8. BE AN ACTIVE PARTNER

Goal T-7: Coordinate with a broad range of groups, public and private, to help meet Kirkland’s transportation goals.

Background

Travel doesn’t stop at city borders. Cars, buses, bicycles and pedestrians all travel between cities. Kirkland is bisected by I-405, a facility which is the responsibility of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). Transit service is provided by King County Metro and Sound Transit, both of which are governed by separate boards of elected officials. Regional policy determines, to a large extent, the minimum number of person trips for which Kirkland must plan. For all these reasons, working with other agencies is a requirement for achieving Kirkland’s transportation goals.

Kirkland must be proactive in its work with regional partners and Kirkland should come to other partners with a strong sense of our needs rather than reacting to what is offered by others. An example of this can be seen in the work of our City Council and State Legislature, where recent sessions have resulted in securing important funding for the Cross Kirkland Corridor.

At the Countywide and regional levels, there are a number of groups that influence funding decisions and transportation policy. These are often structured with staff groups making recommendation to boards of elected officials. Kirkland should have an active role in these groups.

Partnerships should not end with the transportation agencies such as the Washington State Department of Transportation or King County Metro. Partnering with the private sector, schools, advocacy groups and neighboring cities and sub-regional coalitions will inform and build support to achieve Kirkland’s transportation goals.

The transit policies in this section are closely associated with the policies on Section 4, Public Transportation.

Policy T-7.1: Play a major role in development of Sound Transit facilities in Kirkland.

Sound Transit will likely be implementing one or more new phases of high capacity transit over the life of this transportation element and each new phase should build on the preceding phase.

Each of these phases requires an update to Sound Transit’s Long Range Plan, followed by a System Plan revision that describes projects that are on a ballot put before voters. Connecting the Totem Lake Urban Center and the Greater Downtown Urban Center with the regional transit system is Kirkland’s primary interest for regional transit.

Bus Rapid Transit and light rail are the preferred modes and the preferred route is the Cross Kirkland Corridor. However, Bus Rapid Transit operating in Express Toll Lanes on I-405 will be the first Regional High Capacity Transit link serving Totem Lake and the Greater Downtown area.

It is important that any such system travels through the Urban Center, and includes connections to all parts of Kirkland, particularly Downtown and the 6th Street Corridor. Rebuilding freeway interchanges, fixed guideway connections, people movers using the Houghton and Kingsgate Park and Rides are ways by which this may be accomplished.

The City sees Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) as essential for its continued growth and economic development, with the Totem Lake and Greater Downtown Urban Centers at the heart of this goal. This includes both TOD on publicly owned land, such as the Kingsgate P&R, but also TOD on privately owned land.

Kirkland can best affect these plans by cultivating productive and ongoing working relationships with Sound Transit and by being active and persistent advocates for our interests, as directed by the City Council, at both the staff and Sound Transit Board level.

Kirkland should work with Sound Transit, Metro and other partners to make investments as part of a seamless and integrated transit network.

Policy T-7.2: Establish commitments from transit providers to provide high quality transit service in exchange for land use and transportation commitments that support transit. Partner with King County Metro to meet mutual interests.

Final decisions about King County Metro transit service rest with the King County Council and therefore change can happen without the approval of the City of Kirkland. This lack of certainty weakens the foundations of both the land use and transportation plans, both of which rely heavily on high quality transit service.

In order to thrive, transit service needs certain land use and transportation elements and those elements are largely within the control of cities. Therefore, Kirkland should pursue, ideally in cooperation with other jurisdictions, an agreement by which risk for both transit agencies and cities is reduced by agreeing to transit service levels in exchange for items cities can provide.

As described in the transit section of this transportation element, the City should maintain a Transit Plan that details its expectations for transit service and capital facilities. At a minimum, 15-minute frequency service should be provided on the network shown in the map on the following page.

In order to meet Kirkland’s goals for transit, it may be necessary for Kirkland to fund and/or operate its own transit services.

Policy T-7.3: Work with the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Washington State Legislature to achieve mutually beneficial decisions on freeway interchanges and other facilities.

As described elsewhere in this chapter, decisions made by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) on how facilities are designed and operated have significant bearing on Kirkland’s transportation system. Because WSDOT traditionally has viewed the Land Use-Transportation connection from an auto-oriented viewpoint, previous decisions have resulted in facilities that are less than optimal for meeting Kirkland’s goals in a modern urban setting. Age of facilities and prioritization of Kirkland’s projects in a statewide context are also complicating factors. These issues could potentially be mitigated by working more closely and regularly with WSDOT leadership, inclusion of transportation and land use items on Kirkland’s legislative agenda, and advancing Kirkland’s interests by funding initial design work for projects like interchange designs on I-405. Also, Kirkland should advocate for improving the interchange of I-405 and SR 520 including new HOV connectivity. The City of Kirkland recognizes that the WSDOT may only make improvements in Kirkland that are consistent with the State Multimodal Transportation Plan.

WSDOT must approve any changes to functional classifications on Kirkland’s streets to ensure that they meet federal guidelines and are coordinated with neighboring jurisdictions. Functional classification carries with it expectations about roadway design, including its speed, capacity and relationship to existing and future land use development. They are a useful surrogate for volume and number of lanes and are used, as described in other policy discussions, as one measure for prioritizing projects.

Figure T-30: Transit Network

Policy T-7.4 Participate in and provide leadership for regional transportation decision making.

Multiple regional groups impact funding and policy decisions that affect transportation in Kirkland. As an example, Puget Sound Regional Council has a host of boards and groups. Some of these groups are made up of staff members, others are exclusively for elected officials. Kirkland is a member of the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration, a partnership between the County and these cities to coordinate and enhance the effectiveness of local government climate and sustainability efforts.

Policy T-7.5: Work closely with the Lake Washington School District to encourage more children to walk and bike to school.

Reducing the number of students who are driven or who drive to school is a multifaceted task. The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) is a necessary partner in this effort. Close communications between LWSD and Kirkland staff should be pursued. Contacts at individual schools are usually highly effective and should also be pursued.

Policy T-7.6: Coordinate multimodal transportation systems with neighboring jurisdictions.

Kirkland has strong ties with neighboring jurisdictions. These ties should be reinforced and used to make sure that projects like bike share, wayfinding, traffic signal operation, pavement marking, traffic impacts of new developments and other transportation projects are carefully coordinated so that transportation users can move seamlessly across jurisdiction borders. This includes working with other jurisdictions to obtain and develop the extension of the CKC within Kirkland’s City limits north to Woodinville.

Policy T-7.7: Partner with the private sector and other “new” partners.

Kirkland should look for partners outside governmental agencies. Identifying and connecting with other partners could help fund or deliver a range of projects and services including bike share, transit alternatives, traffic data, parking solutions, and a range of improvements on the Cross Kirkland Corridor.