After several months of conducting the Juanita Drive Corridor study, city officials, neighborhood leaders and members of the Kirkland community are working to outline key project recommendations designed to help make the regional thoroughfare safer.

In March, the city partnered with Fehr & Peers, Perteet Inc. and EnviroIssues to complete the study, which is expected to be finished by the end of this year. The teams collected data on the road’s conditions, analyzed safety improvements for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, and received input from those around the community.

Many Kirklanders agree improvements to the nearly 4-mile-long Juanita Drive Corridor have been a longtime coming.

Just last year, 81-year-old Joyce Parsons died in a DUI-related car accident along the corridor and she’s not the first one.

“… The collision history along this corridor is such that, as a transportation professional, it’s hard to think of another regional corridor that has such a significant collision history,” said Jon Pascal, who is a member of the Juanita Drive Corridor Advisory Committee and serves as the chair of the city’s Planning Commission. “If you look back over the course of 10-20 years, it has a high number of fatalities as well. And it stands out, it is definitely unique in that regard.”

According to the Juanita Drive Corridor study, there have been five fatalities on the road within the last 10 years.

From 2009 to 2012, there were 101 collisions and 26 of those accidents resulted in injury.

And of the 36 collisions per year on average, 67 percent are caused by more than one vehicle, 30 percent result in injuries and 55 percent of accidents happen during the night or when the road is wet or icy.

Of those, 26 percent of accidents happened while people were speeding. According to the study, 40 percent of 10,000 drivers exceed the speed limit daily.

But there are several “quick hits” or “quick wins,” as Pascal likes to call them, that the city can make as long as the Kirkland City Council approves the draft master plan and they can secure funding.

The “quick hits” would cost about $330,000 and include projects such as pedestrian and bicycle treatments, a lighting upgrade along Northeast 122nd Street, centerline rumble strips, left turn signals at the Northeast 141st Street intersection, and pedestrian and bicycle enhancements on 98th Avenue Northeast.

Pascal said making sure there are safe crosswalks around Big Finn Hill Park and neighborhood access are high on the priority list, noting there are four crosswalks that may get flashing beacons, often seen around the city.

Another huge improvement many hope to see is redefined bicycle lanes and a sidewalk that would require some widening along the 37-to-38-feet wide corridor. Pascal said the recommendation includes a 2-3-foot buffered bike lane that will allow more separation between vehicles and the weekend “teams” of bicyclists.

“There certainly could be pockets of right-of-way that might be needed …” Pascal said. “But for the most part, a lot of these improvements that have been identified are things that can occur in the right-of-way.”

Although, some recommended projects will cost more and take longer to implement.

“Neighborhoods such as Hermosa Vista have very dangerous intersections and every time you’re entering and leaving those neighborhoods, it’s very difficult,” Pascal said, who lives in the Finn Hill neighborhood and also serves on the Finn Hill Neighborhood Alliance. “People get frustrated and try to enter into traffic and there maybe isn’t a wide enough gap and that can cause accidents and collisions.”

Adding left turn lanes could help mitigate the problem – a $2.4 million cost, he said, adding that the neighborhood has only three access points, which are all along the Juanita Drive Corridor.

City officials considered putting in a traffic signal at the main Hermosa Vista entrance but the intersection didn’t meet standards, as it’s contingent on how many vehicles pass through any given area.

Although the corridor may not see additional traffic lights, Pascal said roundabouts are a possibility for the future.

Based on the study results, the total cost for all of the improvements could be between $18-$23 million. The price range takes into account the physical constraints and width of the corridor that would be available for certain aspects, such as where and when a multi-use pathway will start and end.

Expensive, but greatly needed will be a project that addresses water drainage along a hillside just west of Juanita Beach Park. Pascal said Finn Hill has clay soil, which doesn’t allow rain water to drain properly and can cause landslides along that area.

But one thing the city won’t be looking at is expanding the roadway to mitigate the traffic during rush hour – at least not now.

“What I think the study is about is understanding there’s going to be congestion in the future, but let’s make sure it’s safe for all users and particularly for the community that depends on it for their daily needs,” Pascal said, adding there is a possibility the city will examine how to get garbage and recycling containers out of the road shoulders, which can cause backups when garbage trucks pick up the trash.

Project Engineer for the Juanita Drive Corridor study Rod Steitzer said the “number one thing to keep in mind is that the city has yet to secure any funding for these recommendations” and that there is still an opportunity for Kirklanders to provide input.

“We’ll know much more in about a month or so but right now, where we’re are, we don’t even have the draft study together yet,” Steitzer said. “This project has been active for several months.”

Steitzer added that there has been extensive public outreach during the study process, citing many community workshops and planning days that have taken place since May.

Once the Juanita Drive Corridor draft master plan is complete, it will be presented to the Kirkland City Council in January 2014 for approval before it’s added to the Capital Improvements Program.

If funding is secured, construction could begin in 2015, Pascal said.

For more information, visit www.kirklandwa.gov and search “Juanita Drive Corridor Study.”