Shelton staff lean toward removing on-street parking on Olympic Highway North to prioritize safety
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Summary
Public works presented four conceptual designs for Olympic Highway North tied to a $3.6 million TIB grant; staff and several councilors favored option 4 (no on-street parking with wider bike buffers) for long-term safety and arterial capacity despite community concern over lost parking.
Public works staff briefed the Shelton City Council on March 24 on four conceptual designs for the Olympic Highway North revitalization project, a grant-funded pavement restoration that the Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) conditioned on adding bike lanes. Staff said the TIB grant is worth $3,600,000 and that the city must accommodate bike facilities as part of the project.
Project consultant (Presenter) told the council outreach closed with about 20 survey respondents and "there was support for the project, at least 80% to proceed and move forward with it." Staff summarized safety analysis using the level-of-traffic-stress (LTS) framework and said designs that reduce stress to LTS 2 are preferred under current guidance.
Staff presented four options that trade parking, travel lanes and bike facilities. Option 3 — a two-way cycle track — drew strong community interest (about half of survey respondents selected it) but was described by staff as the most expensive and most complex to design and maintain. "Option 3 is out," a councilor said after staff emphasized construction complexity and cost. Staff warned that some intersections, notably Olympic Highway North at K Street, would require signal work if option 3 were selected and recommended a traffic evaluation to confirm no unintended operational impacts.
Council discussion focused on business and parking impacts. Staff noted commercial zoning often requires on-site parking and that several businesses already had off-site lots; one business owner emailed concerns about losing frontage parking. Multiple councilors said they were leaning toward option 4, which would remove on-street parking and provide wider bike buffers, because it is the safest long-term option for an arterial expected to carry 15,000–25,000 vehicles per day as the area develops. One councilor urged, "For the long term benefit of the city, I think 4 is the best option."
Council asked staff to convey a preferred option to the designer to proceed into preliminary design and to send targeted outreach (mailers to nearby residents and business owners) before final design; staff said once striping is in place it is difficult to reverse. The council did not take a formal vote on a preferred option at the session.
Next steps: staff will begin focused design work on the council-preferred alternative, prepare a traffic evaluation where required, and expand public outreach to business owners and residents before returning with a recommended design and cost estimate.
