A resolution encouraging the state to include pedestrian and bicycle access across Highway 20 near Sharpes Corner goes before the Anacortes City Council at its Tuesday, Sept. 2 meeting.

The resolution written by council member Cynthia Richardson with help by others in the community says the Washington State Department of Transportation’s proposed roundabout at Sharpes Corner, which aims to cut down on traffic delays and improve safety at the intersection, must also address safety concerns by slower-speed personal vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles.

At a December open house at the Anacortes Middle School and in later e-mails and comments, WSDOT staff members were told they needed to pay attention to pedestrian facilities, said Todd Harrison, WSDOT assistant regional administrator.

At a transportation meeting hosted by the South Fidalgo Community Council in July, residents criticized the department’s original plan for excluding pedestrian crossing and said the highway essentially divides the community from Anacortes.

There is no safe way to get across the highway, said resident Vince Streano.

As gas prices increase, more people are looking at alternative transportation, but the state’s plans don’t address those alternatives, Streano said.

Because of those comments and other like them, the department has considered some sort of pedestrian crossing at the roundabout during value engineering and cost assessments of the project — but costs stopped that option.

Instead what may work and what is in a preliminary design stage is a pedestrian and bike path off the east side of the highway from Sharpes Corner to the Deception Pass Bridge. The path would extend from Sharpes Corner east to Christianson Road.

From there pedestrians and bicyclists would cross the highway using a video detection system expected to be installed at the intersection’s traffic signal by next spring.

The path would then continue along March Point Road and hook up with the Tommy Thompson Parkway across the old railroad tressel.

The plan coincides with the city of Anacortes’ long-range transportation plans, Harrison said.

The next step is to see if the department can afford the path, estimated at $650,000. The estimate is included in the project’s overall estimate, however, WSDOT has also applied for a $650,000 grant through a state pedestrian and bicyclist program.

If it receives the grant, expected to be announced sometime this fall, the department will also have to complete the design of the project and acquire property, Harrison said.

WSDOT plans to update the public on the project at an open house the last week of September, he said.

The council resolution states WSDOT has an opportunity to make the Highway 20 corridor a model for excellence in planning for alternative means of transportation.