What the Bicycle Advisory Board heard about the Admiral Way Safety Project

| Safety | Transportation | West Seattle news

No revelations Wednesday night when the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board was briefed about the Admiral Way Safety Project, but the briefing did contain a few small updates.

We went to the meeting at City Hall to see if anything new would come to light, following the most recent update from SDOT director Scott Kubly, who told the City Council Transportation Committee last week that “some changes” were in the works for the project, which initially proposed adding a bicycle lane, as envisioned in the city’s Bicycle Master Plan, while removing 200 parking spaces.

Here’s what we heard at the meeting:
-SDOT is “currently refining our recommendations,” said project manager Emily Ehlers
-The promised summertime parking study is under way now, with data expected by mid-August
-They’re considering adding pedestrian crossings at Schmitz Park and near Alki Elementary (59th/Admiral)
-They’re considering the suggestion of removing the center turn lane so that a buffered bike lane could be included without removing parking

Two board members voiced concern about the idea of potentially losing the center turn lane, including West Seattleite Don Brubeck, who also happens to be a resident of the project zone (Admiral Way west of California SW), and says that when driving, “I have to go down this hill with people following me at 45 miles per hour and then back into a garage – if there’s no center turn lane, people won’t have any way to pass.” Brubeck added that suggestions of finding a greenway parallel to Admiral were unrealistic, as there’s nothing that runs parallel. Some had suggested speed humps/bumps or cushions to calm traffic, he noted, wondering if SDOT had obtained feedback from Metro or emergency responders. Ehlers said those kinds of traffic-calming features aren’t allowed on roads steeper than 8 percent grade, though Admiral apparently falls within that range. Reflective lane markers also are being discussed.

Dawn Schellenberg of SDOT noted, “We committed to the neighborhood that we would consider everything.” Ehlers said they would go for the “least-aggressive option” in the short term and see if it works before trying “more-aggressive traffic calming.”

They’re expecting another community meeting in mid-September; you can comment in the meantime by e-mailing emily.ehlers@seattle.gov and dawn.schellenberg@seattle.gov.

ChefJoe August 6, 2015 (2:50 am)

Removing the center turn lane from the design East of 60th would accomplish narrowing the travel lanes even further than keeping travel-center-travel, which should further reduce speeds according to SDOT’s cited studies. Both sides of the street would have parking and bike lanes to buffer any car-parked car collisions.
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What I don’t understand is why someone wouldn’t be able to pull off the traffic lane into either the underutilized parking in front of their house (or even the bike lane) before backing up into their garage (I’ll just suspend any doubts that backing into a garage off an arterial street is some sort of right) ?
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Here’s the previous design btw, http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/SWAdmiral_Rechann_ANAMtg-rev150414%20.pdf

Neighbor up the hill August 6, 2015 (7:18 am)

I wish SDOT would improve /build a bike lane east of California on Admiral. I ride up but where the bike lane drops at the top and curves west is nerve wracking. Cars drive very close to me and a passenger screamed at me from his car for “blocking the road”. There is no safe way to come up from Harbor Ave/the Alki bike trail and I have to carry my bike up about 30 ft. I pay taxes too.

Anonymous August 6, 2015 (8:40 am)

I ride my bike regularly in West Seattle and bike commute regularly downtown. While it would be nice and I would use an Admiral bike lane, I really don’t think it is a good use of our resources and taking away 200 parking spaces is unnecessary. There are plenty of other ways to bike up the hill from east or west that have much less car traffic, including Fairmount Canyon, Jacobsen, California/Ferry, and Bon Air.

Augsburg August 6, 2015 (8:41 am)

As someone that bikes this section of Admiral Way all the time, I can say that removing the center turn lane would be a disaster for bicycle safety. With all of the left turns on Admiral, the bike lanes would become the de facto passing lane – with cars swerving into the bike lane to pass cars stopped in the through lane to turn left.

Anyone that spends 5 minutes standing next to the road along Admiral will see conflict after conflict as drivers aggressively turn in and out of side streets and driveways. Lots of horn honking and worse as the locals recklessly pull out in front of cars driving through on Admiral. The hapless bicyclist is the victim. I can’t believe the city would consider such a dangerous proposal.

