FOLLOWUP: Signage up early for Madison MS’s new ‘School Street’

| Safety | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

As of Saturday afternoon, signage was already out for the new “School Street” partial closure of 45th Avenue SW in front of Madison Middle School, which officially starts tomorrow and will be in effect 7 am-5 pm on weekdays per SDOT. We checked it out after a tip from a nearby resident; this sign on the northbound side of the street at SW Spokane is matched by one in the distance at the start of the southbound side at SW Hinds. Madison principal Dr. Robert Gary Jr. reminded the school community in this email on Thursday. As the SDOT program page and the signage both note, the “closure” exception includes drivers who live on the street and drivers making deliveries on the street. Other “School Streets” around the city include SW Dakota in front of Genesee Hill Elementary.

Neighbor January 12, 2025 (6:28 pm)

It would be great if the permanent (or temporary) signage included something about the hours this is in effect. It was pretty startling when driving a normal route off of the main drag to encounter a block that I wasn’t sure why I had to divert off of during a very quiet period of a Sunday evening.

TP January 12, 2025 (7:37 pm)

Why not use the main drag? That’s exactly what California is for; an arterial to move traffic. I often ride my bike from the junction back to Admiral on 44th or 45th and routinely get flak from drivers who are bent out of shape about me slowing them down. When it becomes verbal and I point out the fact that there is an arterial paralleling us one or two blocks east, I get the most dumb “oh” looks I’ve ever seen.
- Bbron January 12, 2025 (10:43 pm)
  
  did diverting impact you?
- another biker January 13, 2025 (9:21 am)
  
  I also often ride my bike on 44th or 45th to avoid the traffic on California, but I’ve never had a single verbal encounter with a driver “bent out of shape”. Then again, I’m not one of those cyclists who rides 10mph down the middle of the road and refuses to move over. Ride 15-20mph and move over when a car wants to pass and you won’t have problems. We’re all trying to get somewhere, no point in slowing others down when you have the option to let them pass. Pick your battles.
  - AK January 13, 2025 (10:50 am)
    
    @anotherbiker agreed!
  - TP January 13, 2025 (1:24 pm)
    
    Another biker this is the battle I’m picking. I have no issue holding 15-20+ mph (staying in zone 2) on a grade like that, and I’m under no obligation to move over for a car on a residential side street. Those who demand I pull over for them are the same ones who frequently speed, run stop signs and fail to yield to peds in crosswalks. The same issue happens on the east side of California, going up 41st from the Junction. A nice big arterial one block over, yet drivers want to speed up 41st, deal with the curbed circles, and then make a left on Charlestown to get back to California. If drivers want to use side streets as arterials, they should expect to drive slower.
    - brandon January 13, 2025 (2:48 pm)
      
      While I tend to agree with you that the residential side streets should maintain less speed, and more caution, you’re not the Speed Control Police and would suggest you not put yourself at risk attempting such. “But I Was Right” does not make a great autograph. I’d rather see a m/c patrol on those streets to deter and correct bad actors.
    - Alf January 13, 2025 (8:48 pm)
      
      Cars fly down 44th to get to o Charleston there are kids walking and they are making it dangerous with their speeding carsalready killed one catslow down folks these are residential streets and cyclists keep riding appropriately and in the middle of the street

NW Mama January 12, 2025 (9:42 pm)

Totally agree with TP! But also specifics of when would be best

Admiral-2009 January 13, 2025 (8:23 am)

TP – California is an Arterial that SDoT has made unattractive to use by many motorists. For example signals that turn red when there is no side street traffic or pedestrian demand causing unnecessary delays that makes using parallel side streets an attractive option.

reed January 13, 2025 (1:30 pm)

Pedestrian demand causing unnecessary delays? Where do you get off suggesting that a drivers time is more valuable than a pedestrian that needs to cross the road? This mentality is a clear reason why more pedestrian safety improvement projects are needed and why more road rechannelizations/driving restrictions will get implemented.

brandon January 13, 2025 (10:45 am)

Moving kids away from controlled intersections with 4-way stop signs and crosswalks at every corner of the school to streets that have uncontrolled intersections, roundabouts with no stop signs or yields, no crosswalks, no calming. What a great move SDOT. All that money spent on the intersection upgrades and now a shut down. Why is the shut down 10-3, who is that helping?

Jon Wright January 13, 2025 (1:44 pm)

Not sure what sort of crisis of unintended consequences you are trying to manufacture. No “kids” are being “moved away” from anywhere. Those intersections on the east side of Madison are still all-way stops; now students walking to school have the benefit of dodging drivers who don’t yield to pedestrians coming at them from one less direction.
- brandon January 13, 2025 (2:41 pm)
  
  If you calculate “dodging” cars that won’t be on 45th, but now on other side streets dropping off students to “promote walking”, there are risks of an even greater nature since those side streets are uncontrolled and are being promoted as “walkable”. Hopefully it won’t result in accidents, but I find controlled intersections manage “dodging drivers” better than uncontrolled. If 45th was so terrible, why not just build in speeds humps to control drivers like so many other streets have done in WS? I would certainly welome that on 45th and 44th south of Charlestown where drivers tend to speed after school.
- Thomas January 13, 2025 (2:46 pm)
  
  And just who are those drivers causing kids to dodge cars? They are most likely parents who just dropped off their kids! Nothing was made safer by closing 45 th.

Gina January 13, 2025 (2:10 pm)

Since the street is 2 parking lanes and 2 traffic lanes in width on the 45th side of Madison the signs shouldn’t impact traffic at all outside of load/ unload times.On weekend evenings the signs will probably be an attractive nuisance to knock down and run over by the putt putt car drivers.

Admiral-2009 January 13, 2025 (5:09 pm)

Reed – you mis-read my post, signal’s that turn red when there is no vehicular or pedestrian demand on the side street!

Kws January 17, 2025 (5:09 pm)

Thank you to all who made this happen. It was a very dangerous situation beforehand. Too many parents driving their kids to school who could walk. But that’s an aside.

WS5 January 22, 2025 (10:33 pm)

Parents need to slow down when using the non-atrial streets on either side of the school. I live a block away and the parents are dropping and picking their children up, at different spots other than in front of the school and coming into the neighborhoods at higher speeds. Whoever came up with this idea to stop traffic at the school and move it into the neighborhoods is not brilliant. Lots of kids ride their bikes on our street to get to Madison and home, now they have to dodge more cars in our narrow streets.

Sorry, comment time is over.