2012 Streets Levy

Like many cities, Kirkland was faced with decreasing local, state and federal transportation revenues, increasing construction costs, and continued growth of traffic on its streets. On November 6, 2012, Kirkland voters approved the Streets Levy to address this challenge. The Streets Levy will raise approximately $2.9 million annually to fund street maintenance and safety improvements for neighborhood streets and arterials, including resurfacing, pothole repair, pedestrian safety improvements, traffic calming projects, school walk route projects, sidewalks and crosswalk improvements.

The Streets Levy will raise approximately $2.9 million annually (beginning 2013) to fund:

• Street preservation ($2.6 million/year)
  • Resurface, restore or replace approximately 10 lane miles of arterial streets each year (doubling previous years).
  • Reduce backlog of deferred street maintenance.
  • Repair potholes and proactively reduce costs from road failure and disrepair.
  • Combine with CIP funds to pay for preventative maintenance on approximately 30 lane miles of residential streets each year.
• Safe walk routes to school ($150,000/year)
  • Leverage State and Federal funding to increase safe routes to Kirkland’s elementary and middle schools.
• Pedestrian and bicycle safety ($150,000/year)
  • Upgrade or add crosswalks with new highly visible and energy efficient warning lights.
  • Install new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) wheelchair ramps to meet Federal requirements on streets being overlayed.
  • Improve pedestrian access to key transit corridors on streets being overlayed.
  • Expand pedestrian and bicycle routes to improve connections with commercial areas, schools, transit routes, parks, and other destinations.
  • Restripe crosswalks to increase pedestrian safety.
  • Install traffic control devices to address safety hazards within Kirkland Neighborhoods.