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Public Works and Natural Resources Committee

BEL-PWN-2025-01-27 January 27, 2025 Public Works Committee City of Bellingham
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The Bellingham Public Works and Natural Resources Committee convened for a comprehensive review of three significant infrastructure and planning initiatives that will shape the city's transportation network and environmental stewardship for years to come. The most anticipated item was an update on the Holly Street Bike Lane Pilot Project, which has generated substantial community debate since its implementation in May 2024. Staff presented detailed data showing a 33% increase in bicycle ridership and 87% utilization of the bike lanes, but acknowledged significant public concerns about safety and traffic flow that necessitate design modifications. The committee also approved the launch of a new Community Streets Program designed to replace the defunct Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program with a more equitable, proactive approach to addressing residential street safety concerns. The program will divide the city into four geographic areas and focus on one area per year, ensuring comprehensive coverage and targeted community engagement. Finally, the committee endorsed the Lake Whatcom Management Program's five-year work plan, representing a $71 million collaborative investment in watershed protection with the county and Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District. All three agenda items moved forward with unanimous committee support, reflecting staff's thorough preparation and responsiveness to community feedback. However, the Holly Street bike lane presentation revealed the complexity of balancing transportation modes in downtown Bellingham, with ongoing challenges requiring interim design solutions before a permanent capital project.

**AB 24417 - Holly Street Bike Lane Pilot Project Update:** Direction provided (no formal vote). Staff recommendation was to provide direction on next steps. The committee accepted staff's plan to implement interim design improvements addressing safety concerns while developing a permanent capital project design. Staff will work on enhanced visibility and right-turn conflict mitigation in spring 2025. **AB 24418 - Community Streets Program Update:** APPROVED 3-0. Staff recommended approval of the Community Streets Progra…

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**Holly Street Bike Lane Pilot Project Analysis:** The most substantive policy discussion centered on interpreting nine months of data from Bellingham's most controversial transportation project. Transportation Engineer Shane Sullivan presented compelling evidence of the pilot's success in achieving mode shift goals - bicycle ridership increased 33% and Holly Street now carries more cyclists than any other downtown corridor. However, the data also revealed concerning safety patterns, with right-hook conflicts between cyclists and turning vehicles representing 31% of all vehicle-bicycle conflicts at monitored intersections. Council Member Anderson raised specific operational concerns about lane striping and signage that create confusion for drivers unfamiliar with the area. She identified two problematic locations: the Lakeway/Alice intersection where center lane markings mislead drivers attempting left turns, and the channelization area where lane striping suggests drivers must merge rather than continue straight. These observations highlighted the tension between achieving bicycle infrastructure goals and maintaining intuitive traffic flow for all users. The discussion revealed staff's adaptive management approach, with real-time adjustments to signal timing, addition of "bend-ins" to improve cyclist visibility, and rechannelization of the Commercial to Bay Street section. This responsiveness addressed initial congestion concerns, reducing average travel time delays from problematic levels to just 39 seconds for the entire corridor. **Community Streets Program Framework:** The committee explored how the new program addresses equity gaps in the previous Neighborhood Traffic Safety Progra…
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**Holly Street Bike Lane Feedback:** The pilot project generated over 1,300 community comments, with 92% received within the first two months of implementation. While staff characterized overall feedback as "not popular in its initial design," the data showed this primarily reflected adjustment period concerns about congestion and safety visibility. Walk and Roll Bellingham and We Bike Downtown supported the infrastructure improvements, while the Downtown Bellingham Partnership worked with staff on operational concerns affecting businesses. **Community Streets Program Support:** Mayor Lund expressed enthusiasm for the proactive engagement approach, noting particular benefits for areas like Whatcom Falls, Roosevelt, Barkley, …
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**Joel Pfundt, Interim Public Works Co-Director, on Holly Street pilot lessons:** "I think we also learned that this was a pretty effective place to do a pilot. But there are I think we also kind of looking back is that a pilot is not for every location." **Shane Sullivan, Transportation Engineer, on Holly Street data:** "While we're not seeing any a whole lot of high severity conflicts, we are seeing a lot of them. So this kind of is more information for us in the future and in the interim a…
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**Holly Street Bike Lane Next Steps:** Staff will implement interim design improvements in spring 2025 focusing on enhanced visibility and reducing right-turn conflicts. A consultant will be hired to develop final capital project design incorporating lessons learned from the pilot. The permanent design will extend bike lanes to Broadway, connecting with existing Eldridge infrastructure to complete the downtown bike network. **Community Streets Program Launch:** Staff will begin community engagement with the first geographic area immediately following council approval. The program operates on a two-year cycle from community engagement through project construction, with overlapping…

