Most surveyed want to see George Washington Way widened, ballet school saved

More than 70 percent of the people who responded to a recent Richland online survey say they would rather see George Washington Way widened than a new intersection built.

More than 1,000 people took the survey in June. The Herald obtained the results through a public records request.

Of the survey takers, 691, or 71 percent, showed they preferred the “expanded footprint” option, which would bring George Washington Way from seven to 10 lanes near the interchange with Interstate 182 and Highway 240. The other 288, or 30 percent, preferred a “split T” intersection be placed just south of the existing intersection of Aaron and Columbia Point drives with George Washington Way.

Widening George Washington Way was the preferred option of owners of the Tri-Cities Academy of Ballet and Music, which brought hundreds of supporters to a June 11 open house on the topic. One of the split T proposals would reconfigure Aaron Drive to meet George Washington Way at the new intersection, causing the city to buy and demolish the ballet school.

“I think 70 percent is a pretty strong number for the city to disagree with,” said ballet co-owner Joel Rogo.

The other split T proposal would build a new street along what is now a tree line. The new street would go into George Washington Way in the same location as the Aaron Drive proposal. It would require the city to buy part of the ballet school’s land, as well as that of some homes. They would be able to stay, but the ballet school would be located at the dead end of the rebuilt Aaron Drive.

Among people who prefer a split T configuration, 60 percent wanted to see the new street built, rather than moving Aaron Drive.

The survey asked that only people who support the spilt T configuration vote between the split T options. But 490 people voted on that question, even though only 288 said they support the split T.

The survey also asked people to rank different criteria that should go into the city’s decision from highest to lowest priority. Of those, 57.5 percent said that the impact on commercial business was a high priority, while 45 percent said impact on residential property was a high priority. Traffic performance was considered a high priority by 41 percent of respondents.

An opportunity for median landscaping was the lowest ranked priority, with 51.5 percent of people giving that the lowest priority on a scale of 1 to 7.

The city has discussed building a pedestrian tunnel under George Washington Way from Aaron Drive to the WinCo parking lot. Eighteen percent of respondents said they now walk across George Washington Way, but 29 percent said they would do so with the pedestrian tunnel.

When asked what their primary use for south George Washington Way was, 46 percent said they do business in the area, while 33 percent use it as a commuter route. Thirteen percent live within a half mile of the intersection.

The project to improve George Washington Way is estimated to cost between $5 million and $7 million. The road is used by 42,000 vehicles a day.

City officials plan to use survey results and other research in a future presentation to the city council. But they have said it might take until the end of the year or longer to chose a preferred option for the improvements.

Rogo, 66, says he does not want to move the school and start over. He has owned the school with his wife, Debra, for 28 years.

“I don’t want to fight with the city,” he said. “I want to work with them, but, at the same time, I have to fight for my business.”

This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 10:06 PM with the headline "Most surveyed want to see George Washington Way widened, ballet school saved."