BhamByBus was riding a Whatcom Transit Authority Route 1 bus south into Fairhaven in late November when an older passenger seated nearby recognized a friend who was getting out at Finnegan Way & 11th Street. Normally, that’d be her stop, but she was riding on into Fairhaven “all the way to the end of the line and back.” 

While that may seem unusual, it wasn’t a transit joyride. It was for safety. She wanted to exit the bus on the east side of 11th Street to avoid crossing the busy arterial roadway connecting Downtown Bellingham and Fairhaven. “It’s too dark. And cars go too fast,” she said to her alighting acquaintance.   

The Bellingham City Council’s December 16, 2024 approval of $1.3 million in work associated with the 12th and Finnegan Multimodal Project, getting underway this year, will bring some welcome safety improvements for that particular WTA rider, her neighbors, and others — including BhamByBus — who cross the main north-south arterial roadway through Fairhaven: 12th Street and Finnegan Way, which after a few blocks connects with the 11th Street and State Street corridor in South Hill that leads downtown.

A diagram showing proposed new flashing crosswalk beacons, a traffic signals, and new sidewalk, are in the works for 12th Street and Finnegan Way in Fairhaven.
Roadway safety improvements, including new flashing crosswalk beacons, a traffic signals, and new sidewalk, are in the works for 12th Street and Finnegan Way in Fairhaven. (Image via City of Bellingham)

That work will include the addition of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) for crosswalks at 11th Street & Finnegan Way and another at 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue, adjacent to the Fairhaven location of Haggen. The City of Bellingham will also add a new set of traffic signals at 12th Street & Mill Avenue and add a sidewalk on the west side of Finnegan Way north to the bus stop at 11th Street. At that point, the new sidewalk will lead to a new crosswalk over to the car-free Knox Avenue right of way to the east where sidewalks connect with 12th Street — which is a far more pleasant and less noisy place to walk and has far better sidewalk conditions compared to Finnegan and 11th.     

The bus stop at Finnegan Way & 11th Street in Fairhaven.
Looking at the bus stop at Finnegan Way & 11th Street in Fairhaven. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

The improvements are funded through the City of Bellingham Street Fund, Transportation Fund, and a Washington State Transportation Improvement Board Grant.

A nighttime view of 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue in Fairhaven, dimly lit crosswalk and the adjacent darkened WTA bus stop.
A nighttime view of a WTA bus stop in Fairhaven at 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue and adjacent crosswalk, in late November. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

While these multimodal projects in Fairhaven don’t directly improve WTA transit service, they will, however, improve transit access in the neighborhood. Despite seeing heavy use by WTA riders, the pair of bus stops at 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue — adjacent to Haggen and a multitude of transit-dependent senior citizens who live at the Bellingham Housing Authority’s Chuckanut Square apartments — have very dim lighting, as does the adjacent crosswalk for traversing 12th Street at McKenzie.  

A daylight view of a very dimly lit crosswalk in Fairhaven, at 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue, where the City of Bellingham has proposed a new flashing crosswalk beacon, which will help improve safety accessing the WTA bus stops adjacent to Haggen and the Bellingham Housing Authority's Chuckanut Square apartments
A daytime view of a crosswalk at 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue, where the City of Bellingham has proposed a new flashing crosswalk beacon which will help improve access to the WTA bus stops adjacent to Haggen and the Bellingham Housing Authority's Chuckanut Square apartments. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

The addition of flashing beacons here is sensible and will greatly improve the safety of WTA riders accessing bus stops and others in Fairhaven using adjacent crosswalks, not to mention the residents of Chuckanut Square walking or rolling across the street for grocery shopping.

But there will be naysayers if KGMI News/Talk 790 Facebook comments are a reliable measure of some area motorist sentiments prioritizing vehicle throughput over safety. “Adding additional crossing points outside of traffic control lights only creates more back up by working against the flow the lights create,” one commenter posted reacting to a December story about the forthcoming street and crosswalk improvements in Fairhaven. (A friendly reminder of Washington state law: “All roadway intersections are legal crossings for pedestrians whether or not they are marked, with very few exceptions. … Drivers must stop for pedestrians at intersections, whether it’s an unmarked or marked crosswalk.”)     

Looking at an unsignalized intersection where a traffic signal has been proposed in Fairhaven.
A traffic signal has been proposed for a Fairhaven intersection where 12th Street and Finnegan Way meet Mill Avenue and will improve transit access to adjacent bus stops for WTA's Route 1. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

Two blocks north, having a signalized intersection at 12th Street & Mill Avenue will create safer street-crossing conditions for those boarding or alighting Route 1 buses at the stops adjacent to the intersection, which can sometimes be intimidating to cross.

While introducing flashing pedestrian beacons should be mostly non-controversial, the addition of a new traffic signal at 12th Street & Mill Avenue certainly has the potential to stoke the anger of Bellingham-area motorists accustomed to the status quo of cruising through Fairhaven. With new apartments and an associated underground parking garage soon set to take shape a block away at 11th Street & Mill Avenue at the so-called “Fairhaven Pit” site, the new signalized intersection should quickly prove its necessity once the new housing comes online, assuming the new signal is well synchronized with the existing signal one block south at 12th Street & Harris Avenue.

As BhamByBus has observed regularly crossing the street in this part of Bellingham on foot, some motorists passing through Fairhaven heading to or from Chuckanut Drive or Old Fairhaven Parkway (State Route 11) seem annoyed to give the right of way to people using crosswalks at unsignalized intersections, like at 12th & McKenzie. Roadway changes, when mixed with entrenched motornormativity, can be upsetting to those behind the wheel.   