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**Holly Street Bike Lane Status:** The pilot project has been validated as successful in achieving bicycle infrastructure goals despite public criticism. Staff received clear direction to proceed with interim improvements and permanent capital project development, effectively ending speculation about removing the bike lanes entirely. **Community Streets Program Authorization:** The committee's 3-0 approval authorizes implementation of the four-year rotational program, replacing ad-hoc responses to neighborhood traffic concerns with systematic, equitable engagement. This represents a significant shift from the association-dependent model that ended…
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# Pilot Progress and Street-Level Solutions: Bellingham Council Reviews Transportation Initiatives The Bellingham City Council's Public Works and Natural Resources Committee convened on a Monday morning in late January to tackle three major transportation and environmental initiatives. With Committee Chair Hannah Stone participating remotely to spare her colleagues from her "coughing fits," the meeting demonstrated both the ongoing challenges of municipal governance and the city's commitment to data-driven policy making. ## The Holly Street Bike Lane: Learning from Controversy The centerpiece of the morning was an extensive review of the Holly Street Bike Lane Pilot Project, a controversial downtown initiative that has divided the community since its installation in May 2024. Interim Public Works Co-Director Joel Pfundt and Transportation Engineer Shane Sullivan presented a comprehensive analysis that painted a picture of qualified success amid significant growing pains. The project installed two types of bicycle infrastructure along Holly Street through downtown Bellingham: a traditional buffered bike lane from Ellis Street to North State Street, and a more ambitious parking-protected lane from North State Street to Bay Street. What emerged from the data was a story of transportation infrastructure that achieved its core objective—dramatically increasing bicycle usage—while creating new challenges that required continuous adaptation. The numbers told a compelling story. Despite an overall decrease in vehicle and pedestrian traffic between the pre-project measurement in March and post-project assessment in August, bicycle ridership surged by 33%. More impressively, this increase proved durable, persisting through September and October as weather conditions worsened. Holly Street quickly became the most heavily used bicycle corridor in downtown Bellingham, with over 200 bikes per day—more than 44% higher than the next busiest route. "The bike lane on Holly Street was successful in getting more people to bike downtown," Sullivan explained, emphasizing that this growth occurred even as cyclist behavior revealed interesting preferences. Overall, 87% of cyclists chose to use the dedica…
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### Meeting Overview The Public Works and Natural Resources Committee met on January 27, 2025, chaired by Hannah Stone (attending remotely). The committee reviewed three major items: an update on the Holly Street Bike Lane Pilot Project, approval of the Community Streets Program, and adoption of the Lake Whatcom Management Program 5-year work plan for 2025-2029. ### Key Terms and Concepts **Pilot Project:** A temporary, low-cost implementation using paint and signs to test ideas before committing to expensive permanent infrastructure. **Parking Protected Bike Lane:** A bicycle lane separated from vehicle traffic by a row of parked cars, providing more protection than a simple painted buffer. **Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs):** Signal modifications that give pedestrians a 3-second head start before vehicles get a green light, improving safety. **Right Hook Conflicts:** When right-turning vehicles conflict with bicycles going straight, a major safety concern identified in the Holly Street project. **Community Streets Program:** A resident-driven initiative addressing traffic concerns on residential streets through a four-year rotation covering different city quadrants. **Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL):** Environmental regulations requiring reduction of phosphorus pollution entering Lake Whatcom. **Effective Developed Acres:** A measurement roughly equivalent to pounds of phosphorus removed from Lake Whatcom, used to track progress toward environmental goals. ### Key People at This Meeting | Name | Role / Affiliation | |---|---| | Hannah Stone | Committee Chair, City Council Member | | Lisa Anderson | Committee Member, City Council Member | | Jace Cotton | Committee Member, City Council Member | | Joel Pfundt | Interim Public Works …
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Transportation & Infrastructure Environmental Government Operations AB 24417 AB 24418 AB 24419 Downtown Bellingham Partnership Lake Whatcom Policy Group Lake Whatcom Water Sewer District Public Works Department Transportation Commission Walk And Roll Bellingham Water Resources Advisory Board We Bike Downtown Western Washington University Whatcom County Haley Sanders Hannah Stone Jace Cotton Joel Pfundt Kim Lund Lisa Anderson Michael Lilliquist Renee Lacroix Shane Sullivan Aquatic Invasive Species Bicycle Infrastructure Budget Finance Climate Action Community Engagement Downtown Development Forest Management Lake Whatcom Watershed Public Safety Stormwater Management Traffic Calming Transportation Policy