U-turners beware

There is a problem with people making illegal U-turns on Harbor Island near the “low bridge,” according to the P-I traffic troubleshooting column. (We had trouble placing the location so here’s a better map.) If this is something you do regularly, you’ll want to know that the city says, in the P-I column, it’ll be changing the curbing again soon to try to stop the U-turners.

Robert June 4, 2007 (7:58 am)

Isn’t this “trick” primarily used by people heading southbound on 99 who want to get over to I-5? Since there is no proper exit ramp for this, people make up one…

It has always intigued me that “by design” there is no “efficient way” to get between 99 and I-5 inside Seattle city limits.

Robert June 4, 2007 (8:25 am)

BTW, if the Harbor webcam could pan a little to the left it would show the area in question.

http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/trafficcams/harbor_island.htm

Eric June 4, 2007 (9:57 am)

Or are the culprits the ones who get stuck at the bridge when it opens and don’t have 45 minutes to spare for it to close. I can’t think of any other bridge that takes longer to open and close than that one.

Robert June 4, 2007 (11:42 am)

The “correct” U turn is to continue going west, take that slight right exit prior to the bridge, then circle to the left underneath the bridge, then merge back into the main road. Obviously this takes a lot longer than whipping a U-ee.

K June 4, 2007 (6:01 pm)

I may be in the minority here… but I, for one, am happy to see this put in. As someone who works in the immediate area of this U-turn route, I have seen it all, no matter the day of the week (weekend included), hour of day, whether or not the bridge is open, or other traffic situation. It can be truly dangerous to make a U-turn in this area with the combination of semi’s, tanker trucks, cars, trucks, other autos, bicyclists, and even pedestrians. The view of the U-turn point is obstructed until you are right up on it (if you are heading East). That’s not to mention the traffic coming off the ramp. And I won’t even begin on how Harbor Island itself is basically a one-way in and one-way out kind of place.