City won't pursue Black Nugget Road re-opening

The city has closed the door on re-opening Black Nugget Road to the Issaquah Highlands after receiving an overwhelmingly negative response to the idea from residents.

The Council Transportation Committee unanimously decided not to pursue the topic at their Thursday, March 5 meeting.

The possibility of re-opening the road was brought up after the city received several requests to do so. But a Feb. 24 meeting at Blakely Hall brought both Black Nugget and Issaquah Highlands residents clambering to say no - only two of the 100 people in attendance supported the idea.

Most of the concerns were around increased traffic, and the road's close proximity to Lakeside Montessori School, a pre-school through kindergarten campus.

Proponents of opening the road cited a safety issue, emphasizing that there is very limited access to the Issaquah Highlands. Park Drive is essentially the only way in or out, and in case of emergency, residents could very easily be cut off, Committee Chair Joshua Schaer said.

"But there is an alternative," Committee member Fred Butler said. "You remove the bollards and you use Black Nugget Road."

The road continues to be maintained for reasons such as that, staff said. The bollards can be removed fairly easily by Eastside Fire and Rescue, city staff or the Issaquah Police Department.

"We've heard a pretty strong majority of folks that aren't interested in pursuing the topic," Schaer said. "Unless there's some other compelling idea for justifying opening it ... it sounds like there's some good reasons for keeping it closed."

The topic may be re-visited in the future, Schaer said, as more retail development comes in to the Highlands and access becomes an issue.