FOLLOWUP: 35th SW signal timing still a work in progress

A video posted by West Seattle Blog (@westseattleblog) on Oct 23, 2015 at 6:21pm PDT

(:15 of Instagram video looking north on 35th toward Trenton, recorded 6:20 pm tonight)
More than a month after SDOT rechannelized 35th SW south of Upper Morgan, work on the full plan finalized in July is “essentially done,” project manager Jim Curtin tells WSB. We checked in with him today because the topic came up at last night’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting, with a short discussion of the signal timing in the rechannelization zone. Curtin says they are “still doing some fine tuning of the signal timing,” adding, “We actually had a signal malfunction at Trenton a few weeks ago, which threw us off schedule a bit. We have a temporary fix in place with a permanent repair scheduled to be completed in the next few days. We will continue to tweak the signal timing until it’s ‘dialed in’.” He says there’s one other issue remaining: “We’re also having some trouble getting a few folks to comply with the new parking restrictions for the short segment of BAT lane at Holden. We’ll make another attempt to reach these folks on Monday morning. We’ve knocked on doors and sent three letters to no avail. This time we’ll leave a note on their windshield.” Curtin says he is out on 35th daily – as he has noted publicly many times, he lives in Arbor Heights – and that a new round of data has been ordered, so that SDOT can “provide another update before the end of the year.”

KM October 23, 2015 (7:38 pm)

If parking in the BAT lane on that Holden split is causing some issues, I suggest a communication outreach on Sunday or when church functions at the no-longer-Mars Hill are in progress. I never really saw anyone parking there when it was legal except during services–and for the most part, a flyer on nearby homes doors won’t do much for people who only drive to the area for services. In fact, it’s a downright bizarre and P/A way to address someone parking illegally. Why tell a neighbor who is probably not the owner of the car, when you can address the person committing the infraction? Am I missing something here?

Eddie October 23, 2015 (9:18 pm)

Does anyone else think that the signal at 42nd and Alaska is messed up? Seems as though the traffic on one road will clear and the light stays green forever. Then it will finally change and stay green forever with no traffic, then finally change again. Long wait for pedestrians with no traffic to support having to wait.

TheKing October 23, 2015 (11:03 pm)

I personally have bigger issues than the traffic lights getting “dialed in”. This regime that is deliberately causing traffic jams to try and get Seattles citizens on buses, bicycles or any other means besides a car, needs fess up to it and quit snickering behind closed doors in the glass palace downtown. If you can bike or bus, then fine, but if you’re trying to pick up your child who is waiting for you in the dark as you are sitting on 35th, Delridge, Fauntleroy,etc., three traffic lights away from even moving, I take issue with that. If you live in West Seattle and were for the road diet, cross your fingers that you don’t need an ambulance ride or the fire dept between the hours of 6 to 10 am and 2-7 pm, they may not get to you in a timely manner. In the meantime, enjoy your “safe” roads with the unicorns and rainbows dreamland. This isn’t working.

Lane October 24, 2015 (7:03 am)

If I need an ambulance and the travel lanes are jammed, they’ll use the center turn lane, which is always wide open.
I don’t love the changes to 35th as much as the ones to Roxbury, but most of the day it has improved the drive (via not hitting the brakes every other block while everyone swerves to get around whoever needs to turn) and I’m optimistic some tweaks to other systems will help during peak hours.
I think we need to be realistic about the number of people living in the area and the relatively few options they have to get off the peninsula. There were backups during peak hours before the “road diets.” There will still be backups if they revert the changes, or take away parking to add more lanes.
The solution to rush hour traffic requires a much more holistic approach than an extra travel lane for 1/4 mile of 35th Ave.

Greystreet October 24, 2015 (8:16 am)

Amen TheKing, I have nothing but loathsome and deep-seated hate for the road diet.

Cainipoo October 24, 2015 (10:01 am)

Ugh, SDOT still needs to address the timing of lights from Thistle to Roxbury. I hit EVERY red light headed south in the AM. So inefficient it makes me crazy! Maybe instead of ordering more data and sending notes they could start resurfacing the rest of 35th.

Areyoukiddingmewiththis October 24, 2015 (1:54 pm)

Thank you the king! I do not understand why anyone would think as population constantly increases that we should have less space for traveling instead of more! I think the changes are slowly ruining west Seattle! I have lived here my whole life and am hugely disappointed in our lawmakers. Why are they excited to cut off neighborhoods from each other. The travel time from one end of west Seattle to other has nearly doubled in time. Hate the changes! They are worse than the rapid ride disastrous waste of funds traffic nightmare!

hj October 24, 2015 (2:52 pm)

Eddie– yes, I have noticed a change there as well. It seems like a recent change was made to give more time to traffic on 42nd but it seems too long now. I’m sure they’re still adjusting.

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