Slowing Third Street traffic options weighed by Council

The initial option for slowing traffic on North Third Street has hit a speed bump of its own.

Hindered by expected revenue shortfalls linked to COVID-19, Town officials are backing off plans to install elongated speed bumps on the main route to and from the Port of Skagit’s La Conner Marina.

“The reality is I don’t think we can afford these measures,” Town Administrator Scott Thomas said of placing speed bumps similar to those at the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Blaine as a means of improving traffic safety on North Third, long a priority among residents in the area.

Mayor Ramon Hayes, an early proponent of the speed bump approach, confirmed that assessment.

“We don’t have the resources to do the speed bumps,” Hayes conceded.

Still, it doesn’t mean the Town can’t do something significant.

Hayes reminded Town Council members at their Sept. 22 tele-conferenced session that La Conner is in line to acquire a surplus patrol vehicle from the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office that can be used to minimize speeding and negligent driving.

Parking police vehicles – even if not staffed – alongside heavily traveled roadways has been found elsewhere to be an effective deterrent to traffic violations.

Nor is that the only avenue available to the Town.

Councilmember Bill Stokes last week rekindled support for roadside electronic reader-boards that alert motorists when they exceed speed limits.

“These reader-boards,” Stokes said, “are there every day.”

In response to repeated traffic safety concerns voiced by La Conner residents, Skagit County officials this summer authorized the Town Public Works Department to establish speed monitoring devices on North Third. Data collected indicated the highest number of motorists exceeding the posted 25 mph speed limit on North Third was between 3-5 p.m.

While those statistics showed most motorists speeding on North Third traveled at around 30 mph, some maximum speeds were above 40 mph.

Skagit County Sheriff’s deputies have stepped up traffic patrols, most notably on weekends, but can’t entirely devote time to that single assignment. A parked patrol vehicle or speed limit reader-board – and perhaps a combination of both – provide a constant presence.

“The idea,” Stokes pointed out, “isn’t so much to catch people (speeding). It’s to get people to slow down.”

Councilmember Jacques Brunisholz agreed.

“I think it would be the most efficient way (to improve traffic safety) if we have the money,” Brunisholz said.

In the midst of a local economy hamstrung by a global pandemic, one in which the Town could realize a 30 per cent drop in sales and lodging tax revenues, Hayes stressed that money has become the determining factor.

“We appreciate what everybody wants and what everybody is doing,” he told the Weekly News, “but right now it’s about the money.”