Fauntleroy/Rose crossing plan to be discussed at just-announced Wednesday meeting

| Fauntleroy | Safety | Transportation | West Seattle news

In 2007, SDOT removed a marked crosswalk on Fauntleroy Way at SW Rose Street, mid-Lincoln Park.

Community members long lobbied to bring back a safer crossing, and SDOT long said they couldn’t/wouldn’t.

Then the department relented, and last year unveiled a design that was far more complex than a crosswalk, including a raised median between the ferry holding (outside southbound) lane and travel lanes. Here’s what they showed at the time:

(SDOT-provided 2025 renderings above and below; see PDF versions here)

The Fauntleroy Community Association and Morgan Community Association have voiced concerns about the design, a regular discussion topic at recent meetings, and want to know what you think, so they have just announced a community forum with SDOT for this Wednesday (May 6), 5:30 pm at Southwest Library (9010 35th SW).

Ian May 4, 2026 (9:44 am)

I take the bus to Lincoln Park quite often in the nicer months and this intersection is very dangerous. This plan looks better than I expected for pedestrian safety. I plan to attend to voice my support

WSRob May 4, 2026 (9:45 am)

I live near this area and have a 6 year old daughter. We go to Lincoln park often and will be going today after school (Gatewood). I’m at a loss at what any issue is? It’s not hard to cross the street AT ALL. It’s very straight forward and simple. What is the point of all this??? Do people just come up with ways to spend tax payer money?

Pedestrian May 4, 2026 (11:40 am)

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It’s not the pedestrians that are the problem! We need to be protected from cars and drivers who don’t pay attention. I almost got run over earlier today by a driver who drove through a light controlled cross walk. I know how to walk across the street, but many drivers don’t know how to drive safely. Why argue against needed public safety?
Alkistu May 5, 2026 (9:19 am)

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It’s hard for the young and healthy to understand the challenges of others who have fear of their own abilities to deal with proven death machines that disregard the posted speed limit. Not feeling comfortable with these conditions causes many to lose their freedom of mobility which is a downward spiral in health and vitality. We have as a society, lost are ability to think outside of our own perspectives.
- E May 5, 2026 (9:44 am)
  
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  Well said, Stu!

DRW May 4, 2026 (10:04 am)

I think a stoplight or flashing pedestrian lights would be sufficient. How much money is into this design so far?

Kyle May 4, 2026 (12:18 pm)

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This is the right answer, it’s not that complicated. Signaled or flashing crosswalk and be done with it.
DB May 5, 2026 (9:02 am)

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Flashing pedestrian lights cost >$100,000 and that doesn’t include the related street improvements and construction, new stoplights can cost over $1M to install. This is the better option. There’s a signal a block away, this is for ease of access.

br May 4, 2026 (10:15 am)

I think the comments on the earlier WSB article on this highlighting the hazards to bicyclists in the proposed design are right on. Narrowing lanes and forcing vehicles to shift perpendicular to the direction of travel are big red warning lights for cyclist travel in my experience.

Why do the lanes need to be adjusted here? Put the marked crosswalk back and add a crossing signal.

snowskier May 4, 2026 (11:46 am)

I see a number of issues with this design. First off, how about some paint on the street on only the north or south side of the intersection. There’s no street on the Lincoln Park side so force everyone to cross at the same spot which is safer. Why not add a pedestrian activated light such as is place 2 blocks south at Cloverdale? Won’t the raised barrier cause issued for cyclists with the tighter lanes? We’re losing the ability for the bus to pull over in a non-travel lane so now if the bus stops, everyone stops. How about when vehicles are lined up in the ferry lane and need to go around a parked car, jamming up the travel lane? With this design cars and buses have less space to maneuver, cause more of a traffic jam and slowing the Rapid Ride. Seems like a more expensive solution that causes more problems than is solves.

Marty2 May 4, 2026 (12:17 pm)

Looks way over designed, the roadway is narrow now, just put in one marked crosswalk on Fauntleroy with flashing beacons to alert drivers when pedestrians want to cross. I cross 35th Ave. SW at SW Kenyon all the time with no issues, it only has flashing beacons and is a wider, much busier street.

