(Looking at the Avalon/Admiral/Spokane on-ramp, from under The Bridge, 9 am today)
On a day when we heard from many – via e-mail, Web, Facebook, Twitter, and text – about a worse-than-usual outbound commute, WSB’er James cc’d us on this letter to Paul Elliott at SDOT. James has a few suggestions he thinks would be simple to implement, and a fast, vast improvement to bridge traffic. Agree? Disagree? Have your own ideas? Comments welcome, but first, here’s James:
This afternoon, I made a call to Mayor McGinn’s office admin, who forwarded me to you. In that call, we discussed the DOT’s lack of solutions for West Seattle commuters, especially those who commute to destinations north of downtown. The bottom line is that there is no innovation mandated in the traffic management considerations, and that’s specifically what I expect from Seattle DOT when state, county, or city DOT projects impact city residents. To be clear, I’m expecting Seattle DOT to own this innovation, regardless of the implementer.
The issue at hand is the near exponential increase in travel time. My personal 11 minute commute to Fremont now takes upward of 45 minutes on average, and has been as long as 2.5 hours, even prior to 7AM. This is unacceptable, and I believe that the solution is as simple as innovating beyond the poor signage along the route.
My suggestion is comprised by the following 3 signage changes:
1) For north-bound travelers approaching the West Seattle Bridge onramp from the south, the signage needs to advise that they, very specifically, “leave room for mergers”. If those drivers leave 1.5 cars-length between cars on the freeway, traffic will merge like a zipper.
2) For travelers entering 99 from West Seattle, they are met with a sign as big as a door that says “BUS LANE AHEAD”. This is the foremost cause of the daily backup spanning the 2 miles of the bridge and, frequently, a mile prior to the bridge. Remove that sign altogether. It serves no purpose but to prevent the flow of traffic onto the otherwise-speedy freeway. Cars hit the highway and see the huge sign, and immediate hit the brakes and merge across the solid lane separator line. Every day, because of your sign.
3) All over West Seattle, since we all share the bridge and 99, an innovative campaign (it doesn’t need to be expensive, you already own the sign-printing hardware) should advocate for “Keep Cars Moving”. The same number of cars cross the bridge in both directions every commute, and the same backups happen day after day. You, Seattle DOT, you keep cars moving by motivating people to drive smart. “Merge Like a Zipper”, everyone knows how zippers work. “No Traffic Wednesdays” to see how progressive-thinking commuters take on the challenge. These are simple, pragmatic changes that extend beyond expensive technology or time-consuming theory.
I’m calling on you, Mr. Elliott, and cc’ing your director, the mayor, and the de facto West Seattle press to make a better experience for our peninsula’s residents. My neighbors are suffering from a situation that’s bad and only going to be way worse, regardless of whether we drive, ride buses, or cycle into work. I fully expect you to specifically innovate your way out of the traffic situation you’re creating. It is, very specifically, your duty to very specifically innovate in this scenario. You are the hired experts, you own this problem, and your solution is to innovate beyond the havoc we experience daily.
I expect nothing but the best, and I will follow up if I see progress deferring or deterring from this goal. Please drive the innovative solutions across your organization, the county, and the state, and please keep me, the mayor, and the West Seattle community abreast of these changes. Very specifically, I expect to hear regular innovative progress toward a normal commute for West Seattle’s travelers.
Thanks, I expect the best for my community and I expect you to own the improvements. I will follow up personally if I don’t receive updates on the innovation personally. Thanks again.
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