ROAD WORK: Next round of West Seattle speed humps

| Safety | Transportation | West Seattle news

Work will start as soon as tomorrow for some of the 70+ new speed humps on the way to Highland Park/South Delridge as part of the Reconnect West Seattle Home Zone plans. The map and announcement are from SDOT:

SDOT will be installing speed humps on SW Henderson St between 10th Ave SW and 12th Ave SW to discourage speeding.

• Construction is anticipated to begin around March 25. The date may change depending on weather and crew availability.

• Work hours are approximately 9 AM to 3 PM to avoid peak commute times.

• We will put up “no park” signs near the speed hump locations in advance of the construction.

• A flagger will direct traffic around speed hump locations while they are being built.

• It will take a few hours to build each speed hump and let them dry/cool down before people can drive on them.

• Temporary chevron markings will be put on the speed humps. They will be replaced with permanent markings after one month once the speed humps fully “cure” (harden).

The full plans for this area and the rest of Highland Park/South Delridge/Riverview were shown at a meeting earlier this month – here’s our coverage.

MD March 24, 2021 (2:04 pm)

How about also just making one giant speed bump up Fairmount Ave as well. That has to be one of the most dangerous roads for pedestrians and drivers. I was driving down it yesterday and two vehicles, who were either chasing each other or both just thinking it was OK to drive 50 mph up it, blew by me on a blind corner. There was a couple walking their dog down and seriously could have hit them. I’m so tired of it.

Jort March 24, 2021 (3:18 pm)

I encourage you to lobby your lawmakers at every level in the state to allow cities to have automated speed enforcement capabilities, whether through cameras, license plate point-to-point scanning, or otherwise. Automated enforcement will make our streets safer and at the same time free up police officers to do police work. As an added bonus, the automated enforcement would be equitable and not subject to police bias. Furthermore, the law should be changed to allow such automation to issue citations, so that the registered owner of the car is responsible for the speed it is going, no matter who is driving it, and there would be no ability to easily commit perjury and lie about whether you were actually driving. Tie the citations to the vehicle’s registration, not the driver, like parking tickets.
- Mark H March 24, 2021 (4:00 pm)
  
  Absolutely not. Do you even understand the gravity of what you’re asking for — a police state? Once a police state, always a police state.
  - bill March 25, 2021 (12:18 pm)
    
    Oh come on! All of Western Europe has automatic speed enforcement. Even those wild & crazy Australians and Brazilians have speed cameras. I’m not seeing any police states here.
    - Mark H March 25, 2021 (1:34 pm)
      
      There are major cultural differences between US and Western Europe, especially when it comes to policing. Major driving regulations and education as well.
- Pessoa March 25, 2021 (9:30 am)
  
  Jort: I strongly disagree. We should not abrogate the rights of an individual to present a defense either because of a flawed automated enforcement system or the possibility that an individual might lie under oath to evade punishment; this turns our legal system into a punitive revenue stream, not a dispenser of justice. Traffic enforcement is important police work for a number of reasons such as determining in real time whether the driver is the registered owner and/or if the driver is impaired.
  - bill March 25, 2021 (12:31 pm)
    
    As has long been evident, we do not employ enough police officers to control traffic. Automatic cameras are a low cost and equitable solution. The owner of a car, if not driving, is responsible for allowing an untrustworthy person to use the car. If the owner claims not to have been the driver, then the driver must be named at the risk of perjury. Set fines scaled to the value of the car. That will punish rich and poor alike. Irresponsible driving is a severe risk to other road users. Suppressing enforcement or providing get-out-of-jail-free cards through disingenuous legalisms perpetuates the hazardous road culture we tolerate.
  - Jort March 25, 2021 (1:41 pm)
    
    Few things make drivers bristle more than realizing there is an easy and foolproof way to automatically force them to obey the law. I see it in these responses. Speeding is the law that nearly every single driver in America thinks they are entitled to break, because “it’s OK if I do it,” and they wiggle their morality around with saying “5 over is OK,” or “I can go 10 over before a cop would pull me over.” This sliding scale of illegality is, at its core, inequitable and unjust. I envision a world where every license plate is tracked across core routes, for example every single freeway on and off ramp, and a calculation is run between the time taken and the distance traveled. Made it to Burien on the 509 in 3 minutes? There is no justification on this planet for a vehicle traveling that fast, period, and you should be forced to pay 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars for the risk you’ve added to this community. This is the similar to the tolling technology, using cameras, that we currently use. Consider violations of the minimum safe time vs. distance traveled a “toll” on the registrant of the vehicle. You won’t go to prison for it! But you won’t be able to register your car and you’ll be forced, one way or another, to reckon with YOUR CHOICES to engage in unsafe behavior. Now, I know that this would take political courage and a willingness to basically tell every single driver in Washington that they are criminals, by nature, but with the “safety” record that drivers here have, it’s likely this decision will be made at some point in the future, anyway.
Mike Lindblom March 24, 2021 (5:52 pm)

That’s nasty, glad the people weren’t hit. I bike up Fairmount all the time and never encountered a car over 25 mph in the 20 zone. It’s really more like a park street than an arterial and nothing stops SDOT from treating it that way.
reed March 26, 2021 (10:13 am)

Better yet, make Fairmount a Stay Healthy Street between the last residence furthest up the hill and SW Forest St. This was on SDOTs proposed list earlier on, perhaps it can be done. As far a cars are concerned, take California.

WS_Native March 24, 2021 (2:27 pm)

Speed bumps, what a waste of money. How about fixing the West Seattle Freeway that leads to the bridge, where the infrastructure is crumbling? Why not do it while there are no cars driving on it? There are spots where you could see the rebar even back when it was open. I’m sure it hasn’t improved on its own…

Al King March 24, 2021 (4:48 pm)

Lead the way jort. Can’t wait to see you on tv at city council chambers with your ideas.

AMD March 24, 2021 (5:01 pm)

I’m so excited for these speed humps on Henderson!! Heck, if they want to take them even further West, that would be great too!

Dismayed March 24, 2021 (5:54 pm)

With the condition of the roads from the buses who needs speed bumps 😡 all the roads will soon look like Avalon, an obstacle course.

zipda March 24, 2021 (9:20 pm)

We need a bridge more than humps.

D March 24, 2021 (9:37 pm)

I’m glad the city is adding speed humps, and most likely they should be added to every pedestrian crosswalk within the city.

Jason March 25, 2021 (8:59 am)

A city which will then have increased suspension and brake failure rates coupled with brake and engine noise at every intersection!

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