There’s your new word of the night: “Rechannelization.” That vocabulary enrichment is just one bit of a pile of new information we brought out of the SDOT open house at High Point Community Center tonight. The sign-in sheets indicate more than 120 people stopped in at some point tonight, almost three weeks after first word that “rechannelization” of Fauntleroy between Alaska and California – changing it to one lane each way, plus a center turn lane and a bike lane – was in the cards along with repaving. We visited tonight’s open house in the final hour, to get a good sense of how many people had shown up during the course of the night and what they were saying about the proposal; SDOT reps told us that they had quite the crowd even before the doors opened at 5:30 – read on for everything else we found out, about the proposed “rechannelization” and the repaving project, including enlightenment as to why the same potholes keep turning up in the same spots over and over again:
First, the easy part: New information about the repaving project.
To recap, we first reported October 15th that the mayor’s budget proposal included money to repave the stretch known, though not loved, as “Fauntle-Rut Way” — between Alaska and California. Then in the final stretch of budget crafting came word that the City Council had diverted some of the money to another project in the north end – but the mayor announced November 19th (WSB coverage here) that some repaving WOULD be done on Fauntleroy, and SDOT director Grace Crunican told us that day that her department just needs to figure out how much money it has and how far that money will go.
At tonight’s open house, a handout was available declaring May-October of next year as the time frame for the Fauntleroy Way repaving project, described in part: “This project will reconstruct the worst portions of the roadway between SW Alaska and California SW.”
SDOT’s Jessica Murphy explained exactly what that means: Whatever money they wind up with, they will start by tackling the center of the roadway – the part that seems to get the potholes over and over again, where your left wheels hit those ruts, no matter which way you’re going.
And we had never before heard why the road deteriorates in exactly that way, till she explained it tonight: Fauntleroy, like a few other West Seattle arterials (California among them), was built in thirds. One outside section, bare concrete, dates back to the late teens. The other outside section, concrete with some asphalt over it, was built about 10 years later. Then, at some point later, the middle – originally kept open for other uses (streetcars, typically) – was filled in with asphalt. So the center third of the roadway, about 18 feet wide, is the soft part. It will be completely rebuilt for the entire stretch, Murphy said, and whatever money they have after that, will determine what else they do. “It just wasn’t built to handle the traffic,” she concluded.
The handout distributed tonight includes a web address for project information on Fauntleroy repaving, but it’s not working yet – so we’ll publish an update when it is (and we’ll inquire tomorrow about how soon it’s likely to be up).
Now, on to the “rechannelization.” This information was distributed and discussed at a couple different “stations” at the open house. The busiest – throughout the event, we’re told – was the one manned by Eric Widstrand, the SDOT manager who talked with us for our second report on the fewer-lanes proposal:
That’s Widstrand in the background, second from left. His part of the project had an even-more-comprehensive handout, in FAQ mode; it isn’t available online yet so far as we can tell, so here are some excerpts:
Aren’t there too many cars on Fauntleroy for this to work?
The current average daily traffic on Fauntleroy is roughly 19,000 vehicles each day. National studies show that this level of traffic can be accommodated within the proposed 3-lane configuration.
How does SDOT know that reducing the number of lanes won’t decrease the capacity of the street? That doesn’t make sense.
We agree it seems odd, but we have rechannelized 15 streets over the past 30 years, without reducing capacity – a recent example is Stone Way in Fremont/Wallingford. The two-way left turn lane will allow left-turning vehicles to make their turn without blocking the through traffic, which increases efficiency.
What about safety?
Rechannelization has been shown to reduce rear-end collisions, side-swipe and angle collisions. These types of collisions are typical for Fauntleroy Way SW.
This handout also suggests SDOT may mark more crosswalks across Fauntleroy after “rechannelization,” will “adjust signal timing at California and Edmunds to keep vehicles moving on Fauntleroy,” and says the bike lane that would be added would run northbound — here’s the photo from the start of this report again:
Some people just weren’t buying it. “I GUARANTEE you’ll see a backup,” one attendee insisted to Widstrand. Another wanted to know how the situation would be monitored once the “rechannelization” is done; SDOT managers said it would take 3 to 6 months to realistically get a picture of how it’s working or not working, but in the meantime, they would review “public feedback” and watch the traffic flow firsthand “to see what the problems are.” Some potential problems were suggested by attendees in notes and dots they were invited to place on large maps laid out across several tables:
The timetable for this is a fast one – a final decision is to be made by the end of the month; SDOT managers say they will take the feedback from tonight’s open house and e-mail (walkandbike@seattle.gov), also from consultation with Metro regarding how “rechannelization” might affect the buses that run on that section of Fauntleroy, and finalize a recommendation – the final say is with SDOT director Grace Crunican (who lives in West Seattle).
Why such a fast timetable, we asked? It’s because the “rechannelization” is being bundled with the repaving, which goes to bid early next year.
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