ward Nelson absent, to approve the plan.

Birch Bay residents were happy to see the Lincoln Road projects at the top of the list and improvements at the intersection of Birch Bay-Lynden Road and Blaine Road right after that, said Kathy Berg, chairwoman of the community's steering committee.

They also were pleased that county staff included a project to install a pedestrian pathway along Birch Bay Drive between Alderson and Harborview roads after residents requested it be put on the list. The plan doesn't include construction money for the pedestrian project, but having it on the list makes it available for state and federal grants.

"I guess it's safe to say that we are cautiously optimistic that funding will become available one of these days for these projects to come to fruition," Berg said.

Residents who live along Rutsatz Road, which is Highway 9 just south of the Mount Baker Highway, complained that the county still hasn't repaired a section of road that collapsed during last winter's storms and floods. The road, which is reduced to one lane at the slide site, is residents' only way in or out.

Resident Sandra Peterson said it's particularly worrisome because her elderly mother lives there, and she needed ambulance service twice last year.

"It's a very big concern for those of us who have elderly folks or if we are elderly and we need to get to town for medical reasons or have medical come to us," she said.

The six-year plan calls for repairing the site next year, but it'll probably be spring before the county can do it, County Road Engineer Joe Rutan said. The project has been delayed by various permitting requirements from government agencies, he said.

The transportation plan, which is updated annually, counts on spending $12.75 million in 2010 and $4.68 million in 2011. That's less than in last year's plan, which counted on spending $14.25 million in the first year and $5.66 million in the second.

The good news is over the next two years the county is expecting to get considerably more in grant funding for projects than in past years. The bad news is that money can generally go only toward capital projects, not to pay for Whatcom County Public Works maintenance and operations expenses. Each year, the county uses the local tax money that's left over after paying operations expenses to help pay for capital projects, like road widening or installing signals.

That leftover amount is dwindling, mainly because property tax revenues are lagging but county expenses are rising. By the end of this year, it's projected that the county will net $3.22 million after paying for Public Works expenses, money that can be paired with grants for road projects. In 2010, that's projected to drop to $88,000.

SEE THE PLAN

To read the plan, go to the Whatcom County Council online meeting agenda here.

Reach JARED PABEN at 715-2289 or jared.paben@bellinghamherald.com. Read his Traffic Talk blog at TheBellinghamHerald.com/blogs.