13 Replies to "VIDEO: Admiral Way Safety Project 'Walk & Talks'"

• Mark August 20, 2016 (11:34 am)

  SDoT plan removes the existing two way left turn lane, a proven traffic safety item, on portions of the corridor. This is counterproductive.

  How much $ has SDoT spent on this? A simple restripe to a shared lane down the hill and a 5′ bike lane up the hill could have been installed and been done with it, see Avalon Way SW for an example.  Frankly I ride my bike on this corridor all the time and it is fine as is.

  Also I want to know why SDoT spent money repainting portions of this street recently if they are redoing it later this year.  This seems to be wasteful and somebody at SDoT needs to be reprimanded for this waste.

  • Mark schletty August 20, 2016 (12:51 pm)

    I agree.  Why do they think taking out exactly what they say should be added to 35th, Fauntleroy, etc. to improve safety is a good idea?  Just because Kubly and the bicycle masterplan want to restrict safe efficient traffic flow in favor of non-essential extra bike lanes, i guess. Both Kubly and the master bike plan need to be gone.

• Mark August 20, 2016 (1:24 pm)

  Agreed Kubly needs to go.  His views on transportation are out of balance.  I am a bike rider, but NOT in the winter. He believes everone will ride but reality is far different.  

• Norma August 20, 2016 (4:15 pm)

  Yet again they suggest making it more dangerous for bicycles, cars and pedestrians.  We need a new and more practical vision that includes bringing back neighborhood buses.  Way too much emphasis has been put on bicycles in this hilly, rainy city.

• JayDee August 20, 2016 (4:34 pm)

  I asked them point blank if there was any way to kill this proposal….Nope. The train has left the station. They were being polite by asking for opinions, but there will be no changes from here on as they have already sent the job out to bid.  There may be modifications, but not after the changes have been in baked in.

• Chris August 20, 2016 (5:58 pm)

  Agreed with all of the above comments.   Taking that lane out is going to make it more dangerous.   We are are going to be very leary of using this road if they actually do this.   All the drunk drivers, etc. coming off of Alki.    Wish they would just leave it alone!   How many accidents have to happen or lives lost just because they take this lane out, which is more of a protection.  Perhaps letters and phone calls to the appropriate people?    Things can still be changed!

• Kathy August 20, 2016 (9:54 pm)

  This walk was about scouting for potential future improvements to make it easier for people to cross Admiral Way without getting hit by a car. Narrowing down the lanes and removing turning lanes to nowhere will help make crossing safer.  Not sure how this story led to the same repetitive rants against SDOT, whose representatives were very helpful.  The “armchair traffic engineer” rants against the restriping will only die down when the paint is down and the sky doesn’t fall. Meanwhile, we witnessed a lot of seriously bad car driver behavior during this walk.

• wetone August 21, 2016 (10:20 am)

   Most your  ‘armchair traffic engineers” are the common sense people that have been using and living this section of roadway for many years and need to continue using daily.       “Meanwhile, we witnessed a lot of seriously bad car driver behavior during this walk”        Any road changes SDOT implements won’t make a bit of difference for the bad drivers as they will continue driving bad, but will as usual impact the good drivers and those who live in area. What SDOT is doing with road designs such as this just moves traffic off main arterials and onto side streets, creating more dangers as time will show.  The most helpful solution would be having a traffic cop in area a couple days a week and ticket all bad drivers of all types of transportation. But with Seattle’s politics today don’t see that happening.  Proven simple way to slow things down. Worked great in the 70’s, 80’s 90’s . They would  sit by Schmitz Park Bridge and around 51st.  What SDOT is doing today is terrible for moving traffic. Tried using 35th yesterday what a joke…… As mentioned above Kubly and Murray both need to go before the billion dollar Lets Move Seattle money is spent on many projects similar to this one along with reworking or replacing of many newly built projects involving SDOT with no accountability and their asking for more $$$,  But what do I know,  I’m just a armchair traffic engineer ;) 

• Mike August 21, 2016 (2:48 pm)

  “removing turning lanes to nowhere will help make crossing safer”  Nowhere…like none of the 30+ roads you can turn off of from the bridge to Alki?  Those nowheres?  Ya, none of those roads have anyone driving to their homes on them, not one of the thousands of people every day that use them.  NONE!  You are a genius, Kathy.

• Joe Dirt August 22, 2016 (6:57 pm)

  Cops writing tickets? It’s a good idea but it won’t happen for whatever reason. Can’t remember seeing anyone pulled over in WS for 20 years and people drive like S. They conciously or subconsciously know they can drive how ever they want because there are no consequences.

  • WSB August 22, 2016 (7:24 pm)

    That is not true.

    (a) Though SPD Blotter doesn’t do this any more, they used to publish regular roundups of how many tickets they wrote and for what on aggressive-driver patrols. We republished many of them here, when West Seattle streets were involved. Not just within the past 20 years – within the past five years. See some here: https://westseattleblog.com/?s=aggressive+driver

    (b) At least three times this year, there’s been an emphasis patrol on the two-arterial corner near our house, which has a four-way stop routinely disregarded by downhill drivers. At least one motorcycle officer picks a spot to wait for the stop-sign-runners, and zooms out to pull them over. We have never requested this (maybe our neighbors have, don’t know) but were glad to see it, as at least once a quarter, we’re nearly broadsided by idiots running the stop sign without ever looking to the left as they roar around the corner.

    (c) Participants on the tour claimed to have frequently and recently seen SPD pulling over drivers on the Admiral Way hill by the bridge, and asked if they could move to the project zone instead.

    -TR

• WSoldguy August 23, 2016 (7:01 pm)

  At Kathy…Because the DOT are making recomendations that are slowing the traffic flow which results in longer drive times.  …if you witnessed seriously bad car driving then document what you saw and report that documentation to the authorities.  I witness bad driving everyday, whether in WS or other roads around Seattle.  It is the volume of people due to more living quarters (Growth), which our WS roads cant handle.  I have lived in WS my entire life (54 yrs.) and our incompitent bike loving mayor and his staff want to make communties like WS bike friendly.  It cant work.  The role of the washdot is to make traffic flow smoothly and safely.  Road diets DONT WORK to ease traffic flow.  What needs to happen is to install more WELL LITE crosswalks (Like Kirkland) and lower the speed limit by 5mph.  Having a group of 10 to 15 individuals walk Admiral way will not solve the problem.  Sorry Kathy for my rant but lets get real.  We cant hire more police officers because our mayor didnt budget for more PO’s.  Kathy, we have a myriad of problems in this city and Admiral way is NOT one of them.  If we spend money on Admiral way, what bucket will that money come from?  Thank you for allowing me to post.

• Don Brubeck August 23, 2016 (9:01 pm)

  I was on the walk for the lower part where I live. Impressed by the ideas from people who live on or near Admiral Way and SDOT staff for their listening and responding to ideas. It was a genuine conversation among neighbors aimed at making it safer to cross the street on foot, and make turns in a car and deal with parking for people who live on the street. Good suggestions about moving the bus stop from 57th up to the lower end of the bridge, with a crosswalk there where sightlines are better. SDOT engineer pointed out why some ideas would not work, but was very receptive to others and will ask Metro about moving the bus stop  The deletion of center turn lane, which was in response to Alki residents demands at first public meeting who want to keep parking spaces, was not up for debate. Bike lanes are happening, too. Everyone who chooses to take a bike instead of a car up to the Junction or down to the beach is saving a car parking space for someone who drives.  Adding bike lanes will improve safety and make more space for people driving. 

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