GAnative August 6, 2015 (8:46 am)

“They’re considering adding pedestrian crossings at Schmitz Park and near Alki Elementary (59th/Admiral)”

There is already a pedestrian crossing at 59th/Admiral.

WSB August 6, 2015 (9:20 am)

GANative, good point. There’s an entire pedestrian signal there. Sorry I didn’t catch that. Will check with SDOT; it was on their slide deck, even … TR

sbre August 6, 2015 (8:55 am)

“Neighbor up the hill”~Years ago I gave up coming up Admiral on 2 wheels, too much unsafe about it and too many exhaust pipes roaring past.

To me and a number of other riders I know, we feel going north on Harbor Ave from Spokane and then climbing up California Way (just across from the water-taxi locals) is a far safer and cleaner alterative, the trade-off is (depending on your destination) is a little more than a mile in distance.

There’s a nice, wide sidewalk to climb (too much potential for bodily-damage to want to do it in the street IMHO) and a lot less traffic fouling up the air.

Worth considering, and at the very least try it once if you haven’t already.

Admiral @ 46th here

AdmiralOwner August 6, 2015 (8:56 am)

If, truly, the goal of this whole Admiral Way Safety Project is to reduce speed and therefore keep people safe—why not leave the roadway as is and use existing laws to enforce the speed limit?? Use radar officers, speed cameras(like currently in use at elementary schools) or bring in the aggressive driving unit of the SPD???

As for removal of the center-left turn lane, how much of a delay will this cause downhill drivers who have to stop and wait for the turn to occur. Also, how many rear-end collisions might occur because of this change??

WSRedux August 6, 2015 (9:20 am)

Neighbor Up The Hill

Have you tried using Ferry Ave SW? It intersects California Ave just above the Harbor Ave/California intersection

JAT August 6, 2015 (9:26 am)

I cycled up Admiral from Alki the other day, and the yard signs made pretty clear the local opposition to the plan (I’m not exactly in favor of it either). Odd that Don Brubeck claims that he’s followed down the hill by people going 45 mph (and this is west of Admiral) since the speed limit is 30 and motorists are trained and licensed and all that road tax they pay, and scofflaw cyclists blah blah blah…

Perhaps with strict speed enforcement there’d be no perceived need for safety improvements.

As for the bile lane coming up Admiral east of Calif. ending abruptly at the lookout: that’s a prime example of SDOT’s inability to implement bicycle infrastructure safely or reasonably. there’s no reason to think they’d do any better west of Calif.

As for Neighbor up the hill: try coming up California Way SW – much more civilized.

ChefJoe August 6, 2015 (10:26 am)

Augsburg, as designed you’ll have cars “swerving into the bike lane” for parking, driveways, cross-street turns, and buses pulling out to the curb. As designed, they’re directional bike lanes (instead of a a single bi-directional like 2nd avenue) so at least there’s that predictability of traffic. As they’re basically using the bike lanes to squeeze road lanes for speed reduction (not puting bike lanes behind the parking lanes), I think the bike lanes would require a different engineering if they were planning on them being heavily used.

Emily August 6, 2015 (10:36 am)

There is a ped light at 59th/Admiral that stops the traffic on Admiral but 59th drivers use that as their green light, often ignoring (or not seeing) the pedestrians in the crosswalk. And SPS won’t put a crossing guard there for mornings and afternoons which is absurd IMO.

Tony Tschanz August 6, 2015 (11:05 am)

I cross Admiral several times daily at Schmitz Park and attest it is most dangerous without a pedestrian crossing. High speed drivers don’t stop or even slow down. They come fast downhill and uphill around the blind curve.

