13 Replies to "LAST CHANCE: Final feedback opportunity for Reconnect West Seattle projects"

• Jort August 25, 2020 (11:25 am)

  Oh cool! A list of exclusively car-centered projects. Here’s the best part: you can do every single one of these and it still will barely make a dent in the dystopian nightmare hellscape of traffic congestion that awaits this peninsula for the next few years. I guess these little baby projects might make people FEEL like something is being done for them, so Jenny “I Love Cars” Durkan will love it. There is no “quick fix” to the laws of geometry; car driving congestion in West Seattle is literally unfixable and it’s almost criminal that Durkan and SDOT are giving false hope to people about this. 

  • Mort August 25, 2020 (12:46 pm)

    A small, list of immediate fixes is almost certainly going to be centered on the primary mode of transit for the area and there is no reason to think otherwise.  In this case, the prioritization was a result of community outreach, so while the results might not be to your liking they represent the current priorities of the community you reside within. 

    • Jort August 25, 2020 (2:51 pm)

      Oooo, close, but not quite. They represent the priorities of the people in the community who filled out the survey.  Regardless of this “prioritization,” it’s still meaningless pablum compared to the real challenges this peninsula faces. Pretending that we can “vote” on repainting a few intersections to “solve” this self-induced car-centered crisis is irresponsible pandering on the part of SDOT. Realistic solutions would look like offers by SDOT to buy out people’s car loans in exchange for free e-bikes and 20x better transit service to the peninsula. The problem with the bridge closure is the cars, not the options available for alternative transportation. There is no re-striping or signal timing plan that will fit the 100,000+  daily diverted cars from the Before Times onto the 1st Ave S. Bridge, no matter how many people fill out surveys and no matter how many armchair engineers and make-believe transportation planners write furious “do something” comments in blog comment sections.  I will once again say that the barriers to car-related “solutions” to the bridge issue are geometric and in the laws of physics. The barriers to bike/walking/transit solutions are political courage and small-minded, cars-first-cars-only thinking. One of those can be changed, the other can’t, so make your personal mental adaptations.

      • 1994 August 25, 2020 (10:05 pm)

        Dear Jort, you must have missed good info for cyclists that was on the Blog the other week: The Mobility Action Plan survey claims 6000 people said they would consider biking. So, “With so many suggesting they’d bike more often with increased bike facilities, Colin Drake said three projects are proceeding immediately:” 

  • WSB Troll August 27, 2020 (5:33 pm)

    The list of potential projects was severely flawed, with options that had already been completed(turn lanes on 16th), were already being built through Rapid Ride or other ongoing projects such as a new crossing a Delridge and SW Graham,  and projects that spanned several neighborhoods and were miles apart.   Did SDOT need to include a proposal to fill potholes(which the city should just do)or proposals that are clearly over the $100K price cap(sidewalks on 18th).    Garbage in Garbage out.    Bike projects were excluded from the list and prioritized in a separate survey.     Neighborhood non arterial safety and  more current pedestrian issues were neglected in this survey.   We need more conversations with SDOT at the individual neighborhood level. 

• Mj August 25, 2020 (1:30 pm)

  Jort – your anti car tirades are not helping. 

  SDoT’s list needs to add an improvement to WMW at HPW, make the WB curb lane RT only the WB center lane up the hill and convert the low volume WB LT to a second up the hill lane.  The few LT’s can reroute.  

  And fixing the WSB needs to be fast tracked.

  • Amy August 25, 2020 (4:45 pm)

    I agree with Jort. The fact is that there is nothing on the list to help the neighborhoods impacted by the increase in traffic, that have become major detour routes, is anti community.

  • bill August 25, 2020 (5:56 pm)

    MJ — Jort’s posts are not anti-car tirades. He is pointing out there is no way to replace the car capacity of the high bridge. There just isn’t. A couple of lane adjustments at some intersections will not magically restore the lost 7 freeway lanes. If you really are a traffic engineer as you claim, you should know this.

  • TreeHouse August 25, 2020 (10:19 pm)

    MJ – Jort has a very solid argument. Your points are a drop in the bucket for traffic mitigation and will likely yield minimal (if even noticeable) results. We have a too many cars problem and none of these projects are going to fix that.

• Kathy August 25, 2020 (2:15 pm)

  “Put up again thy fossil fuel burning vehicle into it’s place: for all they that take up the fossil fuel burning vehicle, shall perish by the fossil fuel burning vehicle” —  Matthew 26:52 updated.

  • KM August 25, 2020 (8:25 pm)

    Comment of the year!

• bill August 25, 2020 (5:51 pm)

  “Increase the number of lanes on W Marginal Way S” is shorthand for remove the lane reduction at the Duwamish Longhouse and let the Indians play Frogger again to get across the road. All so you can get to the traffic jam for the 1st Ave bridge a few seconds sooner. And I mean that, seconds.

  • Different spot on W Marginal Way August 27, 2020 (4:19 pm)

    Sorry Bill, you misread the choices.  There are several parts of W Marginal Way that could be improved but the reference above is not about the lane reduction at the Duwamish Longhouse.  It’s about the access to the 1st Ave Bridge from W Marginal Way well south of the Longhouse.

Sorry, comment time is over.