# Pilot Progress and Street-Level Solutions: Bellingham Council Reviews Transportation Initiatives The Bellingham City Council's Public Works and Natural Resources Committee convened on a Monday morning in late January to tackle three major transportation and environmental initiatives. With Committee Chair Hannah Stone participating remotely to spare her colleagues from her "coughing fits," the meeting demonstrated both the ongoing challenges of municipal governance and the city's commitment to data-driven policy making. ## The Holly Street Bike Lane: Learning from Controversy The centerpiece of the morning was an extensive review of the Holly Street Bike Lane Pilot Project, a controversial downtown initiative that has divided the community since its installation in May 2024. Interim Public Works Co-Director Joel Pfundt and Transportation Engineer Shane Sullivan presented a comprehensive analysis that painted a picture of qualified success amid significant growing pains. The project installed two types of bicycle infrastructure along Holly Street through downtown Bellingham: a traditional buffered bike lane from Ellis Street to North State Street, and a more ambitious parking-protected lane from North State Street to Bay Street. What emerged from the data was a story of transportation infrastructure that achieved its core objective—dramatically increasing bicycle usage—while creating new challenges that required continuous adaptation. The numbers told a compelling story. Despite an overall decrease in vehicle and pedestrian traffic between the pre-project measurement in March and post-project assessment in August, bicycle ridership surged by 33%. More impressively, this increase proved durable, persisting through September and October as weather conditions worsened. Holly Street quickly became the most heavily used bicycle corridor in downtown Bellingham, with over 200 bikes per day—more than 44% higher than the next busiest route. "The bike lane on Holly Street was successful in getting more people to bike downtown," Sullivan explained, emphasizing that this growth occurred even as cyclist behavior revealed interesting preferences. Overall, 87% of cyclists chose to use the dedicated bike infrastructure rather than mixing with vehicle traffic. However, the data revealed a notable difference between the two lane types: 92% of cyclists used the buffered section, while only 84% used the parking-protected lanes. This disparity reflected community concerns that emerged during the pilot's rocky early months. The project faced immediate backlash over traffic congestion and safety concerns, particularly around "right hook" conflicts where right-turning vehicles posed risks to cyclists. Sullivan's team conducted a near-miss analysis at the Holly and Cornwall intersection that validated these concerns, finding that westbound right-hook conflicts accounted for over 31% of all vehicle-bicycle conflicts. The city's response demonstrated both the advantages and complexities of the pilot approach. Within the first six weeks, staff adjusted signal timing to address congestion complaints. They removed four parking spaces to install "bend-ins"—design features that bring cyclists closer to the curb at intersections to improve visibility. Most recently, they rechannelized the stretch between Commercial and Bay streets, restoring turn lanes and significantly improving traffic flow. Council Member Lisa Anderson, drawing on her extensive commuting experience, identified specific problem areas that hadn't appeared on staff's radar. At the Lakeway and Alice intersection, she noted weekly near-misses caused by confusing signage that leads drivers to believe they can turn left when the sign actually directs them to a small spur behind the old hospital. In the rechannelization zone, she observed that the lane striping gives drivers the impression they must move left or right rather than continuing straight, creating confusion for unfamiliar motorists. "I've had a few conversations with folks that just the way the bike lane comes to the middle, the way it's striped, they think that lane gets abandoned by vehicles," Anderson explained, demonstrating the granular level of attention required to make infrastructure work for all users. Sullivan acknowledged these concerns while noting that monitoring shows drivers are gradually adapting their behavior. "We can actually see a nice trend of people adjusting their patterns slowly but surely," he said, though he admitted there's not much more the city can do to make the channelization clearer in the short term. The project's impact on other transportation modes revealed the complex tradeoffs involved in reallocating street space. Vehicle travel times increased by an average of 39 seconds over the entire half-mile corridor, while speeds dropped from 25 mph to approximately 17 mph. Most significantly, transit service suffered during the early months when long signal cycles—implemented to prevent dangerous backing up onto Interstate 5 off-ramps—caused Route 1 to drop six trips in September and experience decreased on-time performance. Chair Stone, participating remotely, acknowledged the project's imperfections while praising staff's responsiveness. "We fully admit that this has been imperfect and we've received a tremendous amount of feedback," she said. "But I want to acknowledge staff in their spirit of transparency, sharing all of this, and also their commitment to adapting as we go." Mayor Kim Lund, also joining virtually, emphasized the learning process: "We've had hours of conversation about this. There's been a lot of opportunities for learning and reflection." She assured the council that staff had conducted extensive discussions about how to improve pilot projects in the future, including consideration of when pilots are appropriate at all. The project's next phase will involve an interim design this spring aimed at improving cyclist visibility and reducing right-turn conflicts, followed by a comprehensive capital project that will extend the bike lane to Broadway and better connect with the broader bicycle network. ## Community Streets: Democratizing Traffic Solutions The committee's second major item offered a stark contrast to Holly Street's top-down implementation. Shane Sullivan and Education Outreach Specialist Hayley Sanders presented the Community Streets Program, a ground-up initiative designed to address traffic concerns on residential streets through systematic community engagement. The program represents a significant evolution from Bellingham's previous Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program, which operated from 1995 to 2008. That earlier effort relied on neighborhood associations to identify problems and request solutions—an approach that worked well for organized communities but left gaps in areas without active associations. "Not every neighborhood had an active and vibrant neighborhood association, so not all parts of the city were affected with this program," Sanders explained. The new approach divides Bellingham into four geographic sectors, each representing about 25% of the population, with the city proactively engaging one sector per year on a rotating basis. The program's four-category framework provides multiple pathways for community input. "Checklist projects"—simple fixes like trimming overgrown vegetation—can be addressed quickly