At a planned open house Nov. 19, the city of Kirkland hopes to present their vision for future transportation along the Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC) as part of Sound Transit upcoming projects.

Right now, Sound Transit is preparing a draft list of ST3 projects that, when approved in 2016, will be sent to the voters for consideration on a ballot measure. While light rail is being considered, city officials have been fighting to get their plan for a bus rapid transit (BRT) on the project list, which they believe would be more flexible to change as well as more appropriate for the community. The meeting will be held from 6:30-9:00 p.m. at the Kirkland Performance Center, located at 350 Kirkland Avenue. Staff will be available to answer questions about high capacity transit from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

For the city, the public meeting is an opportunity to not only solicit feedback but also get residents up to speed on the situation and how their plans rely on getting Sound Transit to embrace their transit vision. As with the rest of the Eastside Rail Corridor, Sound Transit has easement rights that supersedes Kirkland’s ownership of the CKC, according to Public Works Directory Kathy Brown.

During a presentation council’s Nov. 4 meeting, Brown described BRT as one of several solutions the city is using to address traffic congestion due to population growth that is expected to only increase in the next two decades, particularly in areas like Totem Lake that are designated as urban centers. According to Brown, Totem Lake is projected to have 54,266 employees and 12,241 housing units by 2035.

“It will only get worse if we aren’t successful in getting high capacity transit to the city,” she said. “We have to do something about congestion. If we don’t do anything now things will just get worse in the future.

The city is also looking at improving pedestrian connectivity and bicycle networks while managing regular vehicle traffic. The CKC master plan envisions high capacity transit (HCT), Brown said, but so that it complements the existing environment. With its close proximity to many business, such as Google, the city believes BRT would remedy much of the traffic issues by giving commuters better alternative to driving down Interstate-405, which has been noted for its intense congestion. Washington Transportation Commission recently approved tolls on the high capacity lanes in order to alleviate the congestion and conform to federal and state requirements for minimum average speeds for the lanes.

Despite concerns about how rapid transit on the CKC would affect the existing interim trail completed early this year, Brown said while it is possible that is not what the city proposes and will advocate for with Sound Transit. Their vision is for rapid transit to take up the east section of the corridor, leaving the current interim trail untouched.

At the same time, they would try to provide additional trails intended for commuters who bike while leaving the other trail for pedestrians.

However, this vision is contingent on what Sound Transit ultimately decides to do, and at what point in the process they reveal their plans.

Either way, Brown said, the city’s objective is to have the rapid transit connect downtown Kirkland, the Google campus and the 6th Street corridor to regional transit service on I-405.

“We will have to do some work with Sound Transit to make this vision real,” she said. “No matter what we do on the Cross Kirkland Corridor and what mode ends up on it, we want it to be a size and scale that fits Kirkland, that is consistent with our CKC master plan and that won’t hurt our existing trail and amenities that we currently enjoy.”

Although light rail would be feasible as well and improve transportation, Brown said their rigidity might prove to be troublesome as the region continues to grow.

“Trains are cool and people play with electric trains and people think that trains are the best of all possible high capacity transit options, but really when you dive into it and look at your various options trains are not very flexible,” she said. “They have to run on the tracks. So as needs change you can’t change.”

Instead, she said, electric buses would have less of an impact on the corridor while using exclusive lanes, citing BRT examples such as Cambridge, and despite the term “rapid transit,” she said the buses wouldn’t be excessively large in size or going abnormally fast.

“There are ways to do bus rapid transit service on the CKC that really fits in with our community,” she said. “There are specialty vehicles that can be used in BRT that quite frankly look a lot like trains.”