With Clark County and Woodland’s population on the rise, are roadway and pedestrian infrastructure keeping up with the increased travel in the region?
Area residents expressed their concerns and possible solutions in a number of Facebook community group posts. Many comments focused on a lack of pedestrian options throughout northern Clark County communities. Some centered around the need for higher-capacity roadways while a few mentioned the lack of parking in city center districts.
Battle Ground
Roadway widening and pedestrian access was the key focus for residents in and around Battle Ground proper.
Jonathan Johnson, a resident of the Daybreak area, said, after living in numerous areas, he believes the roadways in unincorporated areas of Clark County are “maintained to a high standard of excellence.”
“I would like to see that continue with steady acquisition of parcels needed to expand road capacity, like they did preparing for Padden Parkway decades before it was built,” Johnson commented.
He continued with concerns about intersections not accommodating the increased traffic flow north county communities continue to experience.
“But additional lanes alone will not solve traffic problems; the bottlenecks in traffic tend to not be lanes but intersections,” he stated. “Intersections need to accommodate the traffic, and traditional stop signs and traffic signals can’t always cope. My fellow residents might not like this, but there needs to be greater adoption of roundabouts at busy and dangerous rural intersections such as 72nd/239th, which was recently reconfigured as a four-way stop, 72nd/199th or the Battle Ground intersection of Eaton/20th.”
He went on to add that a mixed-use pathway needs to be extended from Onsdorff to Lewisville Park along state Route 503.
Intersections continued to be a major focus, with state Route 503 and Onsdorff Boulevard along with the Walmart intersection of Scotton Way and 15th Avenue frequently mentioned. Along with widening the roads, Mary Couto, Battle Ground, believes the quality needs to be improved.
“Roads need to be repaired and widened. Shouldn’t have potholes you have to dodge in order to save your alignment and tires,” Couto commented. “Big trucks shouldn’t be on side roads but utilizing newer roads built for the weight they carry.”
Ridgefield
Ridgefield residents expressed their concerns about the lack of pedestrian infrastructure.
“How about more sidewalks? In Ridgefield we have some sidewalks on the main roads, but they don’t connect to neighborhood areas already established, so we end up walking in the narrow street at times, which is dicey,” Cherlynn Tate Miller, Cedar Ridge neighborhood resident, commented. “New developments build and add sidewalks right in front, but nobody is connecting them.”
Another concerned Ridgefield resident commented on her concerns regarding access for the Spudders.
“There is no sidewalk leading to or from the entrance/exit of Ridgefield High School on South Royle Road,” Gracie Smith stated. “This road leads to multiple new housing developments where students are forced to walk along the edge of the narrow road, creating a major safety hazard. Sidewalks are in imminent need here.”
With a lack of multi-use or bicycle-only paths in northern Clark County, often, bicycle riders are utilizing backroads. Kim Keist believes they create a traffic hazard.
“I am most passionate about the increased bicycle traffic on the backcountry roads where there is no place to exit off the road. It is a traffic hazard,” Keist wrote. “Bikes taking up the main lane where there is not a good line of sight to pass, it is dangerous for everyone. No one is going to drive under 10 miles an hour for long on a 50 mph road. I am not advocating bike lanes, just a little more space for the bikes to safely pull to the right when traffic is behind them.”
Woodland
Residents have not liked the planning that has taken place in and around Woodland for decades, according to general consensus of residents.
“Planning within the city over the last decades has not been forward thinking,” resident Whitney Raab commented. “In the last 50 years, no new arterial roads have been planned to move traffic. For example, when Blacktail Lane was built, it was not required to connect all the way to Insel Road from Gun Club Road.”
Raab added that the west side of Interstate 5 is lacking pedestrian infrastructure.
“Streets on the west side of I-5 still do not have sidewalks connecting them, despite being built over 60 years ago,” she stated. “The state and federal government built I-5 through the middle of Woodland and do not take ownership of fixing traffic congestions. There have been plans since the building of I-5 to connect East and West Scott [avenues]. Yet, the common statement is that it costs too much. Like most things, the state waits until a dangerous incident occurs to fix known problems.”
Another Woodland community member stated his concerns for the lack of east and westside connections in the city.
“[The] biggest issues I see are the connections between the east and west side of the town,” Kevin Dorlarque stated, adding two connections under the freeway is not enough.
Phillip Morris commented he used to attend Woodland City Council meetings asking a similar question but stopped due to council members’ apparent lack of interest in “correcting the problems they were creating.”
Others commented about pedestrian access in the city, but the main focus was more street connections from east to west under or over the interstate, as well as fixing current intersections throughout Woodland.
Most Popular
Comments / 0