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Seaside council selects 'parking‑preservation' build for Broadway/Highway 101 safety project
Summary
After public comment and a technical briefing from ODOT, the Seaside City Council chose the 'parking‑preservation' option — a design intended to add protected left‑turn capacity while minimizing on‑street parking loss — and directed staff to notify ODOT and work with Sunset Empire Park & Recreation District on loading/unloading needs.
The Seaside City Council selected a modified ODOT safety plan for the Broadway/Highway 101 intersection that aims to balance added left‑turn safety with preservation of as much on‑street parking as possible.
Staff and ODOT engineers presented four alternatives: an ODOT standard build (largest parking impact, longest turn‑lane transitions), a balance build, a parking‑preservation build (smaller taper lengths and fewer parking spaces removed), and a low‑build (signal replacement only). ODOT's engineering analysis concluded the project purpose — separating left‑turning vehicles from through traffic and reducing crash risk — requires dedicated left‑turn lanes and protected left‑turn phasing; signal timing alone could not achieve the safety objectives.
Each build option involves trade‑offs. Engineers showed modeled conditions 20 years out: without turn lanes, average vehicle delay on peak weekdays could be about 143 seconds; with any of the build options the model projected roughly 41 seconds. The trade‑off to gain that performance is permanent loss of curbside parking on some blocks because buildings are built to the property line and there is no room to widen the corridor.
Business owners and the chamber urged the council to prioritize parking preservation, arguing on‑street spaces near storefronts are critical for walk‑in customers and local businesses that do not rely on remote lots. Residents and several councilors emphasized safety and traffic flow improvements as the top priorities.
After hearing public comment and technical follow‑up, councilors discussed a series of detailed striping and design choices (including whether to relocate a fire hydrant or retain a mid‑block pedestrian crossing). Staff noted that retaining the mid‑block crossing would further reduce net parking counts because ODOT standards require 20 feet of buffer from crosswalks. The council instructed staff to ask ODOT to include Sunset Empire Park & Recreation District in final design discussions to explore a replacement or relocated loading/unloading zone for daycare and program drop‑off needs.
Final action: the council voted to select the parking‑preservation build as Seaside's preferred option and directed staff to notify ODOT and pursue accommodation of a replacement loading/unloading area with Sunset Empire Park & Recreation District.
What happens next: ODOT will proceed with design toward construction plans; the council was told the construction scope is funded and, depending on schedule, could be built during an off‑season window. Staff noted striping adjustments could be made later if the community decides a different taper length is needed in the future.