WS Person May 4, 2026 (1:14 pm)

As both a pedestrian and a driver I think the best improvement to safe crossing are the button activated flashing lights at crosswalks.

North Admiral Cyclist May 4, 2026 (1:22 pm)

This looks like an example where SDOT put on blinders to focus on addressing some problems without the designers understanding the big picture. Do they not have an experienced traffic engineer look at these plans before they are released to the public? Today, bicyclists ride the southbound “ferry” lane most hours of the day to stay out of the southbound “travel” lane that accommodates high speed car traffic. Only for the few hours a day (when ferry traffic is actually queued up in the ferry lane) do bicyclists ride in the travel lane that is set aside for cars. (Already fraught with some peril, as high speed cars whiz by on your left, and ferry drivers dart in and out of line on your right or U-turn in front of you.) What do southbound bicyclist do with this proposed design? Ride behind the pedestrian refuge median island when there is no ferry queue, or take their chances in the travel lane? The median island and tapered paint stripe areas add up to several hundred feet in length.

pg May 4, 2026 (1:31 pm)

As a pedestrian, I really like the button activated flashing lights, and a marked crossing with those seems like a much more straightforward solution.

Jake May 5, 2026 (8:59 am)

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As a driver sick of other drivers and wanting more safety for pedestrians, I want actual road diet measures like this

Alex May 4, 2026 (5:18 pm)

SDOT shows parking reduced on the east side of Fauntleroy. But isn’t parking eliminated on the west side of the raised medium as well?

nothend May 5, 2026 (6:08 am)

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It sure looks like the west side parking would need to be eliminated. SDOT could get some of that parking (and a safer place to walk) back by removing the homeowner installed railroad tie curb along with the fake no parking and parking for residents only signs on Rose street,,, but it seems like SDOT has no problem with homeowners taking possession of all land up to the asphalt for their own use.

Resident May 4, 2026 (6:44 pm)

Important not to forget what the ferry traffic does to this crossing spot. It’s downright lethal. Ferry folks wait in the bus zone and pedestrians have zero visibility. The proposed design addresses this by eliminating the possibility for ferry traffic to wait where they know they’re not supposed to. It is essential for a safer crossing. Also, it is well known that the Fauntleroy Community Association has lobbied strongly against building a larger dock to get the ferry traffic off the street. Thanks for the flags, FCA, but I’ll take my safer crossing and elimination of ferry abusers, please and thank you.

VN May 4, 2026 (9:19 pm)

As a resident who has been advocating for a pedestrian controlled crossing with a highly visible Rapid Ride Shelter, I am disappointed that SDOT has come out with an over engineered plan that would put people at risk by having them exit the bus at Rose Street then from the “island” try and cross between the ferry vehicles to reach the sidewalk. Their plan forces bike riders into the speeding ferry commuters by removing the bike lane. Note that this plan has not been coordinated with Metro so the revisions would be done at the same time. This will create an unnecessary bottle neck for drivers and could create larger back ups than are already a problem in the afternoon. I want to see the traffic study behind this plan and how Washington State Ferry staff have weighed in as to affecting their plans to rebuild the dock. Remember, they are proposing moving forward at the same time two other major street projects in this same area with no apparent coordination among their own project manager’s. I’m very disappointed that they have finally agreed to talk to the neighborhood with hardly any advance notice to the public. Please attend the meeting Wednesday.

AH May 5, 2026 (8:05 am)

Repeating what has been said already.This is Over-engineered. This is Spending tax payer money unnecessarily. Add a flasher at a cross walk, add signs and rumble strips to alert cars. Stop adding to an already congested road which makes driving, walking and biking very confusing.This is Adding trip hazards, litter and tree/leaf debris collection spots that the street sweeper will never get at.Just add a cross walk such as the one at Kenyon and 35th. That works well.Also start fining the crazy drivers.