Sedro-Woolley planning commission reviews major update to transportation element

Sedro-Woolley public works director Bill Bullock gave the planning commission a first reading of Chapter 4, the transportation element of the city’s comprehensive plan, explaining updates to traffic modeling, safety analysis, inventory methods and a 20‑year financial forecast for transportation projects.

Bullock said the update responds to recent Growth Management Act (GMA) language that requires cities to include “active transportation” — pedestrian and bicycle facilities and connectivity — in concurrency management, not just vehicle level-of-service. “This transportation element is a major update,” Bullock told the commission, summarizing the scope as an inventory of sidewalks and streets, traffic forecasting, safety analysis, and a financial plan that covers the six-year Transportation Improvement Program and a 20-year forecast.

The draft element uses 15 years of annual traffic counts as the baseline for forecasting and identifies near-term intersections that are approaching unacceptable congestion. Bullock said Metcalfe Street at Highway 20, Reed Street at Highway 20, and Township and John Liner Road on SR 9 are approaching level‑of‑service E in short-range…