Neighbors in Bellingham’s Columbia neighborhood decided they had seen enough of speeders passing their homes on Eldridge Avenue. They had already seen too many crashes out their front windows.
Cameron Miller, who lives on Eldridge near Utter Street, said a car must have been going 90 mph when it sheared off a utility pole in front of his house and flipped into a neighbor’s front yard.
About a year after that, in July 2021, Kim Eagle was loading her landscaping trailer on Eldridge when a driver slammed into her. Surgeons had to amputate both of her legs to save her life, The Bellingham Herald reported.
Neighbors say they have been trying to convince the city for the past decade to add features to the road that would slow traffic, with no results. On April 16, they decided to stop waiting and build it themselves, inspired by a global movement of citizen-led “tactical urbanism” on city streets.
Led by Erick Aurand, a road engineer who lives on Eldridge, neighbors constructed a do-it-yourself curb extension that he said was measured to the correct specifications, for less than $250. Two rows of orange cones and bollards glued to the pavement at a crosswalk on either side of Eldridge had an immediate impact on Saturday traffic.
The bollards “visually narrow the road,” Aurand said, “so it seems like you have to go the speed limit” — which is 25 mph on Eldridge.
Two days later, the city tore the homemade curb extension down.
Eldridge not a priority
Bellingham Public Works Director Eric Johnston said one of his crews took down the cones and bollards at Eldridge Avenue and Victor Street because they were illegal.
“We don’t know what was done,” Johnston said Tuesday when asked if the traffic-calming arrangement would have met city specifications. “We don’t review things after they are installed illegally. The neighbors have asked for temporary measures (to calm traffic), and we are studying that possibility.”
“We understand and share the concerns that people in the neighborhood have for traffic safety,” Johnston added.
Currently, Eldridge Avenue is not on Bellingham’s Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program, which means it isn’t on the city’s official to-do list. Other streets and neighborhoods are higher priorities, Johnston said.
“The question becomes, ‘Which streets do we look at first?’” Johnston said. “We’re looking at lower-income neighborhoods with no sidewalks, no crossings and no amenities,” including Alabama and Texas streets, and Maplewood Avenue.
Eldridge isn’t entirely off the city’s radar. It’s in the 2022 Bellingham Local Road Safety Plan. This plan proposes potential safety improvements for the street: speed-enforcement cameras and a marked bike lane where cars currently park. The plan says the cameras and the removal of street parking could both be unpopular.
City councilor weighs in
Eldridge Avenue is in Bellingham’s First Ward, represented by City Council member Hannah Stone. In an email, Stone acknowledged safety concerns at Eldridge but also at James Street, Samish Way, Northshore Drive, 32nd Avenue and Old Fairhaven Parkway. She also noted the Six-Year “TIP,” as the Transportation Improvement Program is commonly called, will get a public hearing around June of this year and could be changed.
As for do-it-yourself traffic calming, Stone didn’t endorse this past weekend’s project on Eldridge.
“I have concern when community members take roadwork into their own hands,” Stone said, citing the potential for liability if there is a collision or injury associated with the homemade traffic feature.
Stone said education can be less expensive and more effective than engineering, especially when drugs or alcohol are involved — as was the case in the crash that severely injured Eagle. The driver, who had used methamphetamine the previous night, was sentenced in January to three years in prison for vehicular assault.
“Working together, I am hopeful that our community will continue to improve safety in all our neighborhoods,” Stone said.
