Collaboration with City Leads Lynden High Parking Lot Overhaul

Future improvements to Bradley Road start with an overhaul of Lynden High School’s parking lots. Lynden Schools and the City of Lynden have collaborated for two years planning the projects, which started this month with a renovation project in the LHS parking lots. 

The city’s larger project scope calls for a sidewalk running along Bradley Road from Vinup Road east to Line Road and the potential addition of a roundabout at the intersection of Bradley and Vinup. For it all to work, the city needed to extend onto Lynden Schools’ property, which requires Lynden Schools to reconfigure portions of the parking lots. 

In exchange for giving up a small portion of property to improve the safety of students walking and driving between Lynden High and Lynden Middle, the city agreed to compensate the district by paying for most of the parking lot improvements through the Safe Routes to Schools initiative.

“While we have agreed to fund a small amount of the cost, we are taking advantage of partnering with the city on this project,” says Kevin Burke, Lynden Schools facilities director, “lessening our costs by getting necessary work completed at the same time.” 

Burke adds that parenting with the city is important. “It’s the most cost-effective way to get necessary repairs done at the lowest cost to the taxpayer,” he says. “By combining efforts, the district can get necessary repairs to the lots that aren’t part of the realignment project and save an estimated $35,000. Had we not combined the work the district would have had to schedule an additional two to three different repairs throughout the year.” 

The scope of the project includes removing and replacing deteriorating asphalt areas that have become potential hazards, removing, moving or replacing landscaping pods and parking lot lights, sealing all cracks, applying asphalt sealer over the entire lot and restriping both the stadium and main lots.

The project adds parking to the main lot, realigns the landscaping to increase traffic flow, adds a crosswalk for pedestrian safety and brings the handicap spots to current standards. The biggest changes will come in the stadium lot, though. Once the seal coating is complete, the restriping will change the lot to angle parking to reduce congestion and increase flow during peak use. The perimeter fence along Bradley Road will also be permanently removed to increase visibility when students are entering and exiting the lot. 

The project kicked off on July 8 and crews will move west over the course of the month before an expected completion date by July 31. The city’s sidewalk project is currently scheduled for summer 2025.