Concerns Over New Lauridsen Bridge Design
A new Lauridsen Boulevard bridge is slated for construction beginning this March or April. But the bridge design doesn't include any guard rails between the street and the sidewalk. Several residents expressed concerns about this at a recent open house.
posted by Tom Harper at 10:54 AM
6 Comments:
I was skeptical about the lack of rails on the 8th street bridges at first but now I think it's fine.
I'd be more concerned about the city's plans to change the truck route to go along Lauridsen and down Race. Running through a residential neighborhood with schools instead of their precious downtown.
Exactly! Interesting how the city goes about changing such a significant part of the community in such an under handed way.
How to route Interstate Highway 101 through Port Angeles is a really big deal. It defines the town, with the way it runs through the middle of it, one way streets East and West.
But, with little up front discussion, the city is spending millions on upgrading the Laurdisen/Race street bridge to facilitate moving Interstate Highway 101 away from the down town business core.
Really, why should the city government (hear "City Staff") inform the residents of it's plans? Does anyone REALLY think it is about "safety"? Or, as we all know, they use the phrase "safety" to get grant funding for the project they wanted all along. They are going to do what they want, anyways.
They know nobody cares enough to do anything that might interfere with their plans.
Whoa -- has a decision been made to make a truck route on Lauridsen?? Has something been finalized? I can tell you that no one I know in my neighborhood has heard about this. Yes it's been discussed, but I don't think anything has been committed to.
I'd fight that hard, and so would everyone on my block.
The history of the routing of Hwy 101 through Port Angeles is smudged with the dirty fingerprints of the selfish good 'ole boys whose literal or figurative descendants continue to exert power and influence on the town. Local lore has it that a former mayor and owner of Haguewood's restaurant (now called the Crab House)had strongly (and apparently successfully) opposed WSDOT plans to develop a Hwy 101 bypass route that would have started east of town and avoided much of the business district ---- and his business properties.
So - given the town's record of exploitation of public resources for private gain, citizens might gain useful insights by analyzing who would benefit the most from re-routing Hwy 101 up Race Street to Lauridsen. Do any familiar names own property along the new route? Are any familiar names being awarded lucrative consulting contracts associated with the project? Conversely, do any "enemies" or business competitors of entrenched insiders stand to have their interests harmed or "punished" by the heavy hand of the Public Works Dept?
There hasn't been a decision on the truck route yet. Rerouting on Lauridsen has been the plan from the start. The muckymucks don't like the big noisy trucks rolling through the downtown area, deterring shoppers.
The bridge does need to be replaced for safety but you can see that the design of the new one with a dedicated turn lane is perfect for large trucks.
If you want to fight it then the time to do so is now. By the time they announce any potential plans it will be too late to organize any resistance. The Lincoln Park fiasco is a perfect example of how they operate. Get tax money to maintain a public space, fail to do so and allow it fall apart and then tell the public we need to pay for an entire new park built by their contractor buddies. The design process had the illusion of public input by carefully crafting options that were terrible and leaving the original plan as the "obvious" choice. There was also a healthy amount of fear if we didn't do something: Plane crashes in the trees! No disaster relief supplies! Loss of jobs!
I don't really see any good alternate routes for the truck route. Moving downtown somewhere else (and out of the tsunami zone) or a complete 101 bypass south of PA (tough with the hills) are probably the best long-term solutions and they aren't easy or cheap.
"There hasn't been a decision on the truck route yet."
Having followed this issue for a few years, the decisions essentially HAVE been made. The Laurdisen Bridge replacement was cited years ago as the primary physical problem hindering the re-routing of Hwy 101 up Race street. That obstacle is now being removed.
If you look at all the official discussions about re-routing Hwy. 101, you will see virtually all center around the Race and Lauridsen route.
Look into it for yourself.
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