Council weighs Olympic Highway North rebuild options tied to $3.5M grant; staff to take preferred designs to public

At the Jan. 27 study session, Assistant Public Works Director Aaron Nicks presented four reconstruction alternatives for Olympic Highway North and told the council the city has a $3.5 million grant to support the project and expects construction in 2027 if local approvals and supplemental funding align. "We also got a 3 and a half million dollar grant to reconstruct Olympic Highway North," staff said when outlining the capital program.

Staff characterized the four alternatives by cost and operational impacts: a status-quo-style option that retains parking and adds bike lanes in a low-cost configuration; a moderate option that preserves west-side parking while adding buffered bike lanes; a higher-cost option with more separated facilities; and a highest-cost option that removes on-street parking for maximum buffer and separation.

Staff reported parking counts used in the analysis: 56 stalls on the west side and 32 stalls on the east side. The presentation also noted a downtown restaurant owner emailed to say removing parking would hurt her business. "There's 56 lots on the West side, and there's 32 parking lots on the east side," staff said, and added an owner had expressed concern about losing parking.

Council discussion weighed safety, bicycle usage and business impacts. Some members said the lowest-cost option raises safety concerns because it mixes moving cars with bicycles; others pointed out current bicycle volumes are low and questioned whether the highest-cost option — which eliminates parking — would be acceptable to downtown businesses. Staff noted the grant requires bike lanes as part of the funded improvements.

Several council members said they favored narrowing options for the public meeting and expressed a working preference for Option 2 as a compromise that maintains west-side parking while improving crossings and adding buffered bike lanes. Council directed staff to prepare a strip map and to bring the options to an upcoming neighborhood meeting and an online feedback tool within about a month. Staff also discussed using ranked-choice voting at outreach events to capture resident preferences.

Next steps: staff will refine two preferred strip maps for public outreach, present them at a community meeting and collect feedback online; any final selection will return to the council for a discretionary decision once funding details and design refinements are resolved.