Project Overview
The project will construct two roundabouts on Potter Street, at King Street and Lincoln Street. The main objective of the project is to reduce transit delays, increase transit efficiency, improve vehicle Level of Service (LOS) at the intersection, and improve access and safety for people walking and biking.
The roundabout at the intersection of Lincoln and Potter Street will reduce current and future transit travel delays for Whatcom Transit Authority (WTA) Route 190 by allowing WTA buses to avoid one left turn and two right turns. Eliminating the need to travel through the Lakeway/King signalized intersection. Route 190 connects the population centers of downtown Bellingham, Western Washington University, Lincoln Creek Transportation Center and two large shopping areas on Lakeway Drive. The route is WTA’s fourth highest ridership route, with nearly 300,000 boardings in 2023.
The construction of the King Street roundabout will further increase efficiency and LOS through the project area. The King Street roundabout will also provide the additional benefit of metering traffic to the north bound on ramp and potentially allow for better merging traffic on the I-5 mainline.
Project Status
This project is included in the City’s Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program. The work completed includes preliminary design, a traffic demand analysis, and future traffic projections. There is not currently a start date for this project.
Construction Impacts
Significant impacts are expected during the construction of the roundabouts. A detour will be in place during both roundabout’s construction. Additional details will be provided as the project progresses.
Project Background
This project was identified in the multi-agency 2021 Lincoln-Lakeway Multimodal Transportation Study (Lincoln-Lakeway Multimodal Transportation Study – City of Bellingham (cob.org)) and WTA’s 2023 Rapid Transit Feasibility Study (WTA_Rapid_Transit_Feasibility_Study_Final_Reduced.pdf (hdp-us-prod-app-whatcom-engage-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com)).
Funding
This project is currently shown as partially funded by the Transportation Fund in the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program and the City is pursuing grants for the unfunded portion of the project.
Contact
Dylan Casper
Transportation Planner
dtcasper@cob.org
