Plans to revamp the street network near the Interstate 5 intersection with the Clark County Fairgrounds has resumed through public outreach, though nearby residents are concerned the plans might be too broad and already agreed upon.
Clark County Public Works hosted a hybrid in-person and virtual open house Aug. 11 to discuss the 179th St. Access Management and Circulation Plan. The plan is designed to address transportation needs associated with development on properties to the north of Vancouver and within that city’s urban development area, a boundary defined by state growth management law.
The plan’s area extends from Northwest 11th Avenue to the west of the Interstate 5 interchange and Northeast 50th Avenue to the east, and streets to the north and south. The area was in an “urban holding” designation restricting any development until 2020, Gary Albrecht, long-range transportation planner with Clark County Public Works, explained, following removal of the zoning overlay by Clark County Council. The lifting of the designation affected about 2,200 acres of land in the vicinity of the street.
In February, the Clark County Planning Commission voted 6-0 to recommend approval of the plan. After subsequent hearings, council agreed to effectively put the plan on hold in May, Albrecht said. Council directed staff to solicit additional public input before moving forward.
Much of the span of 179th Street under review has been classified a “principal arterial” road by the county since the 1980s. That designation is based on the amount of traffic the roads are designed for.
The current plan includes two travel lanes in both directions with a center median. It also includes multi-use paths on both sides of the road, to be uniform with the Washington State Department of Transportation’s plans for its own work at the I-5 interchange.
Albrecht said there were already five properties with enacted development agreements near the street, and a handful of others in the process. At full build-out of the project area, daily trips in the I-5/179th Street corridor would increase from roughly 14,000 daily trips to about 64,000, according to Albrecht’s information.
“More traffic is coming, based on the land use,” Albrecht said.
Apart from widening 179th Street, additions of arterial roads connected to the street, removals of some roads and realignments are planned. The plan also features the addition of more than a dozen roundabouts, all but one along 179th Street. None of the new arterial roads were planned south of 179th Street on the side west of I-5.
During the open house, dozens of residents raised questions about both the project’s plans and the nature of its outreach.
Bob Heiberg, a resident off of 179th Street, raised concern over a lack of left-turn lanes in the current project. He said the multi-lane roundabouts as were planned were not large enough in diameter for large traffic to make U-turns.
“I think this is not a (state Route) 502 or a 503. It’s not an urban highway, it’s a local arterial,” Heiberg said.
One resident in the northwest corner of the project area made claims of “active disenfranchisement” given the lack of neighborhood meetings in the time the project was considered.
East-side resident Andy Bauman pointed to planned roads in areas near where he lives in the southwest corner of the 179th Street/50th Avenue intersection. Those roads would cut through his and others’ property.
“My understanding was the purpose of this process was a reset, where concerns of the community and the council would be addressed,” Bauman said.
“It doesn’t seem like anything has changed,” Bauman said about the current process. “It just seems like we’re being informed of the same thing we were informed about previously.”
Jim Byrne testified on the apparent lack of “concurrency” with development moving forward.
“I see a bunch of developments going up on either side of 179th Street, and the arterial plan is not complete,” Byrne said.
County staff replied those developments were moving forward because they were making their “half-street” improvements.
At the end of the open house, Albrecht noted the need for left-turn lanes and lack of public involvement as chief issues raised by the public.
Feedback from the open house would be posted by the county by the end of the month. The plan is set for a work session by county council Sept. 28.
