Do you mind the occasional traffic jams on Highway 20 in front of Albertson’s in Oak Harbor?

Have you waited and waited and waited for traffic to move so you can turn across a lane into Burger King or 7-Eleven?

Well, there’s probably no help on the way. Oak Harbor City Engineer Ryan Goodman has been trying to get a highway widening project going on the stretch of the highway between Barlow and Swantown — and has even obtained a big grant — but he’s come upon a roadblock called the state Department of Transportation.

Since Highway 20 is a state route, the DOT is responsible for any improvements on the road. Goodman said he’s been working with department officials, but they don’t seem interested in the road-widening project.

That’s bad news for drivers irritated by the traffic in that area. Moreover, because of a state law, development in the south end of city could be halted if there isn’t a widening project.

The problem is that the state lost $2 billion in road construction funding when Initiative 695 passed two years ago. While the department formerly divided its funding into safety, mobility and maintenance projects, Goodman said the state now has earmarked the money for safety-related projects only.

Widening Highway 20 on the south end of the city would be a mobility-related project, Goodman said.

It’s not that there aren’t safety problems on the highway. Goodman said the state designated the stretch of highway between Barlow to Eighth Street as a “safety hazard corridor” because of the high number of accidents in the area.

The DOT is planning “safety improvements” along the highway, he said, which will include “access controls” since most accidents are caused by traffic coming on and off highway from the Safeway parking lot and other intersections. But the improvement won’t include any road widening.

The city’s proposal is to widen the highway on the south end of the city so that there are five lanes throughout the city limits. The “level of service” for the highway is designated as “E,” under the state grading system, where “F” would signify gridlock.

Another wrinkle is added by the state’s concurrency law, which was passed the Legislature several years ago. The law forbids development on the island unless there is concurrent transportation improvements constructed to handle the extra traffic.

That would likely mean that the highway would have to be widened before any major development projects on the highway in the south end of the city could happen.

But the state isn’t following the state’s concurrency law, Goodman said, leaving the city in a “quagmire.”

“We can’t control what the highway department does and what the Legislature does,” he said. “We’re stuck in the middle.”

In a recent interview, Mayor Patty Cohen said that the concurrency law has already prevented development projects in the city. The company that built Bayview Plaza, which includes Wal-Mart and Albertson’s, had plans to put in more businesses on the south side of the highway, but they mysteriously gave up.

In order to encourage the DOT to widen the section of the highway, Goodman said the city “stepped up to the plate” and offered to pay $300,000 of the estimated $1 million project. He recently obtained a $250,000 grant from the state Transportation Improvement Board for the project.

But for now, Goodman says the DOT is much more concerned about Interstate 5 and other highways in the Seattle area that are already at gridlock. And he admits that Oak Harbor’s problems pale in comparison.

Probably the only thing that could change that is an unpopular little thing called a gas tax.

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You can reach staff reporter Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewstimes.com or call 675-6611.