through existing city services. "Capital projects" requiring major infrastructure investments get referred to the city's broader planning processes. "Neighborhood projects" provide residents with tools and resources to implement traffic calming measures themselves, such as planting street trees or organizing street parties. The most substantial category, "location studies," forms the program's analytical core. Up to 25 locations per sector will receive detailed traffic analysis, with results feeding into a prioritized project list based on engineering data and contextual factors like proximity to schools and community equity considerations. Council Member Anderson pressed for specifics about how the program would handle time-sensitive opportunities. She cited her past work on Samish Way, where community advocacy during a rezoning process secured millions in state transportation funding that wouldn't have been available years later. "That would have been just a really missed opportunity if this type of system was utilized to defer it for five years until that neighborhood had their round," she said. Pfundt assured her that the program wouldn't preclude other advocacy channels. "This is more of an additional opportunity," he explained, noting that the systematic approach would help identify larger projects worthy of inclusion in the city's Transportation Improvement Program while providing immediate support for smaller-scale solutions. Mayor Lund highlighted the program's equity benefits: "The city will be going out to different parts of the community, regardless of how activated or organized your neighborhood association is." She specifically mentioned Whatcom Falls, Roosevelt, Barkley, and Irongate as areas that have struggled to maintain sustained neighborhood associations but would benefit from proactive city engagement. Council Member Jace Cotton moved to approve the program, which passed unanimously, clearing the way for implementation beginning with the first geographic sector. ## Lake Whatcom: Balancing Growth and Protection The meeting's final item focused on the Lake Whatcom Management Program's 2025-2029 work plan, a collaborative effort between Bellingham, Whatcom County, and the Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District to protect the drinking water source for over 100,000 people. Assistant Public Works Director Renee LaCroix presented the sixth five-year work plan since the program's inception, emphasizing two new focus areas: climate action and forest management. "Those are emerging issues that we want to pay close attention to," she explained. The climate vulnerability assessment will build on existing city and county climate action plans to examine how climate change might specifically impact Lake Whatcom and identify necessary adaptations. The aquatic invasive species rapid response plan takes on new urgency following the discovery of zebra and quagga mussels in Idaho's Snake River—"right in our backyard," as LaCroix put it. The forest management plan addresses the city's growing ownership of watershed land, ensuring holistic management rather than parcel-by-parcel approaches. The plan also calls for increased educational materials at boat inspection checkpoints, taking advantage of a "captive audience" to share information about boating best practices and environmental risks. LaCroix's presentation included detailed progress charts showing the city's success in meeting Total Maximum Daily Load requirements for phosphorus removal. The data revealed steady progress through street sweeping, stormwater improvements, and capital projects, with the city developing new high-efficiency treatment technologies in partnership with the Department of Ecology and Western Washington University. The plan's $71 million five-year budget reflects the program's scope, with $44 million allocated to the city's efforts, including $29 million for land acquisition and stormwater management. "To date, we've protected more than 2,800 acres. We spent more than $40 million," LaCroix noted. The work plan faced some controversy within the Water Resources Advisory Board, where the recommendation passed by a split decision. Council Member Anderson, who serves on the board, acknowledged the challenges while expressing hope for improved process in future planning cycles. "My hope is this is a new group and we're working out the bugs," she said. Anderson also pushed for more specific, measurable goals throughout the plan. While acknowledging that some objectives—like property acquisition dependent on willing sellers—don't lend themselves to traditional SMART goal frameworks, she argued for more concrete targets around outreach and engagement activities. "A Smart goal could be that we're going to outreach to specific property owners that did not respond to our last outreach in a targeted effort to see if there's interest in purchasing," she suggested. "So once that action is done, then we can measure how successful that action was." LaCroix acknowledged the feedback while noting that the plan already incorporated many public comments from an extensive summer engagement process. The team had developed a 70-page response matrix addressing 307 comments from 37 individuals and six organizations. Mayor Lund and Anderson both planned to attend the upcoming Water Resources Advisory Board meeting to discuss process improvements for future planning cycles, reflecting the ongoing tension between thorough public engagement and practical project timelines. Council Member Cotton moved to approve the work plan, which passed unanimously, ensuring continued coordination among the three jurisdictions in protecting the region's primary water source. ## Closing Observations As Chair Stone adjourned the meeting after nearly two hours of detailed discussion, the session reflected both the complexity of modern municipal governance and Bellingham's commitment to evidence-based policy making. From the granular traffic engineering challenges of the Holly Street pilot to the systematic community engagement of the Streets Program to the regional coordination required for watershed protection, each item demonstrated how contemporary cities must balance competing interests while adapting to changing conditions. The Holly Street project, despite its controversies, illustrated the value of pilot approaches that allow real-world testing before major capital investments. The Community Streets Program showed how cities can democratize transportation planning while ensuring equitable access to improvements. The Lake Whatcom work plan demonstrated the long-term thinking required for environmental protection in an era of climate change. Most notably, the meeting showcased a local government willing to acknowledge mistakes, adapt to feedback, and continuously improve its approaches. From Anderson's detailed observations about signage problems to Stone's praise for staff transparency, the discussion reflected a culture of learning and iteration that bodes well for Bellingham's future challenges. The afternoon would bring additional committee meetings focused on public health and safety, continuing the council's systematic review of municipal priorities. But the morning's work on transportation and environmental issues established a foundation for responsive, data-driven governance that prioritizes both civic engagement and measurable outcomes.