Video: North end of Delridge Way SW, rechannelized

| Delridge | Transportation | West Seattle news

Thanks to Chris for the tip via Twitter – most of the “rechannelization” striping is in on the north end of Delridge Way SW, basically between the south side of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center and the West Seattle Bridge. Above, our dashcam view driving the northbound side just now; next, the southbound view:

The rechannelization was announced as part of a plan announced last spring to speed up Route 120 buses – we just happened to wind up behind one while our camera was rolling on the southbound side. As you might notice in the video, some painting remains to be done – bike lane and bus lane stenciling, for example. Here’s the county’s explanation of what was changed (see the link in that page’s sidebar).

Jason October 12, 2012 (5:54 pm)

My how times have changed. It used to be that the engineering and planning departments would create a bus “pull out” so the buses could pull off the road and wouldn’t block the REST OF THE TRAFFIC while they were stopped. Now they’re creating “bus bulbs” so they CAN stop in literally the middle of the road and block traffic.
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“Bus bulbs are places where the sidewalk extends outward at a bus stop, so the bus doesn’t have to pull out of the traffic lane to let passengers board and exit.”
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according to the county website.
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All in the name of “improved traffic” too…

Aye Jay October 12, 2012 (6:21 pm)

No bulbs here, wrong comment thread?

Amym October 12, 2012 (6:36 pm)

Doesn’t look a whole lot different other than the right turn lane being an ‘only’ now southbound.

I avoid Delridge whenever possible because it’s already terrible with traffic. This doesn’t look like any kind of improvement.

Jason October 12, 2012 (7:12 pm)

Gotta go to county website for the bulb info:
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http://metro.kingcounty.gov/have-a-say/projects/route120/

Harry Reems October 12, 2012 (7:15 pm)

Would have been nice if had been repaved before being rechanneled.
I also wonder what the purpose of having a turn lane on Delridge from the bridge to the Home Depot. In many instances I have seen it utilized as a passing lane for amped up road ragers.

Since the city wouldn’t think of adding capacity by turning the turn lane into another lane of traffic, at least they could put in a median with some trees or something.

BlairJ October 12, 2012 (9:13 pm)

There are no bus bulbs proposed on Delridge. According to the metro website linked to on a previous post, there is only one bus bulb to be built along the 120 route, at 26th Avenue SW and SW Barton Street next to Westwood Village.

But I have to wonder, if Metro wants to make the 120 move faster as they say, why they added a circuitous route past Westwood Village.

DM October 12, 2012 (10:24 pm)

I wish “they” could do something about the traffic light cycles at Delridge and Genesse (sp?) during evening rush hour. Heading south on Delridge, you have about ten seconds to make it through the green light. It’s always a stop and go bottle neck. Lots of cars lined up, knowing you’ll have to wait for a few green light cycles…Waaah.

Rod Clark October 12, 2012 (10:53 pm)

Blair, the reason might have been to provide more people easy access to QFC, the Target grocery and Safeway, none of which were on the route before.
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The old bus hub at 15th and Roxbury brought 11 routes to the big Safeway on 15th. But the Safeway moved 3/4 of a mile west, leaving a few small Asian grocers that aren’t as much of a destination for busloads of people. That’s now a smaller meeting point for 5 buses, while 6 routes meet at Westwood Village.

kel e October 15, 2012 (12:12 am)

as a regular bus rider and bike commuter on Delridge, the 120 specifically, as well as an employee within westwood village, i must say… i LOVE the new routes and rechanneled lanes.

robert October 15, 2012 (8:47 pm)

WHO IS THE ROCKET SCIENTIST THAT CAME UP WITH THE[BUS BULB]. ALL IT DOES IS STOP TRAFFIC COMPLETLY WHILE SOME SNAIL CRAWLS OFF THE BUS . it will take somebody getting run over and killed before they move the roadblock on barton.with the busses lined up you cant see peds. till they are in the road. they won’t use the crosswalk, they just pop out between the busses parked there.

Sorry, comment time is over.