FOLLOWUP: See what’s in the final ‘Home Zone’ plans for Highland Park, Riverview, South Delridge

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

More than 70 locations for speed humps/cushions are part of the final plans for “Home Zone” traffic-calming in Highland Park, Riverview, and South Delridge neighborhoods besieged by detouring drivers since the West Seattle Bridge closed a year ago.

The plans were presented last night – along with side notes about a new stretch of greenway and the bridge itself – at an online meeting led by SDOT and Department of Neighborhoods reps.

THE PLANS: First, the definition of Home Zone:

SDOT did traffic counts at more than 39 locations and took three walking tours while coming up with the draft plan presented in January. They also offered a survey that brought 542 responses. 59 percent of respondents felt the draft plan was missing something that would make them feel safer – 300 suggestions came in. “About 30 percent were things we can accommodate in the Home Zone plan or look into further,” said SDOT’s David Burgesser. The rest were too general, not feasible, too expensive, or put aside for future consideration.

SOUTH AREA HOME ZONE PLAN

SDOT’s Shauna Walgren went through the plans. The speed humps/cushions are going in at spots where many drivers were speeding. One stretch of 9th SW will have a pre-cast concrete “wheel-stop” curb added. The Delridge/Barton intersection will be “upgraded,” coordinated with the ongoing RapidRide H Line preparation project:

NORTH AREA HOME ZONE PLAN

Burgesser walked through this one. New speed cushions are planned for 16th SW (those are different from speed humps – they can be used on arterials and emergency routes). 14th SW has one block planned for wheel-stop curbing to narrow the street by getting parked cars further into it. The intersections of 14th/Thistle and 14th/Kenyon will get some TBA changes. 9th SW will get some painted curb bulbs. SDOT will be collecting more traffic data on 9th to see if more traffic calming is needed. On SW Webster, wheel stops might be added because it’s too steep for speed cushions/humps. At 15th/Webster, some ADA access is planned.

Biggest addition – they’re converting a stretch of 12th into a greenway, including a crossing signal at 12th/Holden, which would require the flashing beacon at 11th/Holden to be removed. Here’s how they chose 12th:

RIVERVIEW HOME ZONE PLAN

More speed cushions and painted curb bulbs are planned to encourage heavy traffic like trucks to use Dumar/Orchard. At one spot on the latter, a new rapid flashing crossing beacon is planned.

WHAT’S NEXT

The “goal” is to get all of this done by year’s end, though the team admitted a little nervousness regarding pandemic effects getting in the way.

DISCUSSION

Before breaking out into 3 groups, participants voiced questions and concerns, including the need for more to be done on Highland Park Way; SDOT’s Sara Zora pointed out that’s a separate project. The future Highland Park Corner Store at 9th/Kenyon was pointed out as a spot where a pedestrian crossing is needed; Burgesser said they can re-examine that intersection once the business opens.

After the breakouts, recaps included a note that the “big picture” is the ultimate culprit – Sylvan/Orchard/Dumar/Austin detour traffic to get to Holden, backing up light by light – “twenty minutes to go four blocks,” at times. Zora said she’ll ask that signal-operation staffers take a look. 16th/Holden is a challenge too, it was noted. The Highland Park/South group suggested a look at 14th/Henderson, as well as – down the line – 4th/Roxbury/Olson. “We have a 100 percent design [for a separate project] there,” said Zora, adding that it would take $2.5 million, so it’s a possibility for 2022. “It’s hugely on our radar screen, for sure.” Highland Park neighborhood advocate Kay Kirkpatrick said they need to know how things are going on the Highland Park Way/Holden Improvements project, as communication with its team had fallen into “a black hole.” Zora promised to fix that.

How will all this be communicated? Individual outreach efforts, community groups, an e-mail list are among the plans. For items like speed humps, it’ll be an FYI to neighbors, but for something like the wheel-stop curbs, that’ll be a larger discussion.

ALSO NOTED AT THE MEETING

One slide pointed out that lots of city projects are touching on Highland Park:

As for the high bridge, Zora said Wednesday’s West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force meeting – watch it here at noon – will present a “whole lot of information” about the 30 percent design milestone for the high-bridge repairs.

They’re also:
-Continuing to plan for future replacement of the high bridge (even though optimally that’s 40 years away)
-Working on three low-bridge projects:

-Recapped the low-bridge restrictions

-Recapped Reconnect West Seattle traffic-management work and encouraging other modes of crossing the river IF you can try something new – see the project dashboard/map on the RWS webpage – here are the top 10 projects in the areas covered by the meeting last night:

Those projects, and the ones in the Home Zone plans, are all designed to be small enough to be handled by SDOT crews.

19 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: See what's in the final 'Home Zone' plans for Highland Park, Riverview, South Delridge"

  • Auntie March 9, 2021 (6:10 pm)

    What is “wheel-stop curbing?”

  • Alex March 9, 2021 (6:50 pm)

    Fantastic for these neighborhoods but infuriating for the rest of us who are also impacted and have been ignored by SDOT. 

  • Mamasuze March 9, 2021 (7:12 pm)

    Here’s an idea…..don’t waste money on stupid speed bumps. Put the $ toward fixing the BRIDGE! And do it NOW!!!!

  • bikerep March 9, 2021 (7:58 pm)

    real cute. just fix the bridge. 

  • Fed Up March 9, 2021 (8:39 pm)

    How about they put some energy into making simple decisions, such as allowing permits for those who have to have DAILY medical treatment, such as radiation, at medical facilities in downtown Seattle or the east side?!  

