When Vi Towne wants to go for a walk, she drives her car a mile to the nearest sidewalk, parks and begins her stroll. She says it’s because walking along Southeast Evergreen Highway, the road leading to and from her house, is a serious hazard.
No sidewalks, patchy concrete, speeders and bursts of traffic are reasons Towne’s hopes Vancouver’s historic highway becomes safer with a pathway.
“It’s a hazardous area to be a residential area,” she said.
Those hopes are slowly becoming a reality. Various sections of Southeast Evergreen Highway are in different phases of design as part of a long-term effort to build concrete paths along 6.1 miles of the highway, according to Dan Swensen, engineer and construction services manager for Vancouver Public Works. A path already reaches 1.2 miles from Southeast 100th Court to the Columbia Springs Fish Hatchery.
Next up is a stretch from Southeast Chelsea Avenue to Southeast 100th Court, with 8-foot wide concrete trails with a 2-foot-wide strip of permeable pavement between the trail and the highway. Design work is nearly complete, but the project is $3 million short and in need of funds from the city, Swensen said.
Rick Takach is the chairman of The Old Evergreen Highway Coalition, a grass-roots group aimed at completing the pathway. The group worked with the city to build the path about five years ago. They have raised $951,675 and spent some of that money on a design for the portion of the path between Columbia Springs and Southeast 164th Avenue, which also needs funding from the city.
Takach, who lives along Southeast Evergreen Highway, met with the city last week to ensure planners have everything they need of the design, but now his goal is to ensure the city gets it done.
“We would like to see it get done before we all pass away, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen,” Takach said.
Takach and Swensen both said the partnership between the coalition and the city has been positive. But both are waiting for funding from the city council.
Towne, who has lived along the highway since 1998, said the highway attracts a lot of people because of its charming trees. She sees cyclists, runners and parents with baby strollers on the highway, even without sidewalks.
A lack of sidewalks isn’t the only problem for Towne; she often sits by a large window in her looking onto Evergreen Highway and sees people speeding by regularly.
Towne would like to see the highway repaved, but other residents consider the potholes to be make-shift speed bumps and slow traffic.
Speeding woes
About five years ago, police reported that the average speed on Southeast Evergreen Highway was 53 mph; the speed limit ranged from 35 to 40 mph. Towne said she rarely sees police patrol the area. In 2013, the city installed speed meter and a sign advising 25 mph as part of the area’s train horn quiet zone. Kim Kapp, spokeswoman for Vancouver Police, said the radar is to educate the drivers on their speed.
Roadway improvements are also in the works. From 2017 to 2021, the city will begin repaving the old highway, starting with a strip from Southeast 112th Court to the fish hatchery.
Jennifer Campos, senior planner for the city of Vancouver, said the city plans on imposing stricter speed limits with the resurfacing. The city had no further details, but plans to hold public meeting for the issue in September or October, Campos said.
The project report also predicted that more people are expected to speed with smoother roads, but the city is currently looking at how to address that issue.
Carol Peterson, a retail agent for ReMax, has sold houses on Southeast Evergreen Highway and has seen increased traffic in the past five years. She said that she doesn’t want to see speed bumps on the road, but she thinks that too many people use it to divert traffic from state Highway 14.
City Manager Eric Holmes said the council prioritizes roadwork projects, including the Evergreen Highway, at the Transportation Improvement Program every year in June, but ongoing talks could lead to action sooner.
“The pathway has been a long time coming,” Swensen said. “We’re getting there.”
