FAQs

 We looked at the safety benefits very closely before deciding to reconfigure the lanes.  We have had fatalities and serious injuries on the roadway in the past.  This roadway segment is one of the most dangerous roadways in Sumner City Limits and is not up to today's safety standards.  Our goal is to reduce the number and severity of crashes into the future.  This configuration deletes the hill climb lane but uses the roadway width for a 2’ painted median on the centerline with rumble strips and shoulders that are 6-8 feet wide rather than 0-2 feet wide.  This shifts vehicles away from the edge of roadway and guardrails while providing a buffer between oncoming traffic lanes.  

We didn't take this decision lightly and committed City resources specifically to establish the best lane configuration. We reached out beyond City resources to traffic engineering experts on how best to optimize the safety and efficiency of this roadway.  Our traffic consultant recommended this configuration, as it is a safer one that is predicted to reduce crashes on the segment by 26%.  Once we saw this analysis and crash reduction forecasting, we knew that we had to make modifications to the roadway to improve safety in the corridor.