Two detailed reports — one regarding a Highway 104 traffic study and the other focused on the City of Edmonds’ 88-item Strategic Action Plan — received considerable time and attention from the Edmonds City Council during its Tuesday study session — but councilmembers agreed they wanted time to digest the information, ask more questions and revisit the findings of both during a future meeting.

Representatives from the consulting firm Fehr & Peers presented preliminary results of the Highway 104 study, which began in October 2014 and is scheduled for completion in June 2015. The idea is develop a master plan for the corridor that coordinates with the Complete Streets principles approved by the Edmonds City Council in 2011. (The idea behind Complete Streets is to ensure that the city will provide appropriate accommodation for everyone, including pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users, when designing new transportation projects.)

Another goal is to ensure that the master plan is integrated with the proposed form-based code for future Westgate development at Highway 104 and 100th Avenue West, as well as other zoning along the corridor.

Firm principal Don Samdahl told the council that the study’s guiding principals are focused on “safety and mobility” for all transportation modes in the five-mile corridor from 76th Avenue West to the Edmonds ferry terminal, including pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists.

You can see the Highway 104 presentation that was made to the council here, but information shared Tuesday night included the following:

-Approximately 20,000 vehicles — 10,000 eastbound and 10,000 westbound — travel the five-mile portion of Highway 104 each day. By 2035, that number is expected to grow to 25,000 but the current configuration can accommodate that increase without widening the roadway.

-The study so far has looked at a variety of factors that govern traffic along Highway 104, including sight lines (whether pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists can see each other); the location of collisions and what may be causing them, and whether current driveways along the highway meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

The study also assigned a score to how walkable the Westgate area of Highway 104 is compared to other areas of Edmonds, and it scored fairly high (a 70); only downtown Edmonds scored higher.

Addressing questions from Councilmember Joan Bloom, the consultants talked for a while about whether bike lanes would be appropriate along Highway 104, but noted that the relatively high speeds make it a less-than-ideal road for bicycling. City of Edmonds Transportation Engineeer Bertrand Haus noted that the city has other, safer options for bicyclists looking to commute to and from downtown Edmonds, on streets with slower speeds and less traffic.

When it came time to talk about the City’s Strategic Plan, approved by the council in 2013, consultant Cynthia Berne of Long Bay Enterprises reported on progress being made on the 88 elements identified during an extensive citizen engagement process that began in 2011. Berne, who was hired to prepare a road map for implementing the plan, noted that much of her initial time was spent meeting with organizations and individuals to identify primary leads, participants and stakeholders in completing the 88 action items. She also coordinated her efforts with the Strategic Action Plan working group — comprised of elected officials and representatives from community, business and arts organizations —  which served both as a resource and sounding board.

As of March 3, 2015, six of the 88 action items are complete and work has begun on 70 more, Berne noted. Twelve action items have not begun and of those, just four do not have a primary lead identified.

Councilmember Bloom expressed concern that one of the action items identified as a high priority by citizens — a year-round farmers market — did not yet have a primary lead. (Edmonds has a May-October farmers market sponsored by the Edmonds Historical Museum. However, summer market organizers declined to participate in a year-round efforts for a variety of reasons, including the financial uncertainty associated with such an endeavor as well as the lack of suitable indoor space with plentiful parking for the market to be held during the cold and wet winter months.)

You can see Berne’s entire presentation here. The council will take up the Strategic Plan again at a future study session.

In addition, the council:

– Heard a report from Jason Mulvihill-Kuntz, watershed coordinator for the Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA 8), and his organization’s efforts to restore Chinook salmon runs in the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed. Edmonds Councilmember Diane Buckshnis is the city’s representative on the Salmon Recovery Council, which includes elected representatives from 27 local cities and two counties (King and Snohomish), and concerned citizens, scientists and representatives from environmental interests and state agencies. Mulvihill-Kuntz noted that local plans to restore the Edmonds Marsh and daylight Willow Creek, which runs through the marsh, will provide juvenile salmon with a place to eat and grow before they migrate to Puget Sound.
– Agreed to put the following items on next week’s consent agenda for council approval: a professional services agreement with Murray Smith & Associates for the 2016 Comprehensive Water System Plan Update and a budget amendment authorizing the use of wastewater treatment plant funds to replace a malfunctioning blower unit.