Street safety: New flags, new lights

| Seen around town | Transportation | West Seattle news

Thanks to Erin for the tip on this – she spotted that new basket of pedestrian flags at Avalon/Yancy (map) – while out and about this morning, we spotted two others on California SW, one north of The Junction, one south. The basket says they’re from SDOT and bears the slogan “Grab, Walk, Wave” – we’re checking to see if more are on the way (we checked some previously flag-bearing intersections around WS like the notorious 47th/Admiral, and it still has the old orange flags). Also seen while out and about:

The signal at 35th/Morgan is off at the moment (see the temporary stop sign at lower left) and a new configuration of turn lights appears to be on the way — this view is facing south on 35th.

austin June 26, 2008 (11:06 am)

Hooray for flags on Avalon!! That’s a rough area to cross unless you’re on a bike. I’ve had cars coming down that hill punch the gas at me for crossing there. Now they will be intimidated by the mighty day glo flag.

Michael June 26, 2008 (12:22 pm)

Agreed – it will never be a good area for peds until there’s a stop light put in (Genessee would be the logical place for that). We really need an “arterial plan” for WS so that the main ways in/out keep moving while letting walkers get around – something like Eastlake’s coordinated light system.

Paul June 26, 2008 (12:35 pm)

finally the turn signal on 35th, long long overdue!

Sue June 26, 2008 (1:16 pm)

Thank god for the coming turn signals at 35th/Morgan! I have never understood why that intersection had no turn signals!

Eric B June 26, 2008 (1:19 pm)

Does anyone know if there any way to request these flags at particular intersections?

OP June 26, 2008 (3:20 pm)

About time a left turn signal was put in at 35th and Morgan! Question: Will there be new signals going east and west, too, WSB?

Chris June 26, 2008 (8:23 pm)

Just this afternoon, I spotted flags on California Ave.and Dakota(I think).

GP June 26, 2008 (10:14 pm)

Curious to know if the orange flags at SW Admiral Way and 47th Ave SW inspired SDOT to take action at other crosswalks?

What is the criteria to receive these flags? Where do you download an application?
What politician do we give credit to (re-elect)?

The orange flags are purchased and maintained by a private citizen in the Admiral neighborhood (not SDOT).

WSB June 26, 2008 (11:10 pm)

GP – I didn’t get an answer from the city spokesperson I e-mailed with those questions today, so I’m resending to the head of SDOT’s communications team, then to follow up with a phone call if I still don’t hear back. Chris – California/Dakota was one of the two Calif. intersections I briefly mentioned above. I didn’t get the other street name (a couple blocks south of Edmunds) while driving through so I just stayed fairly general with that mention. OP – I also had a question about the signal in my so-far-unanswered note, so I will include that in the redirect. Stand by for more tomorrow, hopefully …

Marge June 27, 2008 (8:55 am)

hey thanks for the explanation, I saw the flags, while I was out cycling and I wondered what they were for. now if you could only get driver’s to drive the posted speed limit….

GP June 27, 2008 (10:25 am)

WSB- Thanks for following up!

FlagMan June 29, 2008 (7:37 pm)

Here’s the scoop on the new flags, as best as I can tell. When the city council put together funding for the pedestrian master plan, I wrote a letter to a couple of city council members (can’t remember who right now), asking for a small amount of the big bucket of money going toward studying various safety options (about $500K, I think) to study crossing flags. I guess it worked. My son, as part of a 5th grade persuasive essay assignment, wrote a letter to SDOT espousing the benefits of crossing flags. The response from SDOT said that they have selected 17 intersections to test out the flags. I sent an email asking for more info on this study (locations, length of study, criteria they’ll use to judge goodness, etc), but no response after several weeks. I’m planning on following up with a phone call when I get a chance. So, this is good news … the city’s actually considering them. The bad news is they’re probably not doing any more intersections anytime soon. But lots of feedback to SDOT regarding how good they are can only be helpful towards getting more eventually.

Also, I’ve seen 2 SDOT crossings in N Seattle (Phinney @ 58th, 8th Ave NW @ 83rd, or so).

WSB June 29, 2008 (10:16 pm)

I have the basic info from Rick Sheridan, other news got in the way this weekend so I’m going to post about it tomorrow .. he did confirn the three I’ve seen in WS are the only three in WS in the first round (Avalon/Yancy per original reader tip, plus California/Dakota and California/Dawson).