The extensive discussion about the Alki Point Healthy Street in the past few years has focused almost entirely on its south stretch – Beach Drive from Alki Point to 63rd SW. Some of the “permanent” features installed on its north stretch – Alki Avenue from 63rd SW to the point – have led to a problem that multiple nearby residents have emailed us about.
The photo above, from Greg, was taken near the west end of the beach park. It shows a “no parking” sign at left – and cars parked past it, despite the “wheel stops” meant to reinforce the message. He explained that “people continue to park illegally, blocking the turnaround past 64th Place. 64th Place (which has many families with children) has now become an unsafe arterial. Even without cars parked illegally on Alki, most cannot make the tight radius turn and must back up. The most dangerous issue are those who don’t understand the traffic flow past the circle and they DRIVE in the bike lane.” Greg says he had reported it to the city without response before contacting us. So we took it to SDOT, whose spokesperson Ethan Bergerson tells us:
We are considering some adjustments to help address these concerns:
-There is currently a gap between the concrete wheel stops by the bike rack which is large enough for a vehicle to drive through or park. We could add another wheel stop to fill this gap and clarify this confusion.
-We are also considering moving the “Street Closed Ahead” sign to be more visible from a distance to drivers as they approach this cul-de-sac.
For a better view of the “cul-de-sac,” here’s a photo from Jennifer:
We’ll keep watch to see what happens.
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