New Link Park and Ride could help alleviate River Bend traffic

At the recent meeting on River Bend Drive traffic, Link Transit General Manager Richard DeRock talked extensively about the planned new Park and Ride at Willkommen Village behind Safeway.
"The last couple years, we've seen real issues getting our buses through town, Thursday, Friday afternoons. I run 21 trips a day to Leavenworth, so I'm going through that intersection 42 times a day," DeRock said. "I'm losing six trips on most Fridays. I can't get a bus in and get it back in time to make schedule. I'm turning the bus around in Peshastin or some place else. That's lousy service for riders."
In a 2008 study, Link Transit identified the need for an additional park and ride in Leavenworth. The Leavenworth route is one of the most successful, he said. On a typical day, they are moving 380 people down valley.DeRock said they saw the issue and figured the right way to address the situation was a new "intercept" park and ride at the east end of town.
"This light is a problem. If there were some way to cut that off, that would be great," DeRock said. "I drove around and saw a driveway back there that cut down that hill. I approached a real estate agent and said I am interested in this property."
The real estate agent put DeRock in touch with Tom Lin, who has just purchased the property. DeRock said Lin saw the value in having Link there. Using a back access lane would allow Link buses to avoid two cycles of the light.
The idea is to intercept the Route 22 bus to Leavenworth.
"We'll turn on to a transit only lane, through this roundabout, come up to the park and ride and then back to the light and out of town. The bus will not go into Leavenworth anymore. It will terminate at this location," DeRock said.
The Link bus would connect with the community shuttle which is not time sensitive, he said. The shuttle would have a 2-mile route to do in 30 minutes. The commuter bus is 16 miles, and if that gets backed up every 10 minutes, it screws up the entire schedule.
This should allow the bus to keep to schedule, other than the worst festival periods, DeRock said. There is the need for an additional 30 parking spaces at the new park and ride. The 30-space park and ride in town is full most days, he said.
"This is designed for 90 spaces. The state encourages us to build way beyond current demand, because park and rides have a tendency to become popular, service wise," DeRock said. "Right now, it takes us about 56 minutes to run the route from Wenatchee to Leavenworth. By cutting out the town, that's about a 42 minute running time, which means I can run a bus to Leavenworth every 45 minutes instead of every hour."
With the same amount of equipment and drivers, service can increase 25 percent, DeRock noted.
"I move about 380 people out and move about 180 people into Leavenworth everyday," DeRock said. "The thought is we would be able to intercept some of the traffic currently and put it into the bus system to mitigate some of the congestion. That is one of the strategies."
In terms of the new access road, that is limited to transit only, DeRock said, because it is being funded by a state transit grant, which does not allow for the construction of multipurpose roads. However, the right-of-way has been reserved by the city for a future road.
"The WSDOT is not wanting to grant access for a full road currently, because it would impact their highway even more negatively. This is a right-in only. Will cars figure it out and drive down it? Unless we put some sort of grate, I'm sure there will be some. But it will be signed, transit access only," DeRock said.
At some future date, the city could decide to put a full road in there. DeRock said he's not sure how that process would work since you couldn't add another intersection without creating significant problems down the road.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.