Man taken to hospital after Highland Park Way/Holden crash

(WSB photo)

10:29 PM: A man riding that motorcycle collided with a car driver about an hour ago at Highland Park Way and Holden and was taken to Harborview Medical Center, police tell us. No other details on the circumstances but apparently not life-threatening injuries as authorities are about to clear the scene.

10:58 PM: Thanks to Anneka for that photo from shortly after emergency responders arrived. A bystander asked us the status of the roundabout proposed as a safety improvement for the intersection; here is our most-recent report, from the May meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee, when an SDOT rep announced the cost estimate had skyrocketed to $7+ million.

23 Replies to "Man taken to hospital after Highland Park Way/Holden crash"

  • Matt June 11, 2019 (12:44 am)

    How many people will the 7 million dollar round-a-bout be able to house?

  • West Seattle Hipster June 11, 2019 (5:19 am)

    7 + million to pour some concrete and install some signs?  What more could be needed to put a roundabout there?

    • Michelle June 11, 2019 (7:40 am)

      It would be nice for them to tell us how it could cost $7m. If that includes some stupid “analysis” by a committee to tell us what we already know about the dang intersection, I wouldn’t be surprised.

    • forgotmyname June 11, 2019 (8:27 am)

      Putting aside the bloated budgets of every federal/state/city construction project, a couple of factors have driven up the cost of construction projects over the last couple of years:

      • 1) the area’s low employment rate and corresponding hot job market has made labor costs for these projects extremely expensive. It takes a lot of labor to make this happen (most of which you don’t see in an orange vest), from engineers to traffic officers to someone driving the concrete trucks. Our company contracts for some of these types of jobs and in order to attract skilled labor has had to offer wages/benefits way beyond what we did 5-6 years ago. I’d imagine it’s the same for WaDOT/SDOT and their contractors.
      • 2) the cost of construction materials has gone up significantly since King Babycages and his foolish tariffs are essentially taxes on American companies buying construction materials
      • Swede. June 11, 2019 (12:39 pm)

        One of the few good things with the Seattle ‘build boom’ is that finally construction workers gets paid a appropriate wage. Engineers and architects always been paid more than enough. 

    • ktrapp June 11, 2019 (9:58 am)

      From reading the study that was posted here a little while back, they mainly point to the fact that they’d need to increase the size of the footprint where the roundabout would go, which means dumping a lot of dirt on the hill side.  So it’s definitely a bit beyond just slapping down more concrete and painting lines.  I’m struggling to wrap my head around the $7 million more part of it, but I’m also note in construction.

  • Karlsnarl June 11, 2019 (7:39 am)

    Roundabout at the top of a hill – bad idea. Seems like a traffic light would be cheaper. How can SDOT spit out a number like that with a straight face?  If that’s the price tag for a roundabout, how much $$ has been spent for all the roundbouts in Seattle? Sounds like someone’s getting their pockets lined. 💣☠

  • Andrea June 11, 2019 (7:41 am)

    That is insane, 7MIL?!  Wonder how it is decided which intersections should be prioritized?  Not too long ago I noticed a new roundabout at the intersection of SW 108th Street and 8th AVE SW.  I would argue that the HP/Holden intersection gets far more traffic and the visibility is much worse.

    • WSB June 11, 2019 (9:44 am)

      The 8th/108th is a county project. Different governments, different jurisdictions, different money pools. Also different sizes, different intersection conditions. (And as we learned covering last week’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting for our other site White Center Now, that one has caused some trouble!)

  • Airwolf June 11, 2019 (8:13 am)

    $7 million. Wow does the roundabout  include a light rail station? 

  • KayK June 11, 2019 (8:36 am)

    Thanks saw your coverage this AM.Keeping these in the public record helps us advocate for improving the intersection. For example last night the car sustained significant damage, the bike too, plus the rider’s medical bills. Say 20+K cost to the individuals. Add up the number of incidents there over the years and suddenly you have 7 million dollars – humm…

  • Beckyjo June 11, 2019 (9:02 am)

    How do you put a price on safety?

  • Goddess Andraste June 11, 2019 (9:10 am)

    The waist-high grass at the top of the hill, again, isn’t helping matters either. So hard to see turning left to go downhill. I’d like to take a pic and send it in to Find It Fix It (which I did last year when it was nearly covering the old Yield sign), but I’m always driving solo, and can’t do so safely. Maybe someone on here could get a pic, help out with that.

  • Jericho June 11, 2019 (9:32 am)

    Kayk, unless you have some evidence that the particular cause of this accident could have been prevented by your magical roundabout I’m going to call BS on your ‘math’.My impression of the mechanics of the proposed roundabout, based on having travelled that intersection daily for almost 20 years, is that it would cause more problems than it would prevent.  Just my humble opinion of course, but it’s worth exactly as much as yours is.   

    • Cant remember June 11, 2019 (1:47 pm)

      Cant remember exact numbers, but its something like… 75% of motorcycle accidents involve another vehicle, usually passenger cars.  Of those accidents, about 90% of the time, the car impeeds the motorcyle’s right of way.  The most dangerous scenario for any motorcyclist happens while traveling straight through an intersection, where vehicles can make left turns in front of the rider.  All that being said… a roundabout ELIMINATES left turns altogether 

  • Donna June 11, 2019 (10:11 am)

    Goddess, I recently used the Find It Fix It app to report overgrown grass at another intersection , no picture included, and I had a response in 2 days and it was cut about 3 days after that.

  • BlairJ June 11, 2019 (11:48 am)

    Is there any information about which vehicles were going which way?  The most dangerous interaction there is when a driver at the stop sign eastbound on Holden does not realize that vehicles turning from northbound HPW to westbound Holden do not have a stop sign.  Similar for vehicles headed southbound on HPW who always have the right of way.

    • Barkwoof June 11, 2019 (7:37 pm)

      Motorcycle was traveling southbound Highland Park Drive(uphill). vehicle was turning left (downhill) to northbound Highland Park DriveThe intersection currently has poor visibility, there is tall overgrown grass on the corner and blocking some of the view of oncoming traffic

  • uncle loco June 11, 2019 (12:34 pm)

    Forgottename, honest question. How would tariffs have an effect on the pricing of this job? Would we have to import dirt, sand,  gravel, concrete and asphalt? Most of the jobs I work on require locally sourced materials.

    • mark47n June 11, 2019 (4:03 pm)

      Concrete is made locally. Steel is made locally. Dirt comes out of local ground. Asphalt is made/recycled locally. Nope, no tariffs here.

    • The King June 11, 2019 (4:06 pm)

      Uncle loco you are right in that materials would be sourced locally. Ironically the consequences of tax incidence are suddenly real to some people in Seattle. 

  • mark47n June 11, 2019 (3:58 pm)

    AS a local motorcycle rider I can say that this area scares the crap out of me! I watch people blow through stop signs without even slowing down or looking, ignore rules regarding right of way at unsigned intersections, drive while staring at their phones, etc. The Ak Jct area seems to be a free for all zone. I’m far less concerned when I’m traveling 70mph on the freeway than I am traveling 20-30 around the neighborhood.As to whether of not a roundabout increases motorcycle rider safety, well, given that no one around here drives safely now I cannot see how this will improve matters.

  • WS Neighbor June 12, 2019 (12:09 am)

    Hope the people involved in this accident recover quickly and completely.  This is such a confusing intersection – especially when turning left.  

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