Are there not parameters that measure acceptable levels of traffic on a fully residential street? Has there been a recent count of the number of vehicles that traverse 156th Avenue Northeast between Northeast 60th Street and Northeast 51st Street on a daily basis?

When my family relocated to Redmond in 1977, I was so pleased with our house on 156th Avenue Northeast because I could trust that my fourth- and sixth-grade children could walk to Ben Rush Elementary safely, even though 156th Avenue Northeast was already the primary outlet for several streets in the neighborhood.

Early on, even more houses were to be added west of 156th Avenue Northeast, but no outlet to “primary” streets was planned; the city planners maintained that the increase in traffic was so minimal that none was needed. Had not the current residents reminded City Hall of the many vehicles (delivery people, repair people, sales people, etc.) there would be, other than the residents of the new houses, there would be no 154th Avenue Northeast outlet.

Of course, the above is no comparison to the advent of Microsoft; 156th Avenue Northeast became 156th Avenue Northeast FREEWAY! If I didn’t get the mail from my rural mailbox across the street in a small window of time, it was left until dark or overnight. Conversations and correspondence with our primary postman and the Redmond postmistress resulted in a change to a safer delivery hour.

And now 156th is being asked to carry yet another LOAD of vehicles — vehicles that travel at various times, all day long, every day of the week.

Seriously, HOW MUCH TRAFFIC IS TOO MUCH TRAFFIC for a single neighborhood street?

Janice Wilkinson

Redmond