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closeSumner making changes to Gary/Valley intersection
Eight accidents in two years prompts city, residents to look at alternatives to dangerous spot
Avani Nadkarni
Residents and city councilmembers agree that something needs to be done about the intersection of Gary Street and Valley Avenue.
“In the evenings, I don’t even think about going there,” Councilmember Randy Hynek said. “I avoid it completely.”
In the past two years, there have been eight accidents in that busy intersection, which drivers use to get to S.R. 410, the area schools and the Sumner Sounder Station, city public works director Bill Pugh said.
The main problem, she said, is that drivers on their way to State Route 410 via Valley Avenue become impatient after waiting in clogged traffic and, once they see a clearing, speed through the intersection, out of the line of sight of drivers turning left from Valley Avenue to Gary Street.
“They’re mostly just fender-benders, no major injuries or fatalities,” Pugh said of the collisions. “But when you have that many investigated accidents (in that period of time), it becomes a concern.”
Pugh and city engineer Mike Dahlem got to work on seven different alternatives, all of which they brought in front of the council public works committee, consisting of councilmembers Ed Hannus and Cindi Hochstatter.
“We looked at every possible option,” Dahlem said, including making Gary Street one-way and blocking off the street altogether.
The committee favored a specific alternative that includes changing Gary Street into a “right turn on, right turn off” street, meaning no left turns can be made onto or off of the street. The plan also proposed adding parking on the west side of Valley Avenue to appease residents who say backing out of their driveway is increasingly difficult and to make the Valley Avenue’s turn lane longer, giving drivers more of a line of sight.
While council ultimately decided to go ahead with the plan at the April 27 study session, several councilmembers showed hesitation.
Deputy Mayor Steve Allsop expressed concern that if school-bound drivers couldn’t turn left onto Gary, they may go to the schools by way of Meade-McCumber Road and Willow Street, clogging what is a now-quiet neighborhood.
“You’re going to turn (the neighborhood) into an arterial,” Allsop said. “I don’t see that as a solution. I think the (alternative plan) addresses the problem really well, but it does so at the expense of a neighborhood. I don’t want to penalize residents to cater to those that don’t live here.”
The changes may increase school traffic, Pugh acknowledged, but it would diminish traffic heading toward S.R. 410, because it would be easier to go straight across Valley Avenue.
The bottom line, Pugh said, is resident safety.
“It’s a safety concern,” he said. “My overriding concern is safety for our drivers.”
Pugh and Dahlem are now working on putting together a contract for the striping, which they expect to go out in early summer.