The contentious Dolbeer/W Street couplet project is dead … for now.

The City of Eureka sent out a news release this afternoon (more on that below) to announce that the project, which aims to change the current configuration of Dolbeer and W streets to one-way traffic, will not move forward.

“Striping to continue with two-way traffic in the same configuration that now exists will begin in the next several days,” according to the news release. “The City of Eureka is committed to creating safe streets for all modes of transportation and as directed by Council, this project may be re-considered at a future date.”

If you recall, the couplet project seeks to transition Dolbeer and W streets to one-way traffic. The two-lane roads currently run parallel to each other, one block apart, with traffic rolling past the Sequoia Park Zoo and Washington Elementary School. During the couplet demo that was conducted in August, staff reduced W Street to one lane heading southbound and Dolbeer to one lane heading northbound. Hemlock Street, which forms a sort of horseshoe connecting the two, was also restricted to one lane with vehicles going west to east.

Wait, didn’t the council vote against the item last month? 

Yes, it did. However, during last week’s regular meeting, Councilmember Kim Bergel asked if the council would be willing to discuss the item once more. Bergel initially received four thumbs up from her fellow council members but lost one when Councilmember Leslie Castellano realized the discussion would take place on Oct. 18, which she felt was too soon to adequately address the community’s concerns with the project. The remaining members agreed to discuss the item on Oct. 18.

The Eureka City Schools District Board of Trustees was incensed.

After catching wind of the council’s decision to reagendize the item, the school district made a last-minute modification to their regular agenda to discuss the project. Ironically, the board’s Oct. 6 agenda contained a resolution thanking the City of Eureka and the council for denying the project proposal. 

“Where did this project [originate]?” board representative Susan Johnson asked City Manager Miles Slattery during the meeting. “From all of the surveys that you’ve done, it clearly isn’t something that the community wants.”

City staff believe the couplet project would alleviate pedestrian safety concerns in the area as well as enhance connectivity between Cutten and Eureka to make the whole area more bike-friendly. However, out of 934 people surveyed after the one-way traffic experiment, only 14.3 percent of respondents were in favor of a permanent realignment of Dolbeer and W streets. Less than 10 percent of respondents said they felt safer with the one-way traffic orientation. (More survey results can be found at this link.) 

While some folks surveyed complained that the one-way alignment led to traffic jams and increased travel time, the school board’s chief concern surrounded student safety in the drop-off zone.

“You’re putting so many people at risk,” board representative Jessica Rebholtz said to Slattery. “I know when you have a study that you have recommendations … and you have the discretion to do what you’re going to do, but I feel like you are abusing discretion. You are overreaching.”

Slattery maintained that the decision would ultimately be made by the city council, adding that the council “goes against [staff’s] recommendations all the time.” He also insisted that, according to the traffic study conducted by TJKM Traffic Consultants, the proposed one-way alignment would be safer than it is now.

“Based on the experts that do this – which is TJKM, as well as our traffic engineer, as well as our city engineer who has the responsibility of stamping these plans – they feel that this is the safest option.”

But the school board insisted that the project proposal put children at risk. After about 45 minutes of heated discussion, the board unanimously voted to “adamantly oppose” the project.

“We are certainly very opposed to this,” Superintendent Fred Van Vleck told the Outpost in a follow-up interview. “Besides the issue with the drop off areas, the 175% increase in traffic on Dolbeer, the 300% increase in traffic on Chester, [there] is going to be a delay in emergency vehicles. So if you take for instance Glen Paul, which is a school for students with disabilities – some of whom are medically fragile – and you increase the amount of time it takes for an ambulance to make it to the site … that could be life-altering for some of those students.”

Van Vleck added that the school district “just doesn’t understand why this is such an important issue” to the city “when the downside of it is so much higher than the upside.”

Reached for additional comment this afternoon, Slattery told the Outpost that he felt as though last week’s board meeting had gotten out of hand, calling the board’s response “unfortunate and unexpected.”

“It’s clearly gone to the realm of politics as opposed to the actual project and I think it’s taken away from the intent of the project,” he said. “Seeing as it is silly season with politics right now, it really took on a life of its own and took away from the merits of the project. We didn’t want it to be put forward in that environment.”

However, Slattery said the city hopes to move forward with some form of the project in the future.

“Almost every road project, whether it’s painting, adding additional vehicle lanes or adding bike lanes or anything like that, there are always going to be naysayers,” he said. “I will reiterate that the city is committed to projects like this and this decision does not mean that similar projects like this won’t move forward. It will be coming back.”

Press release from the City of Eureka:

At the October 4th meeting, Council directed staff to agendize the Dolbeer and W Street One-Way Couplet for possible action to change the current configuration of the streets to one-way. Further instructions requested that staff work with Eureka City Schools with project details and then to schedule a Council meeting at staff’s discretion in the future.

Per Section 30.01(D) of the Eureka Municipal Code, “the City Clerk in consultation with the City Manager, shall prepare an agenda to be presented to the Council”. Through the City Manager, the Dolbeer and W Street One-Way Couplet will not be included on the agenda for the October 18th meeting or considered during a special meeting. The decision made on September 27, 2022 to not approve the one-way couplet will go forward. Striping to continue with two-way traffic in the same configuration that now exists will begin in the next several days.

The City of Eureka is committed to creating safe streets for all modes of transportation and as directed by Council, this project may be re-considered at a future date.

Thank you to the many community members who reached out over the last several weeks to express their interest in this project.