Bellingham Transportation Commission

**Rapid Transit Study LPA - APPROVED unanimously** - Vote count: Unanimous approval (Chair Tim Wilder abstained due to conflict of interest, Vice Chair Cindy Dennis presided) - Staff recommendation: Approve and recommend to City Council - Council action: Aligned with staff recommendation - Next steps: Presentation to Bellingham City Council in early April, WTA Board approval in early April, WSDOT Regional Mobility Grant application June-July 2026 - Fiscal impact: Implementation costs range from $660,000-$7.9M per Go Line for short-term improvements, $3.2M-$17.5M for long-term improvements **2/10/2026 Meeting Minutes - APPROVED** - Vote count: Not specified in transcript - Routine procedural approval **2026 Local Road Safety Plan - INFORMATIONAL ONLY** - No vote taken - Plan submitted to WSDOT for City Safety Grant eligibility - Identifies $1.5-1.75M in priority crossing safety improvements

**Miles Silverman, on the rapid transit proposal:** "Most exciting collective action problem I've seen around here in a while." **Owen Begley-Collier, on transit equity:** "Very often the bus is sometimes 10-15 minutes late. And this can unfairly cause students to be late to class, to work, to interviews." **Adam Mendelson, on transit priority:** "The bus carries so many more people than cars, but they have to share the road with cars and they get stuck in traffic. It is not fair for the poorest people or the people who don't own cars shouldn't be unfairly penalized by being late." **Tim Hohmann, on the 10-minute frequency threshold:** "I think it would be success if you saw no decrease in runtime. So I'll say even if it stays the same as it is today, that's a win." **Hayden Richardson, on implementation commitment:** "WTA is committed to implementing more frequent service once treatments have achieved a travel time savings of 5 to 10 minutes and/or when on-time performance is being met during the peak periods." **Dylan Casper, on vulnerable user safety:** "Out of the fatal and serious injury crashes, almost half of those within Bellingham had a pedestrian or bicyclist involved in those."

**Meeting ID:** BEL-TRC-2026-03-10 # Bellingham Transportation Commission March Meeting: Transit Future Takes Center Stage ## Meeting Overview The Bellingham Transportation Commission convened on March 10, 2026, at the Pacific Street Operations Center for what would prove to be one of their most consequential meetings of the year. Chair Tim Wilder led the seven-member commission through an agenda dominated by transit infrastructure planning and safety improvements. The evening's headline item was WTA's presentation of their Locally Preferred Alternative for rapid transit enhancements — a proposal that could fundamentally reshape how Bellingham residents move around their city over the next two decades. The meeting drew a notable level of public engagement, with four speakers offering testimony during public comment, all focused on the rapid transit proposal. Their voices represented a broader community conversation about transit equity, environmental sustainability, and the future of transportation in Bellingham. Following the presentations, commissioners would grapple with complex questions about funding, implementation timelines, and whether Bellingham's size and characteristics truly support the level of transit infrastructure being proposed. ## The Locally Preferred Alternative: WTA's Vision for 10-Minute Transit The evening's centerpiece was Hayden Richardson's comprehensive presentation of the rapid transit study's Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA). Richardson, a transportation and land use planner with WTA, outlined an ambitious plan to transform Bellingham's existing GO Lines from 15-minute frequency service to 10-minute headways through a combination of infrastructure improvements, signal priority systems, and operational changes. The proposal emerged from a multi-year study process that began with a feasibility analysis in 2023. As Richardson explained, the study initially considered full Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) implementation but ultimately settled on what they termed "Enhanced Go Lines" — a more incremental approach that would allow improvements to be implemented in phases as funding becomes available. The LPA focuses on Bellingham's four GO Line corridors: Blue, Gold, Green, and Plum. These routes serve the city's major destinations including Western Washington University, Whatcom Community College, downtown, Cordata, Barkley Village, and Sunset Square. "These corridors serve the greatest concentrations of WTA's designated priority populations and carry the vast majority of system riders," Richardson noted. The technical heart of the proposal lies in addressing what Richardson called the "spiral effect" of bus delays. As congestion increases, buses fall behind schedule, requiring additional vehicles to maintain the same frequency level. This creates both higher operational costs and reduced reliability. "Without these projects to reduce that overall runtime, it would be very difficult and very costly to add those additional services to the existing corridors," Richardson explained, illustrating how a 10-minute delay would require WTA to deploy 20% more resources just to maintain current service levels. The proposed improvements span six key