The 100th Avenue corridor, which connects many of the busiest arterials in the city of Kirkland, will be Main Street to some of the city’s largest improvement projects and design studies over the next several years.

The city is studying a section of 100th Avenue between 132nd Street and the boundary with Bothell, large portions of which were part of unincorporated King County before annexation by Kirkland in 2011.

The traffic backup-prone corridor includes a failing intersection at 132nd Street, an awkward intersection at Juanita-Woodinville highway and bottleneck just north of the Juanita Firs community business center. Large portions of the corridor lack sidewalks.

In July, Kirkland Neighborhood Services Coordinator Christian Knight said the city hoped to do more than improve traffic problems. The goal wasn’t just to make a place people could drive through, but one people would drive to.

Improving pedestrian and bicycle safety and accessibility was a major function in the design study, which began in May 2015 and should wrap up in late spring.

This week, the 100th Avenue Northeast Improvements Advisory Group met to discuss a lengthy report on design options for the corridor. The report analyzed input from a number of different sources — residents, businesses, city staff, etc. — and includes recommendations for everything from intersection design to bike lanes.

“The consultants have a number of challenges they’re trying to solve,” Knight said. “One of them is, ‘How do we get people to walk and bike safely and provide for that need?’ They have a variety of criteria they use to determine the best solution for that.”

The design group is recommending a five-lane cross-section, similar to the corridor between 124th and 132nd, that would stretch to Simonds Road.

The recommendation is also for a restructuring of the intersection at Juanita-Woodinville Way, which hits 100th Avenue at an odd angle.

“It leads to some interesting and challenging aspects at that intersection,” said Laura Drake a project engineer with the city. “What could happen is to realign Juanita-Woodinville Way into more of a traditional intersection. Juanita-Woodinville Way would be more east-west oriented.”

The design also considers adding a second northbound left turn lane at Simonds Road. Regardless of the design elements, the future of the corridor appears to be larger than the current model, which ranges from 40-60 feet of pavement from one edge to the other.

The updated design is likely to have 100 feet of pavement, including dramatically improved bike and pedestrian space, which would improve safety and accessibility.

The design group favored elevating the bike lane and essentially creating a 15-foot-wide shared-use path with a lane for bikes and a lane for pedestrians.

The design group also favored updating the existing Cedar Creek culvert, which runs under 100th Avenue just south of Simonds Road.

Under the current recommendations, the city would need to acquire some property, but very little. For the most part, the city will be able to utilize the unused space on either side of the current street for expansion.

While not part of the same design study, Kirkland is amid additional improvements to the corridor, namely connecting the 132nd Street intersection to the smart traffic control system.

Knight said city transportation staff will work recommendations from the report, feedback from the transportation commission and feedback from the public into the final design.