It’s no surprise to commuters that 100th Avenue NE is a mess on weekday afternoons.

Thanks to a failing intersection — the signals at NE 132nd Street recieved a ‘D’ efficiency rating from the City of Kirkland — traffic backup can stretch as far as Juanita Bay Park: 1.5 miles of stop-and-go, and farther on bad days.

Thankfully, the issues may yet be a thing of the past, as the City of Kirkland is in the midst of a two-year extensive look at the 100th Avenue NE corridor.

The 100th Avenue Northeast Corridor Design project focuses on the section between NE 132nd Avenue and NE 145 Avenue, the Kirkland/Bothell boundary. The project began in May 2015, and a finished design is scheduled for completion in early summer 2017.

“We have seen traffic grow on the 100th Avenue corridor in the past five to 10 years, and grow considerably,” said Frank Reinart, project engineer. “It’s become a significant commute route between Bothell and other northern cities, and Bellevue.”

And while traffic flow is one of the primary goals of the project, Reinart said, traffic is just part of the bundle. Better timing for traffic signals, better marking for bike lanes, planters to separate the roadway and sidewalk — it’s all on the table.

“The community has expressed in a variety of forms that it really wants to walk to destinations, and to ride bikes to destinations,” said Christian Knight, Neighborhood Services Coordinator with the City of Kirkland. “People want more choices of how they get around — drive, bus, all that stuff.”

The stretch of 100th Avenue just north of 132nd Avenue is the third-busiest arterial in the city with around 32,000 vehicles passing through every day. Only 85th Street and 124th Street are busier.

At the moment, alternative transportation isn’t always an option along 100th Avenue, especially on the northern end of the corridor. Large portions of the corridor were part of unincorporated King County until annexation by Kirkland, meaning the roads and sidewalks aren’t quite up to par.

The city is working to reach out to community members, both through a redesign website and a community open house on July 28 at Juanita Community Church. Citizens can give feedback through an online survey.

The website offers several examples of improved roadway cross-sections, all with dedicated bike lanes. The city is considering a painted buffer zone as well as a curb, planter boxes and a handful of other options.

All examples also have raised sidewalks, something missing from much of the corridor.

Visitors to the website are asked about preferred methods to control stormwater, options to protect privacy of residents and types of beautification aspects they’d like to see along the corridor.

Knight said the city is hoping private development will follow public investment along 100th Avenue, as it has in other locations throughout the city. Improvements were made in the Totem Lake and downtown areas, and massive private developments are in the works with the Village at Totem Lake and Kirkland Urban.

“We’re not just trying to get people through [the corridor],” Knight said. “We’re considering what helps people want to gather there.”

Better effeciency at NE 132nd Street will be another focus of the redesign study. The intersection is part of an older traffic system reliant on inductive loops — the big black circles in the middle of each lane — to change traffic flow. The design changes should include and update to the cohesive, digital system installed along other main arterials.

The city won a federal grant to fully-fund the design phase, and Reinart said he expects to come out with a comprehensive design next summer.

The project will accept public input through the website until August 5, and a second open house will be scheduled in the fall once the design team has time to sift through public responses.