categories: increased frequency as the ultimate goal, transit spot improvements to address delay hotspots, bus stop islands to reduce conflicts between buses and other modes, advanced transit signal priority using GPS-based technology, enhanced bus stops with two tiers of amenities, and bus stop balancing to optimize spacing at roughly quarter-to-half-mile intervals. Cost estimates for the comprehensive plan range from $660,000 to $17.5 million per GO Line, depending on whether improvements are classified as short-term or long-term. The operational costs of implementing 10-minute frequency would add between $2 million to $4.6 million annually in WTA's budget. Richardson and city staff emphasized that a new Memorandum of Understanding between WTA and the city would formalize their partnership in pursuing grant funding and implementing improvements. Richardson presented survey results showing community support for the concept, with 60 respondents indicating majority approval for moving forward as proposed, though about one-third expressed general support with minor concerns. When asked about desired outcomes, respondents prioritized more frequent buses, followed closely by faster and more reliable trips. ## Public Voice: Students Lead Transit Equity Advocacy The public comment period revealed the depth of community engagement with transit issues, particularly among Western Washington University students who experience the system's limitations firsthand. Their testimony provided compelling real-world context for the technical proposals that would follow. Miles Silverman, speaking from the Cordata neighborhood, brought a cycling advocate's perspective to the rapid transit discussion. While enthusiastic about the prospect of more frequent transit service, Silverman raised important concerns about potential conflicts between enhanced bus service and bicycle infrastructure. "As someone who takes the WTA, I'm quite excited to be able to get downtown faster with four to six buses an hour," he said, but cautioned that bus lane placement could compromise the ability to provide protected bike lanes in both directions on key corridors. Silverman's testimony highlighted the complexity of modal integration in Bellingham's constrained right-of-way. He specifically noted that if bike boulevards become part of the solution for diverting cycling traffic from bus corridors, they must be designed properly with low car volumes (500 or fewer daily) and slow speeds (20 mph or less). "If there are problems with significant amounts of car traffic or significantly higher speeds, then it becomes public works' job to make driving along these bike boulevards significantly less convenient," he argued, citing East Illinois as a successful example of such design. Owen Begley-Collier represented the voice of car-free students, describing daily frustrations with the current system. "While I appreciate many aspects of the service WTA provides, there's still so many improvements to frequency and reliability that could be made," he said. His testimony carried additional weight as a leader of Students for Climate Action, announcing that an open letter supporting the LPA had gathered 631 signatures from students and community members. Adam Mendelson provided specific examples of how transit unreliability affects students' lives: "Very often the bus is sometimes 10-15 minutes late. And this can unfairly cause students to be late to class, to work, to interviews." His observation that buses "carry so many more people than cars, but they have to share the road with cars and they get stuck in traffic" captured the fundamental inequity the LPA seeks to address. Kaya Olson reinforced the student perspective while framing transit improvements in terms of community sustainability goals. Her testimony emphasized the breadth of student support while urging commissioners to "listen to the voices of your constituents and approve this LPA." ## Commission Deliberation: Size, Scale, and Skeptical Questions Following Richardson's presentation, commissioners engaged in detailed questioning that revealed both technical curiosity and fundamental skepticism about the proposal's scope and feasibility. The discussion highlighted the challenge of implementing transit improvements typically associated with much larger metropolitan areas in a city of Bellingham's size. Commissioner Andrea Reiter posed perhaps the most pointed questions about scale and precedent. After Richardson mentioned examples like Madison, Wisconsin and Fort Collins, Colorado, Reiter quickly researched their populations: "Madison is 285,000, so almost three times Bellingham, Fort Collins 170,000, twice as big. So just wondering if this is more advanced than cities our size." This exchange highlighted the fundamental question of whether Bellingham's approximately 100,000 residents could support the level of transit infrastructure being proposed. Richardson acknowledged this concern, noting that it was "a big reason why we preferred going like the enhanced go route system rather than the full BRT corridor." Tim Hohmann, the city's assistant public works director, provided additional context: "We're not doing pure bus rapid transit, we've made it a little bit hybrid... It's unusual for a community this size to have a BRT. And that's why it's probably makes more sense for us to do something that's a little