36 Replies to "FYI: New stop sign on SW Andover"

• Huh January 27, 2022 (7:09 pm)

  I’ve driven this road twice a day for three years, I used to walk this road to take the bus, and I was a bicycle commuter for five years, and I have to ask: why? Am I missing a rush of cars? Were there multiple accidents here? Are the trucks taking the right of way out of Nucor not getting out fast enough? Are the homeless milling around in the road? Is there a backlog of bicycle commuters on the corner? What is the reasoning?

  • Ebaca January 27, 2022 (8:14 pm)

    Exactly, there is little traffic there. I honestly  don’t feel safe stopping with the homeless people there. 

  • YES2WS January 27, 2022 (8:36 pm)

    Same experience, same reaction as HUH this morning.

  • Mark January 27, 2022 (10:04 pm)

    There is no reasoning. I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 10 years and driven, biked and walked this stretch more times than I can possibly count. I have never seen crashes, excessive speeding or any traffic problems whatsoever. It’s not a particularly busy intersection. Heck, with Nucor on one side, it’s not even a 4-way intersection. 95% of cars driving this stretch simply go straight through to continue along Andover. Very few cars turn left. I just don’t get it anymore. Of all the things that SDOT could be focusing on, we get this, a solution in search of a problem? Sigh!

• CarDriver January 27, 2022 (7:39 pm)

  It’s for safety. Clearly SDOT has a large list of pedestrians being hit or near misses. Clearly there’s a large list of bikes being hit or near misses. Clearly there’s a large list of cars being hit or near misses.  Rest assured SDOT wouldn’t spend our money on something they don’t have abundant documentation justifying. Rest assured they’re spending our tax dollars wisely.

• KBear January 27, 2022 (8:09 pm)

  I’m guessing it’s so that drivers going north on 26th get a chance to turn

  • Kalo January 28, 2022 (8:12 am)

    Yeah, that cross traffic on 26th is brutal! Back ups of at least 2 cars wanting to turn is totally unacceptable. 

  • - January 28, 2022 (8:13 am)

    It’s not.  You can’t tell form the picture, but the stop sign for west bound is in the middle of 26th and just protects the bike lane.

• Joe Z January 27, 2022 (8:21 pm)

  Everything about that Delridge project feels over engineered, including the weird bike route. Most people are just going to bike in the bus lane since it makes no sense to detour to a random residential street. 

  • Robin A Duda January 27, 2022 (8:56 pm)

    Over engineered by people who have no idea what they are doing! Traveling south on Delridge you move to the left lane just past Boren School, then back to the right lane just before Orchard, only to have to move left (awkwardly avoiding left-turning cars) at 21st, just before Holden. 

  • Bike Commuter January 28, 2022 (8:09 am)

    It made sense for me to “detour to a random residential street”, which is the 26th Neighborhood Greenway.  I tried biking south on Delridge once, coming from the Lower Bridge, after the new construction.  It was nerve wrecking.  The new traffic islands on Delridge, make bicycling too close to traffic, for my comfort.  Plus the Neighborhood Greenway is prettier in my option.  Have you seen the house with the Beatles?  I think the stop sign was put, so bicyclists can more safely make a turn onto 26th Ave.   

• Jort January 27, 2022 (10:04 pm)

  In theory, at least it will prevent motorist enthusiasts from plowing through the intersection at full arrogant speed, hitting cyclists who are attempting to use the “green”way in an effort to cycle somewhere without being annihilated by speeding automobiles. I strongly dislike the entire concept of SDOT shunting cyclists off to the “green”way in an effort to shut them up with minimal cost and effort, but it’s what we have, at this point. What is needed now, and should not be subject to whiny-neighbor veto power, is automobile traffic diverters along the entire length of the “green”way. But we won’t get that. It hurts car driver feelings too much and we mustn’t ever do that. “Here’s a street we’ll call a ‘greenway’ and we’ll do almost nothing to protect cyclists and pedestrians on it. Look at the good we do.”

• WSlite January 27, 2022 (10:54 pm)

  I lived a block away from there for 6 years until 2020 and walked my dog that way all the time. Absolutely no reason to put a stop sign there. Absurd and waste of time and money. I read this article and immediately thought, HUH, WHY? Lol! And when they started messing with 26th Ave SW & SW Genesee St putting a stop sign and not allowing turners, omg don’t even get me started….haha. I did surveys and voiced my opinion on that to SDOT too. 

• Roms January 28, 2022 (6:42 am)

  I come from 26th going to Delridge through this intersection by bicycle every business day, early. I can tell you that I’ve seen multiple times cars flying down the road going towards Delridge, with close calls for me. I contacted SDOT a while back to report that, for example, cars are using the bicycle lane where there’s the speed bump: The bicycle lane is large enough to accommodate a car which wants to avoid the bump, and at that point there are no vertical posts. So: This street is not as safe as you say, at least from the perspective of a cyclist. Will the stop help? Not for what I just described at least. But maybe that will calm the aggressive 6-ish AM drivers.

  • cheeseWS777 January 28, 2022 (5:03 pm)

    Sounds like the speedbump actually made traffik less safe then

    • Roms January 28, 2022 (8:26 pm)

      Correct.

• stopngo January 28, 2022 (7:06 am)

  An engineering study should be performed to justify installation of traffic control signs.  Relevant data include traffic volumes, crashes, bicycles, pedestrian conflicts and sight distance.  See Section 2B.07 here:  https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009r1r2/part2/part2b.htm

  @WSB – Can you ask SDOT if a study was performed and the results?