Don Brubeck August 6, 2015 (12:09 pm)

@Anonymous,
Your alternate routes do not help people that want to go efficiently to or from Alki to Admiral Junction and east. It is 1.4 miles from Alki at 60th via Admiral Way to California. It is 3.4 miles via California Way, and steeper, with worse sightines and pedestrian conflicts if you ride on the narrow sidewalk. It is 4.5 miles via Jacobsen, and steeper with no shoulders for part of it. Bonaire is way too steep and narrow. Providing a way for the majority of people who are NOT regular bike commuters to safely use a bike on Admiral Way will connect destinations people actually want to get to, and can slow car traffic to make it safer to walk across the street or park vehicles on the street, and might even reduce the beach parking demand on the handful of summer days when it backs up to Schmitz Park.

fluffylongshanks August 6, 2015 (12:48 pm)

California Way should have speed bumps or something. Tourists drive too fast up the hill, and the sidewalk is pedestrian-heavy at most hours; one time is too many to have some cyclist nearly knock my daughter’s stroller into the road while grunting up the sidewalk heads-down and oblivious.

Neighbor up the hill August 6, 2015 (1:30 pm)

Thank you to all those cyclist that are giving me good suggestions. A couple of my limitations are that I’m recently riding again after a long stretch of being lazy, thinking it was beyond my capability, that sort of thing. I had thought biking up Admiral on the east side was beyond my current capability (I had been coming up via the west side). So currently I’d like to stick to Admiral as time is also a factor. I also see the potential for ped conflicts as I used to walk up California from the water taxi. Bonair is too steep and too far around for me. To the car folks (and yes that includes me on hopefully increasingly rarer occasion), you never realize how dicey it is until you do it yourself. Please please give cyclist room on the road and be patient. From the end of the westbound bike lane, it’s only a few blocks.

AceMotel August 6, 2015 (1:53 pm)

someone said >>> [creating a bike lane on Admiral Way] might even reduce the beach parking demand on the handful of summer days when it backs up to Schmitz Park.

???????And how would that happen?????? The people who drive to alkibeach from other parts of the city are not gonna come on a bike. Is that really what you are saying.

carol August 6, 2015 (2:25 pm)

I am amused by the suggestions someone made about using Ferry St., Fairmount, Bonair. Folks, those hills are way too hard/steep for the vast majority of cyclists! Also both Fairmount and Bonair don’t feel too safe because of limited sightlines on the steepest parts.
Avalon might be a better choice for some folks and I also use California.

Jason August 6, 2015 (4:42 pm)

Ace, you’d be surprised what happens when cities actually make it comfortable for folks to get around on bikes. Many of us regularly go to destinations around the city. If SDOT designs and builds comfortable bike facilities on west Admiral, that will absolutely reduce the number of car trips. But that’s really not the point of the project — it’s more of an ancillary benefit.

AceMotel August 6, 2015 (6:11 pm)

going up Admiral Way on a bike is never gonna be comfortable, Jason, no matter how you spin it. Admiral Way is not the playa. And people from Renton, Kent, Bellevue, Kenmore etc are not gonna drive to alkibeach on a bike with their friends to play volleyball. Not even from Ballard, I am sure. Maybe that’s the point though, maybe the city wants that park to be open mostly to people without cars. Less trash pick up, less people means less potential trouble, less wear and tear on the beach. Less police patrol. I get it.

Kathy August 8, 2015 (6:31 am)

The many comments on this project have been trying to describe in words the areas with dangers to cyclists and the areas with problems for parking cars, with limited success. The fact is, the only way the conflicts between those for and against this project will be resolved is to have a “Find It Fix It” walk the entire length of the proposed project and reach out to all the stakeholders to encourage participation. I am not sure how 2-dimensional briefing charts can adequately depict the combined dangers of elevation change with curves and parking practices along the various segments of Admiral Way west of California. If stakeholders could visually inspect the challenges of biking and car parking along the route and discuss the issues rationally instead of relying on written comments there might be a better chance of understanding and compromise leading to an acceptable design.

Thomas M. August 10, 2015 (2:17 pm)

Tickets. Lots and lots of tickets. I like the idea of Radar-Cam tickets too. More tickets with no consumption of police personnel time. Do the same on I-35. That street still scares the bejabbers out of me and I NEVER see cops running speed traps on it. What’s with that?

Sorry, comment time is over.