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Council presses for better city–county coordination on county roads; Whiskey Road named top priority
Summary
Council agreed to pursue a city-driven assessment of county roads to inform the county's capital plans and to start with Whiskey Road, which staff said carries about 13,000 cars per day and is not scheduled for full reconstruction until 2028.
Council members and staff used the meeting to press for stronger coordination with county officials on road priorities and safety improvements. Council discussed creating a city‑generated list of recommendations or a county‑road assessment the county could use when scheduling maintenance and reconstruction.
County Commissioner Todd Christensen, who spoke in public comment and later at the mic during the council discussion, urged better lines of communication: “Nobody knows your city better than you guys do as far as what needs work and what doesn’t,” he said, encouraging the city to assemble its priorities for county review. Council members and staff said that compiling targeted recommendations would allow the county engineer to fold city requests into county estimates and schedules.
Staff and council flagged the Heritage/Whiskey corridor as an urgent candidate, citing a traffic count of about 13,000 vehicles per day and a reconstruction schedule that currently pushes full work out to 2028. Council agreed to bring preliminary engineering options (lane narrowing, bump‑outs, kickouts, and other calming measures) to the next committee‑of‑the‑whole meeting and to ask the county engineer to participate in a follow‑up discussion.
Council members also discussed jurisdictional limits for speed changes, recent severe accidents, recurring pothole failures and FEMA/state policy changes that could shift local responsibilities. The council did not adopt a policy change at the meeting but directed staff to compile a list of priority segments and bring initial design alternatives for Whiskey Road to the next meeting for possible inclusion in county planning.