bit more realistic for our levels of financing and our community characteristics." Commissioner Jonathan Huegel pressed on ridership projections and the relationship between increased frequency and mode shift. When he asked about data supporting the claim that 10-minute frequency would drive ridership increases, Hohmann acknowledged the challenge of reliable projections: "We modeled this as part of the feasibility study, but I gotta be completely honest, I didn't believe the numbers... they were too good. They were way too high... triple the ridership. No, I don't think so." This frank admission revealed the uncertainty inherent in transit planning, while Hohmann emphasized that increased ridership, while desirable, wasn't the only goal. "It's also to support housing... without parking, you know, which is what we're trying to go after. It's to support transfers... So it has multiple goals besides just increasing ridership." Commissioner Patty Kendi focused on practical financial questions about funding and implementation. When she asked about the city's budget burden if grant applications failed, Hohmann explained the strategy of using transportation benefit district funding as local match money while pursuing grants for major infrastructure. The Memorandum of Understanding, he noted, represents "a commitment in principle and a commitment to work together and a commitment to find the money. But... there's not a financial obligation that the city has" if WTA chooses to withdraw from the partnership. Commissioner Aaron Miller raised important operational questions about transit priority during special events and road closures. He argued that the city should prioritize transit access during events like Ski to Sea or downtown concerts, when transit becomes the most logical option for many people. "In the past, I think it's been transit that has suffered at the expense of maintaining single occupancy vehicle access," he observed, suggesting this should be incorporated into event permitting processes. The discussion also explored system-wide benefits, with Miller asking whether the operational efficiencies gained from rapid transit improvements could enable better coverage or other system-wide enhancements. Hohmann confirmed that such opportunities exist, using the example of Barkley area service where "we have 1, 2, 3, 4 routes that go through the Barkley area" that could be restructured more efficiently with high-frequency spine service. ## Rapid Transit Approval: Moving Forward Despite Uncertainties Despite the technical questions and scale concerns raised during discussion, the commission ultimately approved the Locally Preferred Alternative unanimously among voting members. Commissioner Jamin Agosti made the motion to approve as presented in the packet, with the motion receiving a quick second. The vote reflected the commissioners' recognition that while specific implementation details and funding mechanisms remained uncertain, the planning process and community engagement had been thorough. Commissioner Dennis abstained from the vote, while Chair Wilder noted his recusal from the voting process due to his close involvement in the project. The approval provides WTA and the city with the formal endorsement needed to proceed with grant applications and more detailed implementation planning. As Richardson noted, the next steps include taking the LPA to Bellingham City Council in early April, followed by WTA Board approval, with a WSDOT Regional Mobility Grant application targeted for summer 2026. ## Local Road Safety Plan: Data-Driven Approach to Crash Reduction The evening's second major presentation came from Dylan Casper, the city's transportation planner, who outlined the 2026 Local Road Safety Plan. This federally-encouraged document represents Bellingham's systematic approach to identifying and addressing traffic safety issues through data analysis and targeted interventions. Casper explained that the plan follows a process developed by WSDOT for the City Safety Program, which awards Highway Safety Improvement Program grants every two years. The analysis covers crash data from 2020 through 2024, encompassing 4,803 total crashes with 125 resulting in fatalities or serious injuries. The data revealed troubling trends, particularly for vulnerable road users. "Out of the fatal and serious injury crashes, almost half of those within Bellingham had a pedestrian or bicyclist involved," Casper reported. This statistic — 46% of FSI crashes involving pedestrians or bicyclists — significantly exceeds both statewide averages (24%) and western Washington city street averages (35%). Casper presented the plan's three main priority risk factors: active mode crossings on arterial streets, intersection control issues, and following too closely on high-volume arterials. The geographic analysis identified high-injury corridors including Guide Meridian (SR 539), Lakeway Drive, West Bakerview Road, and East Sunset Drive. The plan's centerpiece project is a comprehensive crossing safety improvement program targeting 27 locations throughout the city. This $1.5-1.75 million proposal would upgrade existing amber flasher crossings to more effective Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) technology while adding new protected crossings at priority locations near schools, transit stops, and community facilities. Commissioner