Construction on North Bend Park Street Roundabout anticipated to start June 24th

The look of downtown North Bend is about to change a little bit as the city takes one more step toward becoming the roundabout capital of east King County with the start of the long-planned Park Street Roundabout project on June 24th (weather permitting).

The City of North Bend was awarded a $1 million grant from Puget Sound Regional Council in August 2017 for the planned roundabout at North Bend Way and Park Street, which is anticipated to improve public safety and traffic, making it easier to get in and out of businesses like QFC – a big traffic complaint of city residents.

The project was originally slated to happen last summer, but due to multiple other construction projects in the area, city officials delayed it by one year and instead completed the rebuild of NE 12th Street.

Last month city council members approved Active Construction, Inc. (ACI) as the contractor for the Park Street Roundabout and directed staff to expedite the improvements.  The city received four bids for the project. ACI was the lowest bidder – coming in approximately $4,000 below the engineer’s estimate – at $2,154,154.  

In addition to the PSRC grant, other project funding sources include Transportation Impact Fees, Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) Grant, REET funds, Water Fund (as water main replacement is also included in the project).

The new roundabout should be finished in mid-October. The city said two lanes will remain open during the construction for traffic flow.

Council member Chris Garcia said, “This is a huge project for the City as it will increase public safety by eliminating the dangerous left turn out of the QFC parking lot. It is a high-priority for Council and will change traffic patterns to make it much safer for pedestrians, public transit, school buses and all vehicles. I’m excited to get this going.” 

The Park Street Roundabout is one of five roundabouts in the works for North Bend in the coming years. A 3-leg roundabout is also planned for North Bend Way and 436th Ave; another one is possible at 436th and 136th Street; another at Middle Fork Road/140th ST/468th Ave near Twin Falls Middle School; and one more is being considered at the intersection of West 4th Street and Bendigo Blvd.

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