Washougal nabs $2 million grant for street safety

The city of Washougal has received a $2.06 million grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) Safe Routes to School program will help improve safety to a highly trafficked section of 39th Street near Washougal High School. “We’re super excited,” Washougal City Engineer Scott Collins said, adding that the need to add sidewalks and other safety enhancements to 39th Street was one of the City’s biggest transportation issues. “It has been a priority for the Council, especially with not only the high school there, but also Gause Elementary School, our permit center and (Orchard Hills) Golf Course,” Collins said. “I think it’ll be a huge benefit to the schools, pedestrians and the golf course.” The project, which the City estimates will cost about $2.58 million, will install a sidewalk and bicycle lanes, rapid flashing beacons at crosswalks, lighting improvements, speed advisory signs and speed bumps on the east side of 39th Street from Evergreen Highway to “J” Street. The City hopes to begin construction in early 2027, according to Collins. “This grant, we can’t get authorization until July of 2025, so really, that’s when we start. There’s a lot of paperwork involved with the state. Once the funds are approved through the state, WSDOT administers this grant, so then we work with them. When I say authorization, you have to go through stages to authorize, ‘Okay, we’re ready to start design, we’re ready to start environmental, we’re ready to start right-of-way, and now we’re ready to start construction,’” Collins said. He added that one of the City’s biggest concerns is its lack of sidewalks in the area near Washougal High School. “There’s a large neighborhood to the east, so a lot of kids are just walking along the shoulders,” Collins said. “I see kids walking, with no sidewalks, on the shoulder, (close to) cars.” The street currently features an unregulated crossing to allow golfers to walk or drive their cart across the street to continue their rounds. “That’s a dangerous crossing to the other side for some of the holes. It just kind of goes straight into a driveway,” Collins said. “There’s also some grade differentials through there, so people are speeding.” Collins said that while a major accident has yet to occur in the area, the City “definitely sees a future (accident) coming if this project doesn’t get funded.” “We have concerns from a site visibility standpoint if someone’s crossing or on the side of the street,” he added. The $2 million grant, which the City will match with about $500,000 of its own money, was awarded by the WSDOT’s Safe Routes to School program, which provides technical assistance and funding to public agencies to improve conditions and encourage children to walk and bike to school. The program emphasizes improvements that reduce potential pedestrian and bicycle conflicts with motor vehicle traffic; reduce traffic volume around schools; and establish safer and fully accessible crossings, walkways, trails or bikeways within two miles of elementary, middle and high schools. Safe Routes projects that have reported pre- and post-count data have seen a 20 percent increase in the number of children walking and biking to school, Charlotte Claybrooke, WSDOT’s active transportation program manager and Safe Routes coordinator, told The Post-Record in 2020 after City received a similar grant to complete a trail to link Jemtegaard Middle School to Sunset View Road. Safe Routes projects have also led to a nearly 37 percent reduction in crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists at project locations implemented between 2005 and 2015, Claybrooke added. “In general, Safe Routes to School projects tend to be good for communities and schools because they complete the network of facilities, such as sidewalks, crossings, trails and bike lanes, that allow people of all ages and abilities to walk or bike for transportation,” Claybrooke said. The City applied for, but did not receive, a similar grant in 2023. “We were kind of in the middle of the pack the last time,” Collins said. “WSDOT really wants to see how you’re mitigating traffic, speeding, things like that. This time around, we really buffered our project details of what the project would entail, and I think that’s probably why we probably scored better this year.” The grant award won’t become official until later this year, when the Washington state government establishes its transportation budget, according to Collins. “I’ve heard the transportation budget is a little shaky right now, but we are in the estimated range (to get the grant),” he added. “We’ll have to wait and see, although what they project with the estimated funding with the grants, we’re within that (range), so that’s positive. We have a little bit of waiting to know for sure.” Councilwoman Michelle Wagner lauded City staff during the Jan. 12 Council meeting for the large number of grants the City has received in the past several years. “I’d love to see statistics with other cities,” she said. “I would venture to say that we as a city have gotten a lot more money in grants than any comparable cities in the area. It’s a lot of work from a lot of people. We always thank our elected officials and such, and obviously the trips that our mayor went on a couple years ago (to Washington D.C.) really paid off. We seem to have the dynamics and personalities to (get into) some pockets.”

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