Residents display strong opposition to opening Black Nugget Road

About 100 residents gathered at Blakely Hall Tuesday night, Feb. 24 to voice their opposition on the re-opening of Black Nugget Road to the Issaquah Highlands with the city.

“I’d say 98, 99 percent of people were opposed to opening the road,” said Todd Christensen, senior engineer for the city’s public works department. “Their voice was heard, and quite loud.”

The city has for some time been receiving requests to open the road, and together with the Issaquah Highlands Community Association’s Traffic Safety Committee, sponsored the meeting to see if that is a direction worth pursuing.

“(The meeting) was just to get a feel of what people want done. It’s for feedback,” Christensen said. “The city has no opinion either way – we’re just seeing what the residents want.”

If the road were to be re-opened, it would be King County’s decision, he said.

Christensen said because of the overwhelming desire to keep the road closed, it’s unlikely the committee would recommend pursuing anything else.

Closure of the road was part of the Issaquah Highlands Development Agreement, and according to that agreement, the county has the authority to re-open it.

The city is just acting as facilitator between the residents and the county, Christensen said.

The road, which runs from Southeast Old Black Nugget Road to 15th Avenue Northeast, was closed in 2003.

When construction of the Issaquah Highlands was proposed, residents of the Black Nugget area expressed concerns to the city that increased traffic on the road would negatively impact the neighborhood, Christensen said, which is why the deal to close it was struck; once the Sunset Interchange and Highlands Drive were ready for use, the road would be shut down.

“The road was not designed to handle the vastness of the Highlands,” Christensen said.

And while a few residents cite the need for second way out of the Highlands in case of emergency as a reason to re-open the road, the majority is opposed to it.

“Many of us in the Highlands feel strongly that the re-opening of Black Nugget Road will degrade the quality of life here,” Highlands resident Leslie Warrick wrote in a letter provided to The Reporter. “The road...is extremely narrow and is not designed to handle the amount of traffic and speeds that would occur.”

The road was built to rural King County standards – meaning no bicycle lanes or sidewalks.

City staff weren’t sure if the county would be required to provide road improvements if it were opened up.