Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) 2020

Thank you to Jason Kintner for his prompt response to my comments. His comment on excluding the southern portion of the WMW chip seal project highlights that there is a lot of new pavement -- a long HMA shoulder and 400 lin. feet of new pavement on the travel lanes. There is no point in covering up relatively new HMA with chip seal. On the second point, I ride 7500 mi+/year, and I ride paved shoulders and chip seal travel lanes. I do not see a dangerous lip, as I sometimes see with concrete travel lanes. Based on my experience, this concern is not material.

The third change would be to reduce the cost of the resurfacing of 68th-70th between Island Crest and East Mercer (SP 103) by changing the surface from HMA to Chip Seal. I have driven and ridden this segment many times, and I see no reason it cannot be chip seal. The rougher surface would give more traction on the sometimes steep part of the road. The funds saved from this change could be used to replace the degraded segments of WMW as needed. In fact, the savings would be more than $400,000, and those funds could be used to lay HMA on the entire portion of WMW currently considered for chip seal.

The second change would be to limit the coverage of chip seal where it is installed to the road surface, and leave the HMA shoulders uncovered. This would preserve the recently laid HMA shoulder on that portion of WMW, and give cyclists the option – when there is a shoulder – to ride the shoulder and avoid the chip seal risks and diminished ride experience. It also would encourage cyclists to ride on the shoulders, which would improve the ability of cars and trucks to get by in an area of limited sight lines.

We ask the Council to refine the scope of the Chip Seal project on West Mercer Way (“WMW”), Project SP-105. The first change would be to remove the portion of WMW from where the current chip seal ends, to the intersection of SE 68th and WMW. The City previously has recently replaced large segments of this portion of WMW with asphalt pavement (HMA). There is no point in replacing newly laid asphalt with chip seal. The better course would be to continue to replace degraded segments with HMA as needed in coming years. This would reduce the cost of chip seal project, and the savings could be used for HMA replacement in that section of WMW.

The public sidewalk/bike path parallel to I-90 leading in and out of West Mercer Way is a real choke point. It's often very crowded with no way to socially distance. Could it be widened? Perhaps directional signage added? Or at least a polite sign asking users to "Please use masks in this crowded area" ? Thank you,

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I have lived on E Mercer Way since 1980 and can confirm the problem with street racing, whether it's cars or motorcycles, has been steadily escalating. For years it's been a nightly occurrence and lately daytime racing has also become a thing- scary! Our home sits directly above E Mercer (4900 block) and there have been numerous racing related accidents on the road directly below us. Our mail boxes have been demolished and my kids have sat in our yard more than once, watching tow trucks trying to retrieve cars stuck half-way down a ravine because they didn't make the curve. The speeds are terrifying and inclement weather does not deter. It's a matter of time before a pedestrian or an innocent driver dies. There has to be a solution. Help!

We have lived here for 16 years and we have never seen anything like the racing going on now on East Mercer Way. Sometimes motorcycles, sometimes race cars--but somebody is going to get killed unless we can stop it. Our house is on the straight stretch of East Mercer way in the 5900 block,, and when these racers come around the corner they floor it. 60 miles an hour is not unusual, sometimes 10 or 12 motorcycles or cars at a time. It is almost always on Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 5 and 7pm.

Please help us so we can walk with our children, walk dogs and bike without threatening our lives.

Thank you,
Don Jensen

I’ve lived on WMW since 1995 and the racing cars and packs of motorcycle traffic has never been worse.
In recent years, I rarely, if ever, see patrol officers from Holly Lane south to 63rd and only occasionally see an officer north from Marimount to 40th. In years past this stretch was frequently targeted and it had a noticeable positive effect on traffic conditions.
With the increase of pedestrian & bike traffic along WMW during the lockdown it will only be a matter of time before there is a tragic accident if something isn’t done to address the speeding and reckless passing of cars along the winding road.

I am a resident of Mercer Island, living mid Island. I have noticed two issues with traffic here:
1. There is a lot of speeding/racing on the loop around the island. I would like to see more police doing stops or something to curb this. The noise and the potential for serious accident make me very concerned. Additionally I believe we need a dedicated bike lane on the Mercer Island loop so bikes can ride more safely.

