This article was first published  on February 19, 2024. It is being “bumped up” with a newer date so that it shows up on “New Articles.”

In the images, the bike lanes disappear.

Note: I felt like I am missing something here, so I reached out to Netra Khatri, our City Engineer, for clarification. We cannot have roundabouts and an intersection design without adequate safety for the pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles. Clearly this is something that has to be figured out.

After receiving a reply from City Engineer Khatri, I included the new information — with new illustrations of the problems — at:
Part 2 — Sunset and LK Wood / Highway 101 roundabouts — Will this work? Is this safe?
Part 3 — Sunset and LK Wood / Highway 101 roundabouts — Letter to the City Council

1. Overview
2. Images
3. Where are the bike lanes?
4. Detailed images
5. Notes on the staff report.
   The CEQA report says that 2,000 new units of Cal Poly student and multi-family residential housing “Could contribute to pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic through the interchange.”  Could contribute?  Not:  Will contribute? Who are we trying to fool here?
   The Cal Poly Humboldt prospectus shows an increase of 5,500-6,000 students and faculty/staff — perhaps as soon as 2030, just six years from now. This will result in a further large number of people who will be going through this interchange. This is not mentioned.
   There is no mention of how the General Plan’s projected increase in population of over 7,000 people would “contribute to pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic through the interchange.”
6. The original staff report, February 21, 2024. PDF viewer.

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The multiple-lane intersection of Sunset Avenue, L. K. Wood Boulevard, and the four on-ramps/off-ramps for US Highway 101 is acknowledged as a confusing and problematic traffic area — for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motor vehicles.

At their September 7, 2022, meeting the Arcata City Council approved the amount of $714,975 to GHD Engineering for studies related to the design of a new interchange with two roundabouts, and for completion of environmental documents necessary for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

On the agenda for the City Council meeting on February 21, 2024, is a discussion to approve this project and to file a a Notice of Exemption CEQA statement for the project.

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The design images of the roundabouts

Here’s the image of the overall project.

Below are the images for each of the two roundabouts. On the original images, the direction of “North” was changed. To make the images easier to view, I’ve also provided the same images, but rotated to be in a more common orientation.

The L. K. Wood Boulevard roundabout
The image is rotated so that the top of the image is to the North.

The G Street / H Street roundabout
The image, is rotated so that the top of the image is to the North.

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Where are the bike lanes?

It is assumed that the light gray strips that are about 8 feet wide are sidewalks. They are not marked. 

• Where are the bike lanes?
• Are the bikes supposed to ride on the sidewalks?
  Are the bikes riding in the street in the roundabouts — in the traffic lanes?
• Are there stop signs where a sidewalk crosses a lane of traffic? I count ten pedestrian crossings.
• The “River Plaza” (to the right of the L. K. Wood circle) — What is this material? is it stamped concrete? People are walking on this? Bikes are riding on this?

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Update from City Engineer Netra Khatri:  The gray strips are “Class I” pathways. These are shared between pedestrians and cyclists. The standard width is 8 feet. At each location where a pathway crosses a motor-vehicle traffic lane, there are button-actuate flashing yellow lights for the traffic lane.

The bike lanes on G Street going north, on L. K. Wood Boulevard going north and going south, on H Street Street going south, and on Sunset Avenue going east and west — in these images, the bike lanes just kind of disappear.

If a bike rider where going south on L. K. Wood and wanted to go west on Sunset this is what it appears the rider would have to do — the Yellow line. The trip is on the sidewalks.

It appears that the bicyclists are just routed to the sidewalks and pedestrian walkways. Here are some close-ups:

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Other notes

1. On page 74 of the staff report, it is written:
   “Attached as Exhibit B is the rendering of the proposed project that was
   presented at the public meeting in November 2023.”
   At what “public meeting” was this rendering (image) shown?
2. The CEQA report says that 2,000 new units of Cal Poly student and multi-family residential housing “Could contribute to pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic through the interchange.”  Could contribute?  Not:  Will contribute? Who are we trying to fool here?
3. The Cal Poly Humboldt prospectus shows an increase of 5,500-6,000 students and faculty/staff — perhaps as soon as 2030, just six years from now. This will result in a further large number of people who will be going through this interchange. This is not mentioned.
4. The General Plan 2045 shows a projected increase in population of over 7,000 people. This is not mentioned in this report.  How could it be that a population increase of 7,000 people would not “contribute to pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic through the interchange.”

   This seems to be a real missing element to this report.
    

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From the City Council agenda packet for February 21, 2024.
Use the – and + buttons to reduce or expand the image.

Cell phones — May be easier to view: