Richland changes its $21M plan again to ease traffic-congested George Washington Way

The city of Richland is dropping plans to build a pedestrian bridge across George Washington Way at Columbia Point.

The $4 million bridge was a key part of plans to tame the busy thoroughfare and would have required the city to condemn a home at the intersection with Aaron Drive.

“It’s too much,” City Manager Jon Amundson told the city council at a recent workshop.

The bridge would have crossed the intersection of George Washington Way and Columbia Point/Aaron Drive at a diagonal. It was part of a larger effort to add lanes at the southern stretch of the main arterial, while transforming it into part of a one-way couplet through downtown, to the north.

The two projects were projected to cost about $21 million before the bridge was eliminated.

The decision comes after a survey crew working along George Washington recently sparked concern from homeowners that widening the region’s busiest intersection would eat into their front yards.

Andrew Richardson, who lives on the 200 block, across George Washington from the Columbia Point Golf Course, told the city council at another meeting that he was startled by surveyors working along his property.

He feared adding a new lane in front of his home to ease congestion at the nearby intersection at Columbia Point Drive will consume several feet of his front yard.

And he was angry that he first heard about it from surveyors and not the city.

“I don’t think it’s fair that you’re bringing traffic closer to our house,” said Richardson, who was accompanied by two neighbors. He said the city should take land from the golf course across the street, not the homes that front George Washington on the west.

The city envisions work starting in 2024.

The city initiated the intersection project in 2021 after shelving a previous plan in 2015.

Pete Rogalsky, the city’s public works director, pledged to meet with Richardson and the 200 block neighbors concerned about what widening south George Washington Way could mean for their properties.

He acknowledged the notification process doesn’t always run smoothly. Staff prefer to present projects to the council before approaching affected property owners. That can lead to surprises as word makes its way to the larger public.

There’s no magic formula for handling notifications and he agreed the communication on George Washington has been “clumsy.” The city unveiled its plans for George Washington Way this spring.

At the workshop, council members advised staff to be robust in communicating about both projects as the scheduled start nears.

South GWay

The southern stretch of George Washington Way is Richland’s main city entrance. An estimated 41,000 vehicles pass through each day as they travel in and out of the city via Interstate 182 and Highway 240 at Columbia Point.

It is a “Tier 1” congested corridor and operates at a “D” level during the evening rush. Wrecks are routine.

Rogalsky previously said the COVID-19 pandemic brought a temporary reduction in traffic during the work-from-home pandemic days, but the relief was temporary.

It is on track to reach failing levels of congestion by 2045 without intervention.

The challenge is that George Washington Way wasn’t supposed to be the city’s entrance. Established as a company town in the post-World War II era, Richland was focused to the north, on the Hanford site and by the early 1960s, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

“As late as the late 80s, everybody had their eyes pointed north,” he said. “Moving people around was not what anyone was trying to do.”

Columbia Point was a landfill and sewer station, the community’s literal backyard.

New freeways connected Richland to Pasco, Kennewick and beyond, flipping the focus to south Richland. It became the connection point to the wider world. The landfill and sewer plant gave way to a WinCo-anchored shopping center, golf course, hotels, restaurants, waterfront condominiums and apartments.

The unhappy result is heavy traffic in a neighborhood originally designed for single-family neighborhoods.

“Now we’re trying to stand this up.”

To improve traffic flow, the city will add a fourth southbound lane between Benham Street and the freeway ramps. A third left turn lane from Columbia Point Boulevard will “flush” traffic through the intersection.

The bridge would have carried pedestrians and bicyclists, allowing motorized traffic to speed past below.

You can track the South George Washington Way project at bit.ly/3DmCx54

One-way streets

George Washington and Jadwin Avenue will both become one-way streets between Symons Street and the spot where Jadwin merges with George Washington near Columbia Point. The city council approved the “couplet” plan in 2020.

The two streets currently offer a combined nine travel lanes. The couplet requires six, which leaves three free for bicycles, wider sidewalks and on-street parking.

The couplet will help Richland reconnect its downtown to the Columbia River by reducing traffic on George Washington Way, long viewed as a barrier between downtown and its waterfront.

Transpo Group USA is the city’s engineering firm. Design work began in 2022 and is expected to be 60% complete by October.

Track the couplet at bit.ly/3KdawRp

Sign Up: Boom Town Tri-Cities

Stay up to date on Tri-Cities growth and development with our weekly business newsletter. Get the latest on restaurant and business openings and closings, plus the region’s top housing and employment news. Click here to sign up. In your inbox every Wednesday.