County Makes Road Improvements Near Lockwood School

The road in front of Lockwood Elementary School is being widened to include new sidewalks and bicycle lanes to improve pedestrian safety and traffic movement.  The road is also being raised to reduce the "dip" and improve sight distance for drivers in this area.

"The neighborhood has been very concerned about the safety of children at Lockwood Elementary," said Councilmember Dave Gossett.  "These improvements will greatly improve safety and were strongly supported at neighborhood meetings."

Completing this project will cause the road to be closed to through traffic into October 2009.  Vehicle access to the school will be maintained from the Locust Way side.  School buses will be rerouted to Kenmore Junior High School on Carter Road.

Pedestrians from the Carter Road side will access the school using the trail from Kenmore Jr. High.  From Locust Way pedestrians will be able to use the new sidewalk on the northeast side of Lockwood Road.

"This project, along with improvements to the Lockwood and Carter Road intersection, will help connect sidewalks between the elementary school, junior high school and new developments in this area," noted Gossett.

The intersection improvements include the installation of a roundabout in 2011.  Pedestrian safety will be enhanced by including "splitter islands" that allow a person to cross one lane of traffic and have a safe place to wait before crossing the second lane.  

"The third part of this project is replacement of the bridge that spans Swamp Creek in 2011," said Gossett.  "The new bridge will have two traffic lanes, 5-foot wide sidewalks on both sides, and 5-foot wide shoulders to accommodate bicyclists."

"It's especially exciting that these funds came as the result of a national competition won by Seattle University Engineering students for their design work," said Gossett. "Congratulations to Brandon Estrella, Ed DeBroeck, Mathew Hennessey and Ryan Tilley, all from Dr. Jeff Dragovich's class." 

Carter Road opened to traffic on Sept. 13, 2009following several weeks of bridge repairs.  A weight restriction of 16 tons will be in effect until the bridge is completely replaced in 2011.

Pedestrian access has also been restored.  The deteriorated sidewalk was removed from the current bridge and crews moved in a 66-foot long pedestrian bridge that will remain in place until the full bridge replacement in 2011.

Bridge #546 spans Swamp Creek just north of the Snohomish County - King County line east of Brier.  Built in 1966, it is a two-lane, 41-foot long timber and concrete structure that Snohomish County will begin replacing in 2011.

The new bridge will be built on the same site and provide two vehicle lanes. Currently there is only one sidewalk on the bridge that is used regularly by school children and other pedestrians.

The second phase of this project is to improve the intersection of Carter Road and Lockwood Road by installing a roundabout, which is different from a traffic circle in function, size and safety. Roundabouts are safer than traffic circles for several reasons:

·         Pedestrians cross only one travel lane at a time

·         Roundabouts have a right turn in and right turn out feature to channel traffic in only one direction, counter-clockwise.

"Splitter islands" at each leg of a roundabout separate entering and exiting vehicles, and provide a place for pedestrians to wait after crossing one lane and before crossing the second.

Before crossing, pedestrians look to the left to check for vehicles that may be approaching to enter the roundabout.  If clear no vehicles approach, the pedestrian can cross one lane and step up to the "splitter island."  Then look to the right for vehicles that might be exiting the roundabout.  If all is clear, the pedestrian can step from the island and cross the second lane.