Work at three intersections to start soon as part of SDOT’s 35th SW Phase 2

35th SW and SW Dawson, by Camp Long, is one of three 35th SW intersections where SDOT says work could start before Thanksgiving as part of the arterial’s Phase 2 of safety improvements. We first reported back in April on the SDOT plan for more work on 35th SW – primarily crossing improvements. The department is announcing that work is planned soon at three intersections – Dawson, Juneau, and Kenyon – and circulating this explanatory flyer to area residents either this afternoon or early next week:

35th/Juneau has already had some Phase 2 work done, back in summer. 35th/Dawson is the biggest project of the three that SDOT is tackling next, with a full traffic signal part of the package. (Earlier this year, SDOTs Jim Curtin told WSB that the signal has been a community request for more than a decade.) The other new signal in the Phase 2 package, at Graham, is expected to be installed next year. As for which of the three intersections in today’s announcement will be worked on first, SDOT says it will have a followup announcement soon with “detailed schedule and phasing information from the contractor.”

BACKSTORY: If you’re new – 35th SW Phase 1 involved rechannelization starting a short distance south of Morgan and continuing south to Roxbury. The original 2015 announcement suggested there would be more rechannelization north of Morgan starting in 2016, but that didn’t come to pass, and when Phase 2 details were finally announced earlier this year, rechannelization was ruled out – for now.

15 Replies to "Work at three intersections to start soon as part of SDOT's 35th SW Phase 2"

  • Eddie November 2, 2018 (8:34 pm)

    When will they finally finish the bike signal and striping that they started at Spokane and Avalon/Harbor? It’s been sitting non-finished for months. 

    • WSB November 2, 2018 (9:49 pm)

      The city sent this update (to the general project mailing list) last Friday – I kept missing chances to publish it:

      Crews completed striping the intersection of Harbor Ave SW and SW Spokane St on Monday, October 22. Because of a manufacturing delay, however, we’ll be unable to activate the bike signal in October. We received an updated timeline from the manufacturer and expect the materials to arrive in the next few weeks. Then, crews will activate the signal as soon as possible.

      Crews plan to install fencing along the bike path and to complete plantings in November.

      Work completed to date

      Striped road
      Installed new sidewalks and ramps
      Replaced road panels
      Cleared vegetation
      Installed drainage pipes in the road
      Installed electrical components for bike-only signal

      What’s coming next

      Activation of the bike-only signal
      Reinstallation of fencing along the bike path
      Replanting the site

  • CR November 2, 2018 (8:35 pm)

    This is a great decision by the city for 35th and Dawson.  Directly across from Camp Long which is a high traffic area along with bus stops with a lot of riders on opposite corners.  10+ years overdue but better late than never.

  • Delridger November 2, 2018 (8:54 pm)

    It’s so frustrating that they didn’t follow through with the road diet in the north section. It’s still like a speedway there, and crossing on foot is a nightmare. And they can’t even be bothered with a painted crosswalk at Juneau? New curb cuts, but still no marked crossing? Do they expect people to walk blocks out of their way just to cross the street? Or just risk their lives in unmarked crosswalks? Of course, every corner is a crosswalk whether it’s painted or not, but try telling that to all of the entitled drivers who will speed up and lay on their horns when you try to cross.So much for vision zero. 

    • 35thfollowup November 3, 2018 (8:00 am)

      There were 20% fewer injury crashes in the phase 1 area in the 3 years prior to the rechannelization than in the 3 years after.  Possibly why sdot never released the follow up study.https://www.reddit.com/r/WestSeattleWA/comments/9tqauh/sdots_35th_ave_sw_phase1_citizen_3_yr_before_and

      • Scott November 3, 2018 (9:26 am)

        The only reason that this could be true is the fact that you are never going the speed limit and your stuck in traffic. 

    • Scott November 3, 2018 (8:31 am)

      I’m so glad they didn’t move forward with the “road diet” in that area. The traffic is honorable in the area they did it to the south. 35th was meant to move traffic north south at a higher rate of speed. Plus the number and the city awhile ago indicated that there is to many vehicles to do this type of thing to 35th. This is killing how traffic moves around West Seattle. I agree zero vision from leadership on how to do things right. 

      • KM November 4, 2018 (8:58 am)

        It truly is honorable now that is it moving slower :-)

    • KM November 3, 2018 (8:34 am)

      Vision Zero is a complete joke in Seattle. Our current mayor allowing or initiating the roll back of planned safety improvements in various places (though I don’t think 35th Ave SW was under her watch) and now has announced a quicker response plan to removing wrecks from the roadway, so traffic isn’t as impacted when vehicles collide with each other, or worse, strike pedestrians and cyclists. How thoughtful to those whose lives are altered or lost due to traffic violence, or will be. 

  • 1994 November 2, 2018 (9:51 pm)

    Yah! no curb bulbs on the info sheets! The new curb bulb at 35th Ave SW and SW 100th St is a killer! for traffic on both 35th and 100th. If you stand at the edge of it you feel like you are in the middle of 35th.SDOT put up a special sign for southbound drivers to warn them  of a road change. And they left about 6 large orange cones on the bulb to help drivers avoid it. The curb bulb is black from tires rubbing against it. What a poor improvement!

    • Scott November 3, 2018 (8:27 am)

      I totally agree what idiot came up with that idea. I feel like they totally messed up that stretch of 35th.   We will see an uptick in accidents in that area. 

    • CAM November 3, 2018 (1:03 pm)

      What a bunch of poor drivers. There, fixed that for you. 

  • West Seattle Hipster November 3, 2018 (1:02 am)

    It was nice to see SDOT come to their senses and realize a road diet was not an intelligent option for the northern half of 35th.  I still see on the WSB multiple stories of accidents on the section of 35th that did receive the diet,  so clearly the diet was not the solution.   I like the idea of improving crossings, and would like to see ongoing police enforcement of speed limits.

    • WSB November 3, 2018 (11:52 am)

      To clarify again. Whether you think this was the wrong or right or ? approach, it wasn’t billed as something to eliminate crashes.
      The goal is to eliminate crashes with *severe injuries and fatalities.*
      https://www.seattle.gov/visionzero

      So far – no deadly crashes on 35th since the last one before the 35th safety project was announced, James St. Clair in early 2014. That’s been almost five years. He was the fifth person in seven and a half years (dating back to Susanne Scaringi in fall 2006) killed on 35th.

      As for serious-injury crashes, that’s harder to independently verify. While I can say that our archives are absolutely complete regarding fatalities, there’s always a chance we missed a serious-injury crash. By the barometer of SPD calling out TCI for fatal/life-threatening crashes – thereby closing the road for hours, something it would be pretty much impossible for us to miss – our archives show two: The pedestrian-driver collision on 35th north of Avalon back in June; then there was April 2017 at 35th/Morgan.

  • KA November 8, 2018 (8:10 pm)

    Curious–for those of you who live on 35th in the diet/south end, did the traffic noise go up, reduce or stay the same? Sounds like 99 on the north end! 

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