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You are in: Transportation > A Tradition of Performance > Road Services |
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| Road Services Division | ||
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The division is organized into five sections: Capital Improvement Program and Planning; Engineering Services; Traffic Engineering; Roads Maintenance; and Administration. Some functions and services are legally mandated, while others have been developed in response to historic needs or community requests. In 2003, the division had a $61.3 million operating budget, and a $65 million capital budget. Recent Accomplishments In the past five years, there has been a great deal of effort to improve communication with these customers through the use of technology. The Road Services Division has long had a policy of personally responding to phone calls from the public around the clock, seven days a week. But today, in addition to the Help Line, the public can receive road information on their personal computer, pager, or PDA. That information includes emergency road conditions, construction closures, and current traffic conditions via King County Alerts and “My Commute” websites. One of the biggest safety challenges to hit the Road Services Division was the Nisqually Earthquake in February 2001. Not only did staff immediately respond to damage complaints, but they also visually inspected all major routes and bridges. Fortunately when the earthquake hit, the division was halfway through a 14-year, $14.7-million bridge retrofit program. About 70 of the highest-priority, most vulnerable of the county’s 140 bridges had already been retrofitted and most of the other bridges were still passable after the earthquake. Only three bridges and a few roads needed immediate repairs. The bridge seismic retrofit program is still underway, and by year’s end, approximately 75 percent of the seismic upgrades will be completed.
The division has risen to the challenge by playing a leadership role at the regional and state level in developing a set of road maintenance best management practices that reduce the amount of pollutants and sediments reaching rivers, streams, wetlands and other sensitive areas. These practices also encourage the removal of old road culverts and other blockages that prevent fish from reaching spawning areas. The division’s road maintenance section also supports county efforts to maintain regional and local stormwater facilities, and has an extensive program to enhance stream and river habitat. Population growth and corresponding land development has probably been the single largest factor influencing the division’s work in recent years. As population densities increased in the 1980s and 1990s, so did the demand for urban levels of street improvements, pedestrian facilities, congestion relief, and traffic control. This backlog was compounded by outdated budgetary methods that tied a specific amount of money to a specific project. If that project was delayed for any reason – permitting, plan changes, or right-of-way problems – the money could be tied up for years waiting for that particular project to get underway again. In 1998, King County Executive Ron Sims announced a flexible-budgeting plan to get road projects off the shelf and built more quickly. The new budgeting strategy allowed the Road Services Division to more than triple the amount of annual project design and construction by moving funds from projects experiencing unexpected delays to ones that were ready to be constructed.
One way to maximize the division’s capabilities is to make use of the best technology available. The use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) increases the efficiency of roadways and improves the movement of goods and services. In early 2004, the division opened a traffic control center to monitor and control traffic flow on selected arterial roadways in real time. When additional ITS projects are completed, two corridors – Northeast 124th Street and the Trans-Valley Corridor in South King County – will provide direct communication between sensors in the roadway and the center, which will improve mobility and travel on those corridors. Since 2000, the division has continued to experience declining revenues resulting from the passage of statewide initiatives coupled with a downturn in the economy. Elimination of the $15 Vehicle License Fee (VLF) brought about by the passage of Initiative 776 resulted in a loss of $80 million in road funding. This reduction, reflecting the added loss of grants and bonding capacity, will most likely result in a 20 percent drop in road construction, unless additional revenue sources are found. 2003 In Review
Given the loss of revenue due to the elimination of the VLF, which served as an important source of revenue for the division, the county will no longer be able to leverage these revenues to obtain grants and issue bonds to keep projects moving. As a result, the division will need to focus on basic transportation priorities such as roadway preservation, maintenance and safety improvements before major roadway widening can be considered. Despite these financial challenges, KCDOT continues to support the division’s efforts to solve traffic congestion problems now - not 10 or 20 years from now. The department is exploring funding options to fill the void I-776 has left in its wake. The ultimate goal is to replace critical local VLF road dollars with an equally flexible ongoing revenue source. 2003 Division Summary How Road Services Is Funded Where Road Services Money Goes Road Safety Alterations and Capacity:
27%
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| King County Department of
Transportation See How to contact us Updated: September 30, 2004 |
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The Road Services Division is responsible for 1,907 miles of roadway, 222 bridges, 86 miles of unpaved roads and pedestrian/bicycle pathways in unincorporated areas of King County. The division also provides a variety of contracted services to the following cities: Burien, Covington, Federal Way, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, Maple Valley, Newcastle, Sammamish, SeaTac, Shoreline, Woodinville, Black Diamond, Des Moines, Duvall, Issaquah, Mercer Island, Pacific, Redmond, Seattle, Skykomish, Tukwila, Algona, Auburn, Bothell, Kent, Medina, Normandy Park, North Bend, Renton, Snoqualmie, and the town of Beaux Arts. 
In addition to construction and maintenance, traffic and pedestrian safety is a very high priority for the division. This work focuses on identifying and improving high-accident locations, installing safety improvements such as traffic signals and guardrails, plus working with neighborhoods on traffic and pedestrian safety concerns. Division road crews also provide year-round emergency response to keep roads clear during storms and other unforeseen events. The division’s 24-hour/7-day-a-week Help Line allows the public to quickly report problems or emergency situations spotted on county roads as well as roads in some contract cities. Road Services is also committed to keeping roads litter-free. Annually, more than 16,000 Adopt-a-Road volunteers work in groups to help keep county roads clean, safe and attractive.
Safety work has also been a significant success story for the Road Services Division. Using sophisticated data analysis, division staff identify high-accident locations then design and install corrective safety improvements, such as traffic signals, signs and guardrails. In 2003, Road Services maintained 587 traffic signals and 91,368 traffic-control signs. Staff also work with neighborhoods to address safety concerns on both arterial and local roadways – responding to approximately 1,500 requests a year. 
Bridge work – and any project near wetlands and sensitive areas – has become more challenging in the past decade due to new protections for fish and wildlife habitat. In recent years, King County has faced stringent new regulations under the Environmental Species Act regarding the protection of salmon habitat. Projects involving bridges, roadside ditches, and underground culverts now come under close scrutiny from federal, state and tribal fisheries agencies. 
While flexible budgeting and newly created productivity measures were instrumental in helping to accelerate construction, traffic congestion continued to pose major challenges for the county. So, in response to worsening congestion, the division in 2001 was given the go-ahead to sell up to $120 million in bonds to meet the backlog of projects waiting to be built. By mid-2003, an estimated $30 million had already been spent designing and constructing road projects to add more road capacity and improve traffic flow. In addition, another $10 million of the original bond sale is currently funding three major road projects that will be completed by the end of 2004 – Northeast 124th Street; South 277th Street, and 140th Avenue Southeast.
140th Avenue Southeast – Completed reconstruction and widening of 140th Avenue Southeast from Petrovitsky Road to Southeast 197th Street. The project also included sidewalks, landscaping, improved lighting, drainage, channelization and signal improvements.