Four Oly City Council members voice support for Capitol Way improvements

Quite a few South Capitol residents and members of the South Capitol Neighborhood Association (SCNA) Board attended Tuesday night’s Olympia City Council meeting. Many who attended shared their own or others’ personal stories and asked the council to help find solutions to the problem of speeding and dangerous driving on Capitol Way.

Progress!
Six of the council members were at the meeting. Clark Gilman was not able to attend, so we will reach out to him separately. Of those present, Council Members Robert Vanderpool, Dani Madrone, Lisa Parshley, and Mayor Dontae Payne publicly stated their support for improving Capitol Way to slow down traffic.

Listen to their words of support
The March 7th Olympia City Council meeting was recorded and can be viewed on the OLYTV website. To hear the four city council members’ remarks, click on the link above, then scroll to 1:09:38 in the recording.

Our testimony
Here’s what our South Capitol attendees had to say about the lack of safety on Capitol Way:

Treacy Duerfeldt, an at-large SCNA board member, provided his analysis of traffic data collected last summer by the city. He said it showed that over 1,000 times a day vehicles exceeded 35 mph driving on Capitol Way. He emphasized – “Not a week, not a month, a day.” He went on to say that, between 7 am and 8 pm every day, vehicles exceeded 50 mph four times per day, and on average, one vehicle will exceed 80 mph once a week.

He told the city council members, “When I’ve presented this data, the biggest question I’ve had is where does the city’s liability lie now that you know?” He said the SCNA board will attend next month’s city council meeting and offer up solutions for consideration.

Gerry Apple, the board’s vice president, read comments submitted by Andy Meyer who said he’s had to rapidly move out of the way of a speeding vehicle when he starts to cross Capitol Way, but realizes midway that the car is approaching way too fast. He asked, what about a child who isn’t watching carefully, coupled with a distracted driver?

Andy noted several recent situations of vehicles following him at excessive speed almost colliding with his vehicle or others around him as he has slowed to turn from Capitol Way onto his street.

Helen Johnston said that she and her husband, Gerry are frequently awakened in the middle of the night by speeding cars, most likely racing. She said she volunteers at Lincoln School and has seen children crossing Capitol Way using orange flags, but still feels that more needs to be done to address safety.

Valerie Hammett, an SCNA at-large board member, told the council that she was forced to jump back to avoid being hit while in the crosswalk at 18th and Capitol. She also said that people behind her become angry and speed up to go around her recklessly when she tries to drive the 25 mph speed limit.

Rob Kirkwood’s comments echoed Valerie’s – he said he drives 5 mph over the speed limit and yet still feels threatened by tailgaters and drivers passing him at a much higher speed.

The most compelling stories by far were from Oscar & Barbara Soule and Jesse & Chelsea Goff, who live in houses on the curve just before the freeway bridge.

Barbara said that, in the eighties and nineties, the brick wall at the back of their yard was hit twice and a third of it was destroyed each time. Since then, the frequency and severity of accidents have increased over the years.

The city installed a guardrail, which has been hit numerous times. She said that vehicles have bounced off it and ended up across the street in neighbors’ yards, or they have landed on top of the guardrail. A lamppost on the corner has been knocked down several times.

20 months ago, a drunk driver drove across their property late at night, threading his car between their trees and ramming into their living room. She said it looked like a bomb went off in it, and added, “It is generally acknowledged that, if we had been sitting in that room, we certainly would not be standing here today.”

The Soules had several boulders placed in their yard for protection, and fortunately they did, because a similar accident occurred four months later and the boulders stopped it. Barbara said they have spent $5,000 of their own money to enhance their protection as well as rebuilding their brick wall twice. She asked the council to give serious consideration to these issues.

Oscar Soule, referencing the two recent accidents, said in his remarks, “It is my hope that a plan can be developed to remove and reduce danger before it occurs, rather than after it occurs.”

Jesse Goff said that he and his wife Chelsea moved into their house next door to the Soules two years ago. The prior owner and others warned them not to let their young children play in the front yard because of the dangerous conditions on Capitol Way.

He said at first they thought they might have been exaggerating, but since then have been shocked by what they’ve seen. They’ve observed five single-car accidents just in the stretch on Capitol Way in front of their house. They contacted Olympia city staff who acknowledged the speeding problems on Capitol Way, but told them there are greater priorities within the community to address with the funding.

Jesse said this is a significant safety concern for all families, young and old, that live along this route. As a 20-year federal government employee, he knows there are always competing priorities and limited funding in budgets, but he said he feels that creative minds in the room and in the community can find effective solutions to this safety concern.

John Saunders thanked the city council for hearing the neighborhood’s concerns about speeding on Capitol Way. He read a statement from B.G. Sandahl who lives on 17th and Capitol. She said that a number of years ago, a person speeding down Capitol Way turned onto 17th, jumped the curb, and slammed into a tree on their parking strip. By hitting the tree, it kept the car from ramming into their kitchen. Her husband ran out to see if the guy was okay and asked him if he thought he might have been going a little too fast.

B.G. noted she is also a cyclist. If she is hit by a vehicle going 25 mph, she could possibly survive, but if she is hit by a vehicle going 35 mph, chances are she wouIdn’t.

In order to go south on Capitol Way, she said you have to ride on horrible narrow bike lanes, where the surface is cracked, pitted, and frankly just dangerous, particularly near Spuds, Vics and Oly Coffee Roasters. She said that years ago a solution was posed and denied by the city to create one lane going each direction, safe bike lanes, and a center turn lane. She is in favor of narrowed lanes as “a simple solution.”

Two more meetings to come
SCNA board members (and other residents in the neighborhood, we hope) will attend two more meetings of the Olympia City Council, one in June and one in July.

At the Tues, June 11th council meeting, we will present solutions to the speeding/safety problem. Please consider joining us in person at this meeting to show support.

And, if you have any traffic stories and concerns or suggested solutions to share, we would love to hear from you! Please send them to info@southcapitolneighborhood.org.