discussion focused heavily on the disproportionate pedestrian and bicycle crash rates. Commissioner Kendi questioned whether the explanation of higher usage rates fully accounted for the disparity, while Commissioner Reiter asked about contributing factors and their relationship to infrastructure deficiencies. Chair Wilder observed that many fatal crashes appeared to occur in areas with inadequate pedestrian infrastructure, such as Irongate, which lacks sidewalks entirely. Hohmann acknowledged this pattern while noting the "chicken and the egg" nature of the relationship between infrastructure and crash patterns. "Generally, yes, we would hope that the countermeasures that are in places, the good infrastructure... is keeping people safe," he said. The safety plan discussion highlighted broader questions about infrastructure investment priorities and the relationship between land use patterns and traffic safety. Casper noted that many serious crashes occur on higher-speed arterials outside downtown, where the combination of car-oriented development and inadequate pedestrian facilities creates dangerous conditions for those walking or cycling. ## Routine Business and Infrastructure Updates The meeting's remaining business covered routine approvals and staff updates on ongoing projects. The February meeting minutes were approved without discussion, while staff reports covered several significant infrastructure developments. Tim Hohmann provided updates on major capital projects, including positive news about grant funding for the Samish Way overlay and lighting project ($2 million plus) and the Electric Avenue bridge replacement. Both projects are moving forward with interlocal agreements approved and consultant hiring processes underway. Construction on the Old Town improvements will begin with a notice to proceed issued for March 17, with completion targeted for early August. This project represents the culmination of more than a decade of planning and development agreements, with private development following over the subsequent five years. Less positive news came regarding the downtown signals project, where WSDOT denied the city's request to rescope grant funding to focus on the Cornwall-Chestnut intersection with more substantial infrastructure improvements. The project will proceed with signal improvements at the originally planned intersections, but additional funding will be needed for the more comprehensive improvements at Cornwall-Chestnut. The staff report also covered transportation impact fee updates, with Planning Commission having conducted a productive review following the Transportation Commission's earlier recommendation. One significant change involves adding daycare facilities to the same credit structure as low-income housing, providing an 80% credit in line with new state law requirements. Looking ahead, Hohmann noted that the speed limit policy presentation, originally scheduled for this meeting, had been delayed due to staffing issues but remains on track for implementation beginning in July and August. The downtown transportation study, now rebranded as the downtown connections plan, is moving forward with consultant selection completed and contracting underway. ## Looking Forward: Transit, Safety, and Municipal Growth The March 10 meeting encapsulated many of the challenges facing Bellingham as it attempts to manage growth while maintaining livability and accessibility. The rapid transit discussion highlighted the tension between ambitious regional planning and practical fiscal constraints, while the safety plan underscored ongoing infrastructure deficits that contribute to preventable crashes. The unanimous support for the rapid transit LPA, despite commissioners' expressed concerns about scale and funding, suggests recognition that transportation planning requires long-term vision even in the face of implementation uncertainties. The proposal's emphasis on incremental improvements and partnership between WTA and the city offers a pragmatic path forward that could evolve based on success and available resources. Similarly, the safety plan's data-driven approach to identifying and addressing crash patterns represents a mature response to traffic safety challenges. The focus on vulnerable user protection through enhanced crossings and infrastructure improvements aligns with both federal safety priorities and community values emphasizing multimodal accessibility. The meeting concluded with commissioners having advanced two significant planning documents that will shape Bellingham's transportation future. Whether the rapid transit vision proves realistic for a city of Bellingham's size, and whether the safety improvements can meaningfully reduce the disproportionate crash rates affecting pedestrians and cyclists, remains to be demonstrated through implementation. What seems clear is that the community conversation about transportation equity, sustainability, and safety will continue to drive policy discussions in the months ahead. The evening's public testimony, technical presentations, and commission deliberations reflected a city grappling thoughtfully with the complex relationships between land use, transportation infrastructure, and community goals. The decisions made at this meeting will likely influence Bellingham's development patterns and transportation options for decades to come.