    Appalling that this conversation was brought up to the (“leadership”) at SDOT from citizens and King County Council members MONTHS ago.Shameful. Let’s get beautification but care less about the actual citizens.   This is a leadership decision, it doesn’t warrant a useless community committees who make no real decisions. Make the decision, put physician acknowledgment submission process (oh, yes, you can do so and still abide by HIPPA laws), and be done with it. Today, for example, NB 99 was backed up so far and for so long, that I was forced to drive to Southcenter to U-turn to I5 to drive to University of Washington!  Unbelievably short-sighted organization that espouses ESJI.   

  • TreeHouse March 9, 2021 (9:11 pm)

    Wow, this is great! I only wish they could do this for my neighborhood!

  • a_dash_of_blog March 9, 2021 (9:31 pm)

    Is there a place where I can read more about what makes a street into a “greenway?” Also in paragraph 2 under the “Discussion” header, I’m not sure I’m quite following this paragraph correctly. Am I reading that they are going to adjust light timing for the 16th/Holden intersection and then that there was an ask to have light timing evaluated for or lights installed at 14th/Henderson and 4th/roxbury/olson? Thank you in advance! I’m an interested highland park neighbor :)

  • D March 9, 2021 (10:23 pm)

    These improvements will save lives. I’ve seen multiple accidents at 15th and Barton and these traffic calming improvements like the four way stop and speed bumps will save lives. Especially in the summer when the ice cream truck is always at that intersection and kids are running around. As things slowly get back to normal and more people drive downtown and out of WS, it will only get worse. We all want the bridge to get fixed ASAP and I appreciate that the City is looking at this from all angles. 

  • MKG March 10, 2021 (7:35 am)

    The bottom of Erskine where it turns into 48th is a freakin’ racetrack!  The existing so called “speed bumps” are nothing more than a soft undulation in the road surface.   I’d sure like them upgraded to something more to contend with.   Almost no one drives the posted 25, and most are between 35 and 50 mph.   Oddly, this post is less about safety than it is about the great noise created by drivers horsing their engines and flying by at all hours.  

  • Mj March 10, 2021 (9:30 am)

    SDoT should be focussed on repairing the WSB and making the Arterial routes work better via increasing capacity (via parking restrictions, 30′ all directions, at intersections for example), reverting the speed limit back to 30 mph that was appropriate.  Making Arterials routes work better would reduce traffic diversion to unclassified streets.

    • Jort March 10, 2021 (10:34 am)

      No, they will undo safety improvements by widing roads and increasing the speed limit. The old ways of designing streets, so that they more closely resemble freeways, is outdated and dying, and we will not be going back to it again, ever, and that’s just how it will be. Old school opinions on road design from traffic engineers of a bygone generation resulted in thousands of preventable deaths and injuries. The safety improvements, including lower speeds and lane restrictions, will stay, forever, end of story.

  • H. Hostirvad March 10, 2021 (9:39 am)

    Whatever it takes to save one life is something we as a community can absorb. 

  • HungryKids March 10, 2021 (10:21 am)

    Last week, SDOT pushed out information showing that the Neighborhood Greenway or Stay Healthy Street between Webster and Myrtle was going to be relocated to 18th SW instead of 17th. That made a lot of sense, since the block between 18th and 17th on Myrtle is a significant connector between SW Orchard and 16th SW if you are going to the college or the Riverview Playfield.  Today, they are pushing out information that shows that it will remain on 17th SW, where bicyclists, strollers and others have to contend with a mid-block staircase. That was always a terrible choice for a Greenway and we thought SDOT had finally realized that. Can you clarify what they are actually planning to do here?    

    • WSB March 10, 2021 (10:56 am)

      Where last week did they “push out” information? Did you receive a notice or email you can forward to us? Thank you.

  • Resident on 18th SW March 10, 2021 (11:54 am)

    Below is the SDOT link with a survey for safe streets including the recommendation to change from 17th (yes, a dead-end street with no sidewalks except for the newer homes built south of the stairway) to 18th (when I was walking on 18th and almost got hit by a speeding bicyclist down the hill) between Webster and Myrtle because they can go around those puny speed humps and safe streets include bicyclists (?!)
      https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/stay-healthy-streets/delridge-and-highland-park-stay-healthy-street

  • JL March 10, 2021 (2:21 pm)

    Let’s get rid of the Carpool lane on northbound 509 at Cloverdale.  Everyone is driving with 1 person in it anyway.  This would free up traffic heading to 99/East Marginal Way S and give more room for those trying to get  onto the Bridge coming Southbound via West Marginal Way and Highland Park Way  Come on WSDOT help us out..  BTW Highland Park is becoming the Hump Park because of the Bridge, hope they remove the humps after the Bridge is fixed.

  • Mj March 10, 2021 (3:59 pm)

    Jort – what widening?  Daylighting intersections improves safety and capacity! 

    And to date not one SDoT employee has refuted my analysis or provided any technical justification for lowering speed limits, in particular Principal Arterials.  Speed limits set based on technical data are safer than arbitrary limits with no technical justification.  From my observations the number of people driving at excessive speeds has gone up since the change in numbers on a sign!

  • Robert J Schmidt March 11, 2021 (6:01 pm)

    Typical. Instead of solving the problem by punishing the people that cause the problem and maybe making some money on the side, we punish everyone including the responsible by effectively installing potholes in the street at considerable expense.

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