Work starting for Bellingham’s newest roundabout, part of project across two neighborhoods
After a year’s delay, work started this week on a roundabout at a key intersection on the edge of two Bellingham neighborhoods.
Several rounds of overnight work are planned this week for the Meridian Street-West Illinois Avenue intersection, followed by daytime construction of a roundabout that will replace the traffic signal.
“We appreciate drivers’ patience through the construction period. If traffic gets too heavy during peak hours we may get flaggers out to keep rush-hour traffic moving, but would encourage drivers to take alternative routes if they can,” Public Works Department spokeswoman Natalie Monro told The Bellingham Herald.
Meridian Street is one of two primary north-south arterial streets connecting Bellingham and rural Whatcom County. It carries 11,800 cars and trucks daily north of the intersection, according to a 2023 traffic count from the city of Bellingham.
West Illinois carries 5,900 cars daily west of Meridian and 8,500 cars daily east of Meridian.
Traffic could be heavier than normal this summer on Meridian, because Whatcom County is building a roundabout on Hannegan Road, the other main north-south commuter route.
Construction work “will unfortunately be fairly disruptive through the end of July,” Monro said in an email.
Crews will be working on water mains at night this week, Monro said. Then the traffic signal will be removed and the intersection will have a four-way stop until construction wraps up in July, Monro said.
Work on the $3.5 million roundabout and related projects was slated for last summer but it was delayed while work was completed on another project that added bike lanes, sidewalks and lighted crosswalks on West Illinois Street from Meridian Street to Cornwall Avenue and near Parkview Elementary.
Some of the funding will come from the city’s transportation tax and some from a state grant, Monro said.
In addition to the roundabout, West Illinois Street will get bike lanes and sidewalks west of Meridian Street all the way to Lynn Street. Crosswalks with yellow flashing lights were part of the project, but were already added to Meridian south of West Illinois.
The intersection of Meridian and West Illinois is part of a commercial district that includes a Haggen supermarket and is a few blocks north of the Fountain District “urban village,” which has seen several new apartment buildings and a commercial transformation in recent years.
This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 12:40 PM.
