A study of ways to improve safety on the Issaquah-Hobart Road while streamlining traffic flow is now moving ahead, thanks to approval of funding by the Metropolitan King County Council.

“I am pleased that we can finally get to work on studying the congestion and safety issues on the Issaquah-Hobart Road,” said Metropolitan King County Council members Reagan Dunn. “The road continues to get more congested, which is affecting our quality of life and the safety of our community.”

The study provides $50,000 for studying traffic and safety issues and $250,000 for initial improvements. These improvements could be small projects such as signal synchronization or intersection channelization that would significantly improve traffic flow. The study will look at the short- and long-range solutions for addressing traffic and safety issues in the corridor.

“I anticipate sitting down with our Roads Services Division staff soon to develop a scope of work for the study that should include public engagement in the process,” said Dunn. “Hopefully, we can have meaningful information by the end of the year.”

The supplemental budget ordinance adopted today makes $300,000 available for use by the Roads Services Division in 2008.