The Long Slog to Upgrade Bellingham's Non-Compliant Bus Stops 

While the 12th and Finnegan Multimodal Project will help bring some indirect benefits to WTA bus stop access in Fairhaven, it does offer a reminder of the patchwork quilt of sidewalk connectivity that exists just outside Fairhaven’s commercial core and in other parts of Bellingham. Those sidewalk connectivity gaps, unfortunately, can create localized disincentives for using transit.

The bench at the WTA bus stop at 11th Street & Bennett Street in South Hill is nice, but doesn't make up for the lack of sidewalks on stretches of 11th Street. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

There are good reasons why South Hill doesn’t see especially strong transit ridership and Route 1 buses generally fly through the neighborhood with few stops between Downtown Bellingham and Fairhaven. While the steep hill up from 11th Street and State Street is certainly one impediment for South Hill residents using buses, it’s not the only one. The west side of the busy road has major gaps in sidewalk connectivity, so walking to and from certain WTA bus stops isn’t fun. Essentially, bus riders use the bike lane as a sidewalk and/or navigate around parked cars in the adjacent gravel strip. Mix in speeding motorists and dim street lighting and that makes using the bus stops in this part of Bellingham not very appealing, especially in the darker fall and winter months when daylight is limited. 

Similarly, heading east out of Fairhaven and into Happy Valley along Harris Avenue, bus stops along Route 14 present similar challenges. There’s no sidewalk on the north side of Harris, so WTA riders alighting at Fairhaven-bound stops at 15th, 17th, and 19th streets sometimes step down into grass or gravel. That's certainly better than, say, the Route 14 stop at 24th Street & Mill Avenue where passengers must be careful not to stumble into a drainage ditch or must otherwise exit out the front door.  

For a route that sees strong ridership, thanks to Happy Valley’s concentration of apartments and Western Washington University students, Route 14 bus stop access in the neighborhood isn’t necessarily great. And that’s made worse by a lack of sidewalks or disconnected sections of sidewalks along many streets in Happy Valley. 

A WTA bus stop with the clocktower of the Fairhaven Tower building in the background.
WTA's Route 14 stop outside the FireHouse Arts & Events Center at Harris Avenue & 14th Street will be relocated a block and a half east on Harris Avenue, adjacent to the Bellingham Fire Department's Station 2. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

Some bus stop access improvements are on the way for in Happy Valley as part of an upcoming rerouting of Route 14 in Fairhaven.

This past week, a WTA spokesperson told BhamByBus that the current downtown-bound stop at Harris Avenue & 14th Street, outside the FireHouse Arts & Events Center, will be closing as part of an upcoming minor rerouting of Route 14. With that reroute, which starts February 2, instead of proceeding east on Harris Avenue after departing the 12th Street & McKenzie Avenue stop outside the Haggen grocery store, Route 14 buses will go one block farther, turn right at Mill Avenue, proceed uphill to 14th Street, turn south one block back to Harris Avenue, and then return to the normal route through Happy Valley.

A large white pick-up truck doesn't fit in an angled parking space, jutting out into the street.
Oversized trucks and SUVs parked on Harris Avenue between 12th and 13th streets have sometimes obstructed buses on Route 14 turning from 12th Street to Harris Avenue. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

The main presumed benefit that will come with the reroute's extra turns: Route 14 bus operators will no longer have to navigate a challenging right turn from 12th to Harris that is sometimes partially obstructed by oversized SUVs and trucks parked in the angled street spaces adjacent to the Sycamore Square building.

Orange construction cones mark off a section of sidewalk with a roadway in the background with cars parked on the grass.
WTA construction cones mark a spot on Harris Avenue east of 15th Street, adjacent to the Bellingham Fire Department Station 2, where a new pathway from the sidewalk will lead to a soon-to-be relocated downtown-bound Route 14 bus stop. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

But as a result, WTA needs to establish a new downtown-bound Route 14 stop a block and a half east of the current stop at the FireHouse Arts & Events Center, between 15th and 16th streets at the Bellingham Fire Department’s Station 2. Route 14 riders along this stretch of Harris Avenue, between 14th and 21st Street, currently board downtown-bound buses from the gravel shoulder. As part of the bus stop realignment, WTA is constructing a boarding pathway that leads out from the existing sidewalk on the south side of Harris. There’s another small WTA construction site on Harris Avenue, three blocks east at 19th Street.   

Orange cones mark off a section of sidewalk.
Another WTA construction site in Happy Valley, at Harris Avenue & 19th Street. (Photo by Michael Grass / BhamByBus)

This stretch of Harris Avenue is also slated for “multimodal” upgrades starting in 2026 in separate work planned by the City of Bellingham. According to the COB project page: “This project will upgrade and repair utilities throughout the corridor and then construct sidewalks and bike lanes on both sides of the street. It will also upgrade curb ramps and improve streetlighting.” All this sounds great, though certain motorists and online commenters who find additional bike lane and crosswalk investments unnerving will certainly grumble.  

In a city where there’s no shortage of non-compliant bus stops to upgrade and sidewalk connectivity gaps to fill, these incremental projects help make Bellingham easier to navigate without a car.

WTA is upgrading about 25 bus stops per year across Whatcom County and forecasts to have all of its 900 bus stops ADA accessible by 2040 and “most likely sooner,” thanks to contributions from the City of Bellingham's Transportation Fund.

But there’s a long way to go in many neighborhoods, even in places with high local transit ridership like Happy Valley. As Bellingham looks to increase opportunities for new housing across the city and pursue emissions-reduction goals, convincing more Bellinghamsters to ride WTA buses will be of paramount importance. 

And to do that, civic stakeholders need to support things that lower the barriers to using transit. While that includes increasing bus service frequency on more routes across the City of Subdued Excitement, improving access to bus stops by filling sidewalk connectivity gaps and adding safer crosswalks shouldn’t blend into the woodwork of civic priorities.