Thanks to Jim Edwards for the photo – that’s how the 5-way intersection (Spokane/Chelan/West Marginal/Delridge) west of the low bridge looked this morning after the second night of repaving. It’s since been striped, and here’s the SDOT cam view of how it looks now:
Lane reconfiguration and signal work was part of the projet too – here’s the SDOT one-sheet (PDF) explainng.
I keep watching the video of the new intersection and I am amazed at how many residents from the West Seattle area blatantly disobey the low level bridge rules. I am inconvenienced too but refuse to think that I am better than everyone else and that the rules are made for others so I take the longer route to the 1st Ave S. bridge. I don’t always agree with how they are used but wouldn’t this be a great place for a traffic cam that issues citations?
I agree. You either fall in line with the rules meant for everyone or not. It’s the same mentality of partying on the beaches of Alki (or Florida). “Oh there’s other people cheating so I’ll just do it”. They’re just flipping us the middle finger as they cross “while nobody’s watching”.
I agree, but I do wish they’d seriously entertain opening the low bridge during off-peak hours. I go to SLU for work, sometimes at odd hours (I work at UW Medicine) and have been dutifully going around to 1st Ave. But it’s galling to drive by that bridge when it’s totally deserted and have to go another 3+ miles out of my way…
What did you expect they couldn’t even follow the stay home order and social distancing
Nice that both Chelan and W Marginal have been reduced from 2 through lanes to 1 in this intersection. That should really help reduce traffic, as it is so terrible that it will likely cause drivers who hoped to detour here to quit their jobs and stop commuting altogether. Sort of the opposite of “induced demand”, it’s induced despair.
From what I’ve seen the new design should help traffic move better. With one lane each way, it’s now possible to move traffic in both directions (EB/WB) at the same time, which should reduce the light cycles for everyone.
I agree as well and haven’t yet taken the lower bridge. But after a recent weekend Costco trip, I was thinking what the harm would be to open it up only on weekends or after hours. Same as carpool restrictions in many areas. For now anyway. Just a thought while taking the back way home…
Happy to see the left lane of W. Marginal turned into TURN ONLY lane.. Tired of nearly getting hit by the cars trying to speed by and cut over into the other lane by the Fire Station.
I’m thinking of the lane that takes you to Harbor, Avalon, and Admiral. I saw people do that all the time before and with the bridge closure it’s gotten worse, they’re just using the maybe turn lane to get to the front of the line and then cut over at the last minute, causing even more back up in the right lane. Whenever I’ve seen a massive back up in the right lane I just hop over to the turn lane and then take Genessee up to Avalon, at posted speeds of course. I know it’s frustrating situation but people need to chill.
The amount of backed up traffic that is going to incur from making that left lane a turn lane is going to be insane. From two lanes down to one in yet another spot on Marginal… Good lord! 👎
So it took an epidemic to finally get this section repaved? How insane is that. Our city really needs to take a hard look on how they do stuff around here.
No, it took the high bridge closing – this was framed as part of the response to that.
Now that the pavement work and striping is complete I hope drivers will remember to “Merge Late & Cooperate” as they travel westbound from West Marginal Way to the signal at West Marginal Way, Chelan, Delridge, and Spokane. As other comments have noted it is NOT called “lane cutting” it is called a “zipper merge.” This video from WSDOT explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ypWx8PEFXI Please use the zipper and don’t leave your (fly) left lane open. ; )
You are wrong. It is by definition not a “zipper lane”. A “zipper lane” ends and merges into one continuously moving lane of traffic, not a lane that is approaching a stop light. That w bound left lane does not end, it becomes a left turn only lane. If you try to treat it like a “zipper Lane” which it is not, traffic will back up in both lanes preventing many, many vehicles from being able to access the left turn only lane. Sorry, no zipper, you’re going to have to lineup in the right hand designated forward only lane, even if it’s backed up to Tukwila, lol
Just a friendly reminder for drivers not to block the bike boxes within the intersection. If you need more information, please refer to https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/bike-program/how-to-use-seattle-bike-lanes
Can they do some paving/ lane striping at 16th/ Holden; maybe even add protected left turns from 16th (southbound) to Holden (east bound)? All the regulars/ locals know where to go / which lane if you are turning left. Unfortunately, a lot of the people coming up from Orchard like to block off 16th cause they want to turn on Holden.. A CF on a normal day, don’t know what it is like now…. It would be nice if SDOT could make this all official.
@WSB: Has the city released any sort of explanation for their logic for the changes? Right now, in my experience, it seems as if the majority of the traffic westbound on W. Marginal Wy is headed to Chelan Ave SW to then proceed to Admiral or Avalon. Only a small percentage turns left onto Delridge, maybe because the folks that need to go to Delridge use the Highland Pk route off of W. Marginal instead. Under the prior design there were two lanes on W. Marginal that would allow you to cross the intersection to get to Chelan (though the left lane from W. Marginal did require a merge after the light to get into the single lane of Chelan). As a result both lanes of westbound W. Marginal moved reasonably well. Now with only one lane of W. Marginal available to cross the intersection and get to Chelan, I foresee a massive backup on W. Marginal. I don’t understand how taking two lanes and converting them to one lane is going to reduce traffic. How does the city explain this?
Dan, please consider the changes to signal timing along with the changes to lane alignment.
Right, I have found the changes make it more efficient traveling through that intersection. Having the dedicated turn lanes enable the through lanes to go in both directions at the same time (when the turn lights are red both ways). So far my wait times are less than before the changes – but it is early and there is so little traffic on the roads.
It seems that a roundabout would be more efficient in these complicated intersections, allowing traffic to move freely from all directions and it looks like there is enough space for it. I don’t understand why these are not more prevalent in the US. I think necking the WS bound traffic to one lane will cause major backups on Marginal. I agree with other posters that the City needs multi-modal backup plans ASAP.
common sense – thanks jeff… a roundabout would keep traffic moving all the time.
I’ve also thought that a roundabout would make sense there, but would it accommodate the bikes crossing
In 3 or 4 weeks its not going to matter, there will be 2 hour backups everywhere. Time to learn to ride an E-Bike.
Sorry, comment time is over.
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