SEQUIM — Andy Nilles says he wants to help his fellow senior residents at Vintage at Sequim apartments get across Priest Road safely on their way to Walmart to shop and fill prescriptions.
Those residents include disabled people with walkers and scooters.
“I’m trying to do some good before I die,” the 90-year-old retired farmer said Friday in the lobby of the senior apartment complex at 1009 Brackett Road.
Over the past two months, Nilles has gathered 101 signatures — on a petition that begins “heavy traffic endangers senior citizens who cross the street” — from Sequim residents, mostly those living at Vintage apartments, who support a crosswalk across Priest Road at Brackett’s west end.
He recently presented it to the Sequim City Council, and a group is likely to show up at today’s council meeting, which will begin at 6 p.m. at the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.
City Public Works Director Paul Haines said he will speak out against a crosswalk if the council asks him to share his thoughts.
Haines contends that a crosswalk will not guarantee safety for a crossing senior, which statistically is the age group most at risk.
Nilles, however, wants prompt action
“If they don’t do it now, we ain’t gonna get it done,” Nilles said. “We are getting enough revenue from Walmart that I think we can get a crosswalk.”
While a crosswalk would be faster, Nilles said, he thinks a four-way stop at the intersection is an even better option, which Haines said was a possibility.
At least 70 Vintage residents met at the apartment complex Wednesday with Haines, Nilles said, some coming away disappointed because they were impatient and wanted a crosswalk immediately.
Haines walked Brackett Road west to the Priest intersection and said he and a group walked back on the trail along Washington Street, which Vintage developers paid for.
Haines said he promised the apartment residents he would come up with a list of options for the intersection and meet again with them.
He also acknowledged that he expects a number of Vintage residents to turn out for today’s meeting.
“If the City Council said it has to be there, the City Council can do anything it wants,” Haines said.
“What they’ll hear from me is that it isn’t safe to have a crosswalk there.”
Nilles said with the Walmart superstore going up on the west side of the existing store building this year, he fears traffic will dramatically increase on Brackett Road, a former farm road now smoothly paved but narrow and lacking sidewalks, curbs, gutters or striping.
Vintage residents must walk about two-tenths of a mile in the opposing eastbound lane of Brackett to Walmart, which Nilles and other residents see as a big danger added to crossing Priest Road.
Their sidewalk ends at the Vintage parking lot boundary line.
“I think it’s a disaster,” said Kaheya Cunningham, who has lived at Vintage for 18 months and often uses her walker to get to Walmart. She said she fears that a senior might get hurt or even worse.
Asked why Vintage residents don’t use the path along the north side of West Washington Street that leads to the traffic signal and crosswalk at the Priest-Washington intersection, Nilles said, “It’s three times as far, and it’s uphill. When you get older, that’s not good.”
Sue Anderson, who rode her scooter westbound on Brackett with her black Labrador hearing dog, Fioni, to the Priest Road intersection, said she was “scared sometimes” when moving in opposing traffic and while crossing Priest.
She even had a close call once, she said, but believes it was teens “playing chicken” with her on her scooter.
She said she has to walk the dog on the left side of the road to keep her away from traffic.
Haines said in the state of Washington, the pedestrian has the right of way at every intersection.
He said that until a solution can be determined, he shared with Vintage residents some tips on how to safely cross Priest, such as waving to get the attention of oncoming motorists.
But a crosswalk is basically the city endorsing a crossing zone, and he said it does not necessarily guarantee safety for pedestrians.
“It’s more like the city saying, ‘Here is where the city would like to channelize the streets,’” he said.
Complicating the Brackett road problem is that it is poorly lit at night.
Haines said a four-way stop at Priest and Brackett was one consideration.
He also cited the possibility of closing off the Brackett Road turn where its east end meets Washington Street at a convenience store and recreational vehicle park to discourage the use of the road to motorists.
A speed bump on Brackett was another possibility discussed, as was a stop sign at Brackett and Ninth Avenue, he said.
Fog lines down Brackett were another option.
Haines said he also asked the Vintage manager if the apartment complex could provide bright-orange and yellow safety vests to residents making trips to Walmart on foot.
Haines said “that part of town continues to build out,” with Ross Dress For Less and Grocery Outlet stores now under construction and a Walmart superstore grocery going up next.
“It just keeps adding to traffic on Brackett and Priest,” Haines said.
Meanwhile, he said, statistics show people older than 60 are the most at risk of getting hurt in striped crosswalks.
“The real key is the pedestrian is almost always going to lose” regardless of whether a striped crosswalk is there, he said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.