TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Wednesday updates; 59th/Admiral suddenly changed again

(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

7:02 AM: Good morning! No incidents in/from West Seattle so far this Wednesday.

7:12 AM: Now that the weekend is in view, time for a couple reminders:

SATURDAY & SUNDAY – SW Edmunds is scheduled to be closed at 40th SW for a continuation of the paving work that started weekend before last.

SUNDAY – The West Seattle Junction Harvest Festival will close an additional block of California to traffic south of the Farmers’ Market, so the Sunday closure zone for this week only will be between SW Oregon and SW Edmunds.

7:19 AM: If you use 59th/Admiral, we have multiple reports that the pedestrian-activated stoplight has been reactivated, after weeks of controversy over the effects of SDOT changing the intersection to stop-all-ways. We are heading over for a look.

8:10 AM: Confirmed – without advance notice, the Admiral stop signs are gone and the signal is back to pedestrian-controlled for crossing Admiral. Separate story later – we will be checking with SDOT.

ADDED WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: We have published a followup with what SDOT says is next.

Alki Pedestrian October 25, 2017 (7:31 am)

Were there any public meetings to address this? I was surprised to see the stop sign wasn’t there this morning.

As a user of the bus stop who crosses Admiral at 59th I felt that this was a great improvement. It did an excellent job of slowing down cars and increasing pedestrian safety.

I was also looking forward to the planned curb bulbs at several Admiral intersections.

WSB October 25, 2017 (8:05 am)

No meetings before the original change and not before it was changed back (we are here and have verified that the Admiral stop signs are gone and the signal is back to pedestrian-activated). – TR
Tim October 25, 2017 (12:46 pm)

Lisa Herbold and I emailed back and forth this morning and she even stated that she was not aware the change had been made until this morning. SDOT made the change without notifying anyone last night.
Tim October 25, 2017 (12:52 pm)

Dude, you actually believe that? I’ve taken several videos since this change occurred at the end of the summer, have a look at these two. The second one was right after getting off the bus. Like Anne said, you definitely are in the minority.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqUEczGWhSg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0fuBvTdLdM

Ron October 25, 2017 (8:19 am)

At least with the original change there were months of notice and signs warning of a change. Now cars on 59th think they can cross while cars on Admiral see green and don’t stop. It’s chaos.

Anne October 25, 2017 (8:45 am)

Alki Pedestrian- I think you must be in a very small minority . Not sure if you had seen the many many comments about this since the the traffic changes were made-but the vast majority were negative. As recently as Monday there was a story here in the blog about the 59th/Admiral safety concerns being the subject of an online petition.

I for one am glad the city actually heard the concerns – especially of parents of children attending Alki & acted on them.

Alki Pedestrian October 25, 2017 (9:29 am)

It just seems to me that this is a step backward. I can understand the request for a full traffic signal. That would be acceptable as long as the design prioritizes pedestrians. This would include features such as: pedestrian led signal phases, restricted turns on red, curb bulb extensions to shorten the crosswalk, prioritization of walk phases across admiral, and personally I would like raised crosswalks to further slow traffic and increase pedestrian awareness.

Returning the intersection to a car-centric design doesn’t solve any of the problems for pedestrians.

John H October 25, 2017 (8:53 am)

Yes, this was stupid. Almost got into an accident this morning thinking that it was a 4-way stop still.

No traffic revision signs, nothing. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Alki PTA October 25, 2017 (9:20 am)

Our students were safer this morning. Returning the crossing light to the intersection was a win for Alki families.

That said, it is mind-boggling that SDOT has made the switch back without 1.) communicating the change to the parent comprised Traffic Safety Task Force whose advocacy drove this improvement or 2.) placing ANY signage in the area alerting drivers to the change back. Completely negligent.

katy October 25, 2017 (9:27 am)

As someone who lives in the area and drives through this intersection multiple times per day, I’m glad they changed this intersection back to the light from the 4-way stop; but I think the lack of notice will certainly cause confusion for the next few days – and because of that will be a poor indication of how well the light vs. the 4 way stop works.

The 4 way stop was confusing for multiple reasons:

– people paid more attention to other cars and whether or not it was their turn to go, rather than to pedestrians

– people didn’t use turning signals, which cause confusion when multiple people are trying to drive through at the same time

– cars going different directions flat out ignored the stop sign and ran through it quickly

As a resident of this area, I’d love to figure out good ways to slow people down driving down admiral (and a way to remind people to stop for pedestrians, even at unmarked intersections….can’t tell you how many times I’m walking across the street in the middle of admiral at 61st or 62nd and almost get hit…), but I don’t think the 4-way stop was the right solution.

Sarah October 25, 2017 (9:39 am)

John. Same here. Scary stuff.

SLJ October 25, 2017 (9:40 am)

This almost caused an accident this morning–why weren’t there signs saying there was a traffic change ahead? Everyone finally got used to a four way stop and then it changed overnight. A full traffic light seems to be the best option. The four way stop was difficult in such a large intersection with multiple lanes and a school down the street. But whatever happens, we need signage to let us know.

Eddie October 25, 2017 (10:08 am)

Sounds like the best way to get people to slow down and pay attention is to keep changing things up. When “me-centered” people get behind the wheel and go into automatic-mode, that’s when things get dangerous.

John H October 25, 2017 (12:13 pm)

Eddie –

Coming from Alki school direction it is very difficult to see that the signage has changed other than the small “ALL WAY” signs were missing and it’s impossible to see that the stop signs were removed from Admiral way direction. It all looks the same as when it had a 4-way stop. You also can’t really see what’s going on with the light – is it green, flashing red, etc.

Sure we have to pay attention all the time, but the point is that this is a very confusing intersection to cross in any configuration and it is difficult to detect that the other drivers now have no stop sign. With no warnings that something has changed it’s a recipe for a bad accident, potentially with our elementary kids involved.

Not arguing which configuration the intersection should be, but how they went about changing it back to what it was. Just plain stupid and dangerous.
- WSB October 25, 2017 (12:37 pm)
  
  SDOT is back out there now with signage and some line-moving. Still awaiting an official statement/update for forthcoming followup…

KBear October 25, 2017 (10:38 am)

There isn’t any change SDOT can make to this intersection that will relieve drivers of their duty to pay attention. You have to watch for pedestrians at any 4-way stop, or any other intersection for that matter. Sometimes you lose your turn to go when there are pedestrians. Too bad! I agree that a full traffic light might be a better solution here, but I don’t like this reasoning that they should leave it the way it was because drivers can’t handle the change to a 4-way stop. Perhaps some additional police enforcement would be in order.

Craig October 25, 2017 (12:25 pm)

If they would move the light so that it actually facilitated a four way intersection it would resolve the issue. As a former resident of the area and a parent at the school, the 4 way stop was an impovement to the rediculously placed light.

Mark October 25, 2017 (11:44 am)

The all way stop was unwarranted, and the result confirmed this. At least in this case it was not a significant $ issue, albeit wasted $’s none the less.

A bigger SDoT potential failure with big $’s involved is the proposal to remove the existing right turn pocket off of Fauntleroy onto Avalon. This existing right turn channelization is off the charts warranted and removing it will increase delay and cause sizeable queues.