Sure, Burgerman. (Re: walkers and a few bicyclists don’t deserve more expensive accomodations.)

Now tell me a story about the requirement to walk down to the next crosswalk just to get to the other side of an arterial.

I live near an arterial and it’s pretty common for lazy people to cut down my residential street and around the corner instead of waiting at the light on the arterial to save maybe 20 seconds. Often they’re easy to spot (e.g. they tailgate you down a neighborhood side street) so I slow waaaay down. Really pisses them off but hey, maybe don’t use my neighborhood as a high speed cut through. The worst ones I’ll drive past my house and continue at my slow pace down the cut through route just to make their journey a little longer, then eventually circle back home.

Pedestrians are getting “decidedly better and more expensive … accommodations than vehicle traffic,” eh? Wait, what?! Pray tell, what pedestrian “accommodation” cost more and was “better” than, say, the $3 billion+ viaduct removal and tunnel project? The city of Seattle has 3,944 miles of streets, but only 2,293 miles of sidewalks. The city spends $5 million per year on sidewalk maintenance, but $13 million on managing car parking! SDOT is spending $100 million on the waterfront street project ALONE this year! Bike path maintenance gets $1 million per year, while road and bridge maintenance gets $122 million! Where on earth would anyone get the idea that the city and state are dumping giant piles of money on pedestrians and cyclists?! The city and state overwhelmingly dedicate their funds to car traffic. Overwhelmingly! And it’s not even close, by any metric! At all! Boy, would I love to live in the fantasy world you seem to believe exists. That would be a dream!

Ableist confirmed.

Lola you’re making the side streets dangerous to actual walkers and bike riders by doing this. Cars should stick to arterials. If driving is a problem, we have public transit you can take. 

Your comment made me chuckle, Rose. Thank you for dedication to getting kids around safely, while also trying to navigate the variety of conditions you encounter!

I mean, walking does suck in Seattle.  I love walking.  If I could I would walk everywhere in my life, school, work, grocery store, everywhere.  This city has terrible pedestrian infrastructure.  The proximity of sidewalks to traffic is terrifying in many places, sidewalks are absent in others.  Signaling and signage for pedestrian street crossings is mediocre to scary in most places.  I’ve been to cities where walking paths are safe and well thought out.  Seattle is just not that city.  We pedestrians are a constant afterthought.  So I’m happy that you, Burgerman love walking in this city.  I love walking too, but there is a LOT of room for improvement for pedestrian paths here.

I sure hope this becomes permanent. In fact, I’d like to see a permanent closure of Lander at California, taking away all need for cars to drive on that street. It’s is a gauntlet at drop off and pickup for those who walk.

Lol Jort. “Walking sucks in Seattle.” Really?? I love walking in Seattle and it most decidedly does not suck, even with a disability. What does suck is people demanding walkers and a few bicyclists have decidedly better and more expensive (and wasteful) accommodations than vehicle traffic.As to your comment about solutions – the problem is, your solutions aren’t solutions. Hating cars and trying to get them all off the road in favor of mass transit and muscle power is an unattainable and unrealistic goal, especially in a city that has no accountability in place for its government, its government officials, or the agencies that would be in charge of all the things you have proposed directly or indirectly over the years.  You’re also advocating for the minority to get more than the majority, which doesn’t make sense. We get accountability and efficiency and intelligent, pragmatic design in place? Then we can start talking about being more progressive with our transportation.

Pleas record the malfunction next time if you are watching it and send it to SDOT. Otherwise it is likely what the other comments are saying about someone pressing it and then crossing before the signal changes.

If everything in the city is “geared toward pedestrians,” then how come car drivers are doing such a great job at killing and seriously injuring an ever-increasing number of pedestrians? If there is a “War on Cars,” it appears the cars are clearly winning. Pedestrian fatalities in Seattle and nationwide are way up, and not slowing down. And also, when you say, “forget about the People in Cars Trying to (get) anywhere,” just an fyi for you, the people walking are trying to get somewhere, too, and they’re trying to get where they’re going safely. You know, like, kids? Your neighbors? Take it easy. 99 percent of the city’s transportation network is still catering directly to car drivers. 

No city in human history anywhere on this planet in any country in the totality of our shared collective human experience has “solved” transportation challenges by doubling down on cars-first planning principles. Seattle will not be the first city in human history to make it work, either. 

Oh, I can think of a few solutions!