2. There are several crossing places on Island Crest that need to have those cross walks where lights flash when someone pushes a button. The flags are not enough. There was an accident this year with two pedestrians being hit. There needs to be more done to make crossing safer.

I am a motorcycle enthusiast but I don't ride the Mercer Island loop and support speed controls! Mercer Island has something extremely unique & wonderful with the continuous "ring road" and it should be "tuned" for slow speed enjoyment!! Europeans often use one-way street sections for cars/motorcycles or small "slalom traps" or roundabouts to slow traffic without speed bumps and allowing pedestrians/bicyclists flow by. But slowing the ring road would also require enhancing access and traffic flow of Island Crest Way for those who live on the ring road. It's a great & relatively easy opportunity for MI to shine :)

Please take a hard look at the problem we have with motorcycle cruising at high speeds around our Island. Especially in the middle of the night. The times I have been jolted awake between 1-3 in the morning from a continuous roar of load sounding engines racing down or up West Mercer has drastically increased. I miss the days off island folks feared the speed limit on MI at any hour of the day. Come on! This should be an easy fix!

I wanted to raise the issue of the increase in speeding motorcycles and high-end cars coming to the island and using EMW, WMW, NMW, and ICW as a race track. This dangerous and reckless activity Is effecting this community. There needs to be a solution to this problem. The only suggestion given to residents has been to call the police to report this activity. This is not an effective intervention. Declaring the access roads to residential neighborhoods for resident traffic only is one possible solution. I’m sure the creative minds of this community could come up with even better options but something has to change before people are injured.

I live on E. Mercer and walk along that road almost daily. I am appalled at the level of traffic and noice from the motorcycles and high speed sports cars. It is only a matter of time until someone gets killed or seriously hurt. The noise is ridiculous and my neighbors who live along E. Mercer talk nightly about what can be done. It is worse this year than I recall. I want to know what the MI police can do as summer is almost hear and if we do nothing it is going to get worse. The little kids, moms with strollers, dog walkers, runners and cyclists are already working to share the road. This new element is not welcomed and not safe. What will be done to ensure that the loop around the island does not become a dangerous race track?

I concur with previous commenters. The racing on E Mercer Way is a serious problem and I would like to understand what options we as a community have to mitigate it

My home on Mercer Island backs up to East Mercer Way and my property value has been negatively affected by loud motorcycles and cars racing on East Mercer Way, especially during nice weather. I hope the City can do something about that. Another concern I have is the bicycles on East Mercer Way and West Mercer Way. We need bike lanes in both directions. The bicycle riders do not pull over for cars. As a result, they back up traffic and create a dangerous situation for everyone.

Resident of WMW here! I'm also a resident physician at the Harborview ER. Motorcycle crashes continue to cause horrific accidents with significant morbidity and mortality with all ages affected. I feel that anecdotally these are increased so far this summer (probably due to everyone feeling cooped up in quarantine). Every time I hear a motorcycle (especially late at night) I worry that they will end up at Harborview. I would be in favor of any actions that attempt to limit speeding/reckless driving on the island from motorcycles and cars alike.

What is being done about the street racing that happens late at night? I am often awakened by cars racing by on East Mercer Way at midnight. Often the exhaust noise is over 100 decibels inside my bedroom which is close to 200 feet above and away from the road.

I sometime go for a walk along West Mercer Way. I also have noticed speeding bicycle teams, roaring motorcycles and fast cars being driven. I am wondering if putting some 4-way or 3-way stop signs at some intersections on the West and East Mercer Way would be helpful in slowing down the racing motorcycles, cars and also bicycles. Also speed cameras might help. Thanks.

I live on EMW, and while the ‘Speedway’ has always been bad, it’s a massive liability and nuisance now. I’m proactive versus waiting until car/motorcycle racers kill someone, and we need to act. I’ve almost been hit head-on twice by speedy passers on blind curves. Post cameras, drones, whatever we can do to heavily fine offenders. It will pay for itself, and we might be safe on our roads and not be woken at night by loud motors, screeches, revving and honking.