About the Admiral medians …

The next step is here for the medians left mostly bare since the Admiral Way repaving last summer (as seen in our August photo above). Now, the city says it’s ready to figure out where it wants to put trees in the medians, with time for you to have a say on whether you agree:

Here’s the full unedited text of an e-mail update the city just sent out about this:

SW Admiral Way
TREE & SHRUB REMOVAL/REPLACEMENT

The following is an update on the Admiral Way medians concerning landscaping and sight-distance issues raised by the community. There have been specific concerns expressed about traffic safety for motorists coming out of 37th Avenue SW, Belvidere Avenue SW, and 39th Avenue SW onto SW Admiral Way.

SDOT plans to conduct a sight-distance analysis, at the intersection locations on SW Admiral Way adjacent to the medians, that will begin the last week in November and run through about mid-December of this year.

From the analysis, SDOT will determine the most appropriate locations for trees within the medians to ensure traffic safety, with specific consideration for drivers negotiating turns at the intersections in question. In addition, SDOT will study the need for traffic markings as a
safety measure with potential to improve visibility for drivers, especially at night.

Once the study is complete, SDOT will schedule work to complete safety improvements along the corridor and will mark proposed tree locations with 8Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ tall stakes, providing the community an opportunity to comment on the layout before tree planting actually occurs.

Thank you for your patience as SDOT works to address community concerns.

For further information, please contact:
Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ George Frost, SDOT, Public Outreach Coordinator, at george.frost@seattle.gov or (206) 615-0786

Ã¢â‚¬Â¢ Mike Ward, SDOT, Project Manager, at michaelv.ward@seattle.gov or (206) 684-8493

Jan November 27, 2007 (4:21 pm)

I drive up and down Admiral Way often, and I ‘m growing to love the orange barrels that they’ve planted there. I do wish this had been better planned to coincide when the paving was done. There was a point when there were no barrels, and at night it was difficult to see the curb to the median. And they have elected to put no lines at the breaks in the median, where one can turn onto the side streets. I’m sure more than one person drove up onto the median back then. So…let’s hope this is going to be done quickly, when weather permits. :)

I Heart Jiggers November 27, 2007 (4:37 pm)

Sight-distance analysis my arse.

Now that the road is nice and smooth for the speeders coming up the hill and around the bend at 50 MPH, let’s see what visual barriers might be nice to look at as said speeders end up in our neighbor’s planters… Perhaps some flowering shrubs to sway in the breeze as cars ZOOM by while we wait-and-dash across the street to catch the bus hoping not to be the next Admiral Way fatality?

Skip the plants, how about a speed monitor like the one on Fauntleroy coming up from the ferry dock?

Jan November 27, 2007 (7:47 pm)

I’ve noticed the increased speed, too. As I make a left turn off of Admiral to get home, I get in the left lane part way up the hill. I’m getting a bit tired of drivers who climb up on my bumper, and me going 5 miles over the speed limit as it is. To all of you out there: if you want to chance a ticket for speeding, simply go around me. You can only go as fast as the car in front of you…and going 40 may get you there what? 2 seconds quicker?

marty November 27, 2007 (9:04 pm)

Another example of piss-poor city planning. Why didn’t they do their “study” before installing the median?? Duh! The median strip on the south end of Harbor Avenue looked nice at first, but poor planning (again!) for maintenance leaves us with 6 foot tall alder trees, blackberries and morning glories. The sod installed in the planting strips is long gone too. Great planning!!

CO Transplant in WS November 27, 2007 (9:28 pm)

The road improvement projects I’ve been involved with (all outside of WA) would have included signage, lane channelization and landscaping plans long before the work went out for bid…Safety studies and sight-distance analyses are supposed to happen in the design phase, certainly not after the job is built and traffic is on the road to see what happens.

To be fair, the design versus construction can become quite fluid when changes are made and errors are overcome. But this strikes me as entirely backwards on the Owner/Design side. Can anyone comment on whether this is a typical SDOT project or just an unfortunate exception?

Mr. JT November 28, 2007 (7:04 am)

You would think that with the Mayor and Director of SDOT living in West Seatttle, a bit more attention would have gone into this project… Shades of how they do most everything these days.

Todd in Admiral November 28, 2007 (12:37 pm)

I’ve seen those portable speed indicator devices going up the hill in the last few months. There was one about a year ago too. I live on a different arterial and have complained to the DOT about speeders and a dangerous intersection which has accidents several times a year. They said first they assign police to monitor speeds and if enough infractions occur, they set up one of those “this is your speed” contraptions. Then the scenario escalates to include a reduction of speed. Probably why the speed was reduced to 30 from 35. Not saying the DOT is right just wanted to share what I knew about this subject.
The bottom line for me is, yes, slow down. But it’s also, don’t keep 35th at 35 MPH when it has ten times as many side streets and houses, etc than Admiral Way. Much less populated but speed was reduced. Speed needs to be reduced on 35th then, right? Also, I wish governemnt could get away from this reactive approach/mentality.. I mean why do X amount of people have to die before a stop sign is put up or speed is reduced? Seems like the DOT has the info already on which types of intersections are dangerous but they collect data and wait. They have been sued a lot recently too. Have they learned anything? Guess it’s not their money they are spending, it is ours. I think after one person has lost a life it’s already too late to put up a sign. Human life is priceless but apparently not to governmental entites.

JM November 29, 2007 (1:52 pm)

I’d rather the DOT spend money on putting stop or yield signs up in the residential intersections that have just the little roundabout in the middle of them… particularly when one of the streets drops off steeply downhill right after the intersection. Too many people don’t understand the concept of right-of-way when it comes to these intersections, often choosing to barrel ahead without looking or caring. With proper signage, any debates about right-of-way are solved.

Sorry, comment time is over.