Will Highland Park’s roundabout ever be funded? SDOT update Wednesday

(Early design concept for proposed Highland Park Way roundabout)

Tomorrow night, the Highland Park Action Committee gets an update on the long-in-the-works roundabout proposed for Highland Park Way and SW Holden. SDOT’s James Le is expected to be at the meeting with the newest information. After last month’s meeting, HPAC chair Charlie Omana learned from SDOT that SDOT has been “performing a survey of existing site conditions which should be completed within the next month. Once the survey is complete, project design can proceed, and SDOT intends to engage the public with multiple opportunities for feedback.” But, he added, only $200,000 of the project’s estimated $2.5 million cost has been committed. SDOT says it’s applied for a grant from the WSDOT City Safety Program but won’t hear until later this year. (It’s been half a year since the project was turned down for a different WSDOT grant.) Omana says, “After 5 years of working on this project in its current capacity, to have only $200k committed is disappointing. HPAC is concerned about the effects that increasing construction costs will have on the feasibility of this project over time. … HPAC will continue pushing to bring this project to fruition sooner rather than later.” And that includes Wednesday night’s discussion (7 pm at Highland Park Improvement Club, 1116 SW Holden).

9 Replies to "Will Highland Park's roundabout ever be funded? SDOT update Wednesday"

  • West Seattle Hipster May 22, 2018 (11:47 am)

    SDOT has no idea how to efficiently operate.  They have money for less urgent projects but not for a project that will improve safety.

  • Shockley May 22, 2018 (12:13 pm)

    “Will Highland Park’s roundabout ever be funded?”

    Dear lord I hope not.  As bad as it is now, a roundabout will make things ten times worse.

    All oncoming traffic merging into one lane both uphill from marginal and downhill from 9th?  What genius thought that was a good solution?

    I guarantee if this happens accident rates will double but they’ll occur before the intersection instead of at it. 

  • JeffK May 22, 2018 (12:46 pm)

    I know there are probably upgrades other than just sidewalks and road surface (utility pole relocation, signage), and there will be costs associated with having the intersection passable during construction.  It still blows my mind that it will cost this much.

  • West Seattle Steve May 22, 2018 (1:09 pm)

    I hope they will bring 2 uphill lanes into the roundabout, one turning onto Holden, and another continuing straight through.

    Has a a barrier to separate through traffic from turning traffic been considered? Like Cloverdale and 509? That might not work for Austin which really complicates the intersection.

  • ScottAmick May 22, 2018 (1:15 pm)

    I think some real improvement is needed at this intersection.  I don’t often bike through this intersection but wow it was a bad experience when I tried it recently.  I came up Highland Park Way on the only path/sidewalk there is and there wasn’t a safe gap in traffic to cross over at Holden so I went a couple more blocks south until sightlines and speeds allowed for crossing. 

  • From Neighborhood May 22, 2018 (3:49 pm)

    This is not an improvement for highland park way uphill (a fewer lane) and 9th ave northbound (there will be a no traffic gap coming from Holden St turning north to Highland Park way at peak hour).  Is this “improvement” just to satisfy people coming from west turning north on Highland Park Way? 

    You are anticipating people use signals when turning, and you know how few people in Seattle or King county use signals.  

    Hey, they may come up with a new tax at city hall for the budget.  

  • MJ May 22, 2018 (5:22 pm)

    West Seattle Steve

    Maintaining two uphill SB lanes with the curb lane turning right at Holden is appropriate, its really a no brainer based on 20 years living near the intersection.

    MJ

  • KayK May 22, 2018 (6:33 pm)

    While the location of this roundabout is Highland Park, it’s really needed to serve the thousands of commuters using Holden and Highland Park way to get in and out of West Seattle.

    As we look ahead to more density in Westwood Village and Morgan Junction that traffic needs to have improved flow and increased safety.

    Looking forward to hearing some real researched traffic engineering solutions tomorrow, not just personal opinions.

    Just to put that 2.5 million in perspective an apartment building at that intersection just sold for 4.1 million.

  • Melissa May 23, 2018 (7:41 am)

    The city really needs to do something at that intersection.You can’t have a Vision Zero program and have a intersection that hazardous.   Drivers get inpatient and speed through the neighborhood at hazardous speeds.  It doesn’t have a calming feature at the top of the hill, so drivers are doing 60 MPH in a 30 MPH.

    And caused a double fatality during a police chase.

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