FOLLOWUP: Timeline slides for SW Admiral Safety Project

| Transportation | West Seattle news

(SDOT map of project zone)

Six months ago, when SDOT held a second open house, by community request, for the SW Admiral Way Safety Project, the resulting “final design” was expected shortly thereafter, “implementation” was expected by year’s end, and “evaluation” was expected this year.

The year’s one-fourth over, and the design hasn’t even gone public yet. That was pointed out at this month’s Alki Community Council meeting, when one attendee said she hadn’t been able to get the SDOT project manager to answer her questions about where the project stood.

If the project name doesn’t bring an image to mind, it’s the reconfiguration >originally proposed almost a year ago for Admiral Way west of California SW. It was first shown to the Admiral Neighborhood Association in April 2015, with added bicycle lanes, narrowed general-purpose lanes, and some parking removal. After subsequently contentious-at-times reaction – especially regarding the revelation that initial decisions had been made based on wintertime parking usage, not summertime – the project was modified a bit and brought back to the community in fall (along with summertime parking data).

With half a year now past since the September meeting, and after hearing the frustration voiced at the ACC meeting, we contacted SDOT to ask for a status update. Project spokesperson Dawn Schellenberger replied, “We are in the process of revising the design and do not yet have a final design nor implementation date.” The online information has changed slightly since we contacted her – the timeline box now says “implementation” in spring this year and “evaluation” in spring of next year – but no word on what will be proposed for in the next design revision.

Kara Luckey March 28, 2016 (6:31 am)

I am the Alki community member the post references who couldn’t get SDOT to respond to my requests for information.

A bit of background: At last fall’s public meeting, many of us expressed concerns about pedestrian safety on Admiral and demanded that measures be taken to address pedestrians in the project. So far, SDOT has refused to do so. This is despite the fact that SDOT’s own traffic counts indicate there is more pedestrian than bike activity along Admiral in some cases. Yet, somehow bikes get their own protected lanes while pedestrians get nothing. There are also many flaws with how counts were obtained that may underestimate pedestrian activity. For example, counts were only taken on a weekday during certain hours at particular intersections (and not taken on all corners) and therefore do not account for people walking/crossing at locations outside of those intersections. In short, it seems the “Admiral Way Safety project” is really only concerned about bike safety. The neighbors and I who have been working on this issue find this alarming since nearly everyone, at some point in the day is a pedestrian. Not everyone is able, or wants, to bike along the corridor.

Subsequent to the ACC meeting, Dawn Schellenberger expressed willingness to meet with me and any other interested parties about these issues. A meeting has been set for Tuesday, April 12th 12:30PM (location in Alki area TBD). If you are interested in joining us, we’d love to have more support. Please contact me at kshowalter@hotmail.com. Note that we will only be discussing the specifics of possible crosswalks and other pedestrian safety infrastructure at this meeting, not other aspects of the project.

Joe March 28, 2016 (11:59 am)

SDOT not responding? Surprising, not!
JN March 28, 2016 (4:32 pm)

Narrowing lanes, either through use of the addition of bike lanes or simply shrinking the general purpose lanes, had been shown to make pedestrians safer as there is less distance to cross. So they are contributing to pedestrian safety with the current plan.

DR March 28, 2016 (9:27 am)

Why can’t this meeting be held in the evening time so people who work can actually attend? It feels as if the city planners are yet again trying to “slip one past” the citizens of the Admiral District. I for one am sick and tired of the city’s trickery!

Kara Luckey March 28, 2016 (11:20 am)

Hi DR – I agree wholeheartedly. Dawn and the project manager were not willing to meet outside of business hours on April 12th, but I am planning to ask them to set up another public meeting prior to implementation, and/or present to next month’s Alki Community Council (if council leadership is open to that). I will be sure that any meeting is posted to the blog. It may also help for others to urge Dawn to plan a time for public input. Her email is Dawn.Schellenberg@Seattle.gov.

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