TRAFFIC ALERT: 18th/Orchard closure continuing

| Puget Ridge | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

An alert from SDOT late today that the 18th/Orchard closure on Puget Ridge as part of the Sanislo Elementary Safe Routes to School project will continue through and beyond the weekend:

This week, our crews have started demolition and grading work on the roadway along SW Orchard St in preparation for curb construction. We also completed storm drain installation in this stretch of the project site. Because our crews are moving quicker than anticipated, we took advantage of the nice weather this week and began paving the area. This work required a full closure at the intersection of SW Orchard St and 18th Ave SW. The closure was effective as of this past Wednesday, 4/25 and will remain in place 24/7 until next Friday, 5/4. We had envisioned that we may be able to keep one lane northbound open for drivers to access SW Myrtle St, however, we learned that it would not be wide enough for cars to get through safely and thus require full closure of the intersection.

Our crews have placed street closure and detour signs to provide drivers advance notice of the intersection closure and detour. Our detour for travelers going eastbound on SW Orchard St is down Dumar Way SW and then north onto 16th Ave SW. We have a “Street Closed, Local Access Only” sign at SW Orchard St as it splits into Dumar Way SW to inform drivers that it is for residents access only. We also added reflective barrels and blinking lights at SW Orchard St and 18th Ave SW to help light up the street closure and detour signs. We hope this will help drivers better and more safely navigate around the intersection.

Backstory on the project is here.

Don April 27, 2018 (10:37 pm)

Sanislo clothing donation drive is on Saturday. What’s the best way to get there?

WSB April 27, 2018 (11:02 pm)

Depends on where you are coming from but we would just go to 16th and turn left (west) on Myrtle. You could approach on southbound 18th from the north.

Spooled April 28, 2018 (11:57 am)

This intersection only gets worse each time they try to improve it. When I moved to this neighborhood it was just a traffic circle. That alone confuses a small amount of motorists. Then there are vehicles which must go the “wrong way” around due to their length or wheelbase. I am sometimes one of those long vehicles and must either go straight ahead or piss off oncoming cars when I go left.

Then the bike lane came. Bloody hell.

Now we have stop signs on 18th AND the circle. Oh my. That really added confusion. So many times I’ve seen people think that because a car is stopped ahead that they’re approaching a 4-way. Then we all yield awkwardly waiting for the one with the right-of-way to figure it out.

I was all excited for this new round of changes thinking it would widen the intersection and increase visibility. Then I saw the paint marks and cut lines in the asphalt for the curb bulbs. These will really be the death of things. They choke the road down to essentially one lane. Lots of residents have full-size vehicles. Not everyone has migrated to Fiat 500’s or Minis yet. Just wait till there’s a crewcab pickup waiting at the stop on 18th while someone from Myrtle is trying to turn. There won’t be room for both but the Orchard traffic will have the right of way. I can’t wait to see how this screws with the school buses. Sansilo parents also make their own mess of things during pick-up time.

The BEST thing they could do for this intersection would be to eliminate the bloody circle, make it a 4-way stop, and insist that the property owner on the north west corner maintain their hedge so that southbound 18th traffic at the stop sign can actually see eastbound traffic from Orchanrd.