  • Kalo January 28, 2022 (8:23 am)

    Studies should also be done when it comes to adding designated ride share parking signs. I live by the water taxi, and 4 signs went up just before the high bridge closed. I’m not around 24/7/365, but these spots have never been used. What a waste of parking in an area that needs more single occupant parking spots.

  • WSB January 28, 2022 (11:24 am)

    Don’t know that it’ll yield a study, but I do have an inquiry out with SDOT re: the rationale for this. Ideally I would have waited to publish this until I heard back but it seemed like a major-enough change that it warranted “mention now, add details later” treatment. Will update above if we get a reply today – TR

• Sillygoose January 28, 2022 (8:31 am)

  I blew right through this in the fog!!!  As I was passing the signs I said “WHAT” I thought one of the RV people put it there.  This is ridiculous!!!  Waste of Money

• bill January 28, 2022 (10:07 am)

  The comments are a Cliff Notes summary of attitudes: Drivers: “Stop wasting money slowing me down, SDOT. Who needs safety!” Seattle Process Concern Trolls: “It should be studied. Were there studies?” Cyclists: “I’d just like to survive my commute.”

  • Lagartija Nick January 28, 2022 (11:21 am)

    Haha! Spot on and it’s funny because it’s true!

  • Shane January 28, 2022 (11:35 am)

    So true

  • YES2WS January 28, 2022 (2:26 pm)

    @bill saying cyclists would just like to survive their commute. Yeh, except that I, and a few other cyclists that travel through there, aren’t seeing the need for this random stop. (We can want to survive our commute and still not justify a stop that makes little to no sense.) I drive and I cycle each direction and at varying times of day. Maybe the crashes and close calls are happening by night. Who knows. I’ve given up trying to make sense of the crazy decisions made by SDOT. It’s totally bonkers and really requires intentional patience.

    • D-Ridge January 28, 2022 (6:37 pm)

      I’m a cyclist and I appreciate having a stop sign when my daughter and I ride through there so you must’ve missed us on your survey.

    • bill January 28, 2022 (9:22 pm)

      Yes2WS: I bike through there several times a week myself. If there is no traffic you can cautiously disregard the stop sign.  https://sdotblog.seattle.gov/2020/09/30/washington-states-new-bicycle-safety-stop-law-allows-people-biking-to-treat-stops-signs-as-yield-signs-with-some-exceptions/

• Shane January 28, 2022 (11:34 am)

  FFS people, it’s one stop sign. Bunch of snowflakes. Try biking your commute and your opinions on traffic control may acutely change.

• Delridge Neighbor January 28, 2022 (11:39 am)

  I can see the logic here. When coming down the hill (westbound) in the Avalon bike lane, transitioning to the 26th Ave greenway could be difficult. I had gotten in the habit of leaving the bike lane before 26th, then making the turn from the general purpose lane. But if there was an oncoming (eastbound) vehicle, I’d sometimes have to stop in the middle of the lane on Avalon and wait. Surprisingly, not all west bound drivers have been polite to me when they’ve needed to wait behind me to allow me time to make this turn. Now it will be possible to stay in the bike all the way to the intersection knowing that motor vehicle traffic in both directions will stop so I can cross. Now what we really need are stop signs at Genessee!

  • Auntie January 28, 2022 (7:33 pm)

    What we really need are speed bumps on Genessee. Without fail, cars fly up/down that hill. The “slow down” sign means nothing to them. I know SDOT is hesitant to put speed bumps on a major arterial, but that is the only thing that is going to keep people under 40mph.

    • 1994 January 29, 2022 (7:59 pm)

      There are speed humps aka cushions on 35th near Arbor Heights elementary and on SW 106th St.  Aren’t those arterials? And some were supposed to be added on Marine View Drive but they have not been constructed yet. There are warning signs installed with black bags over them but the humps are not there yet.

• Kate Wells January 28, 2022 (12:42 pm)

  This looks like a good improvement for people on bikes. The lanes are more clearly marked and the transition from westbound Andover to the Greenway will be much more comfortable. It will be safer for teens riding to the skate park, families going to visit Longfellow Creek, and folks trying to get to the bike lanes on the low bridge.Keep in mind that everyone has a different comfort level, so even if a road looks acceptable to you, it may be the thing that makes someone choose to drive, even if they’d prefer to ride.Since bike lanes weren’t built on this stretch of Delridge in favor of  bus lanes, parking and planted medians (in fact, some bike lanes were removed!), improving the parallel Greenway makes sense.

• D-Ridge January 28, 2022 (2:37 pm)

  It’s apparent that no one here has a child that goes to the daycare just to the north of this intersection; crossing from the neighborhood to the business complex is incredibly sketchy either on bike or foot, or with stroller, so I’m incredibly glad to see this improvement.Just because you’ve never seen an accident in a location doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous or intimidating to those outside of cars.

• Mj January 28, 2022 (5:53 pm)

  UNWARRANTED!

• 1994 January 29, 2022 (7:56 pm)

  Agreed! But at least the bike riders must stop too.

  • PDieter February 1, 2022 (12:19 pm)

    aw gee I hate to pop your bubble of justice but , nope sorry. It’s just a yield sign to bikes by law. Sorry to make you cry.

• Kathy February 1, 2022 (10:53 pm)

  People griping about this safety improvement seem to have very short memories about the time before the WS Bridge closure. 26th Avenue and Andover Street were frequently clogged with car drivers trying to do an end run around traffic jams on Delridge Way and Avalon. When the bridge reopens, do you think that behavior won’t be back? Since SDOT removed the bike lanes, people may end up driving behind people biking 14 mph in the middle of the traffic lane on Delridge Way if it’s felt there is no safer alternative. 

Sorry, comment time is over.