2:52 PM: We don’t know if this work is happening right now or already complete, but received this note from SDOT this afternoon:

Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is performing construction work at the intersection of 20th Ave SW and SW Roxbury St today (Monday, September 9, 2024) which requires closing a single lane of traffic at a time throughout the day.

Crews are removing crosswalk markings on the eastern side of this intersection where there is no walk signal equipment. We have received community feedback that these markings created a confusing situation because there is no crossing signal equipment on this side of the street to trigger a red light to stop cars when people need to cross the street. People will still be able to cross SW Roxbury St using the crosswalk and walk signal equipment on the western side of this intersection.

And a reminder that by state law, every intersection is a crosswalk, whether painted or not.

3:51 PM: Given that, we asked SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson on followup, why remove the markings? (We also noted they must have been recent, because Google Street View’s most-recent image, dated 2018, doesn’t show a crosswalk on that side.) His reply:

The crosswalk markings on the eastern side of the intersection were painted by mistake by a private contractor working for King County during the construction of the RapidRide H line and does not match our approved designs for this intersection.

SDOT learned of the issue when a community member wrote to us this summer. The eastern crosswalk markings were leading to a confusing situation for people crossing the street. People need to push the crossing signal button on the western side of the street to trigger a red light to stop cars so that they can cross safely. If people wait to cross on the east side of the street, the light does not automatically change for them.

We are looking into whether other options to let people cross on either side of the street may be possible in the future, as we take the immediate step of removing the confusing crosswalk for now.