Nominate Seattle’s worst intersection for 2016

NE 40th St & 7th Ave NE

Complicated intersection at NE 40th St & 7th Ave NE

We are now accepting nominees for the worst intersection in Seattle. We’re looking for those intersections you hate to cross because of an unsafe design, loud traffic, or long waits. Is there somewhere you feel like a second class citizen because you have to push a button and wade through a sea of cars just to get to your destination? Submit your nominees in the comments, below.

Previous winners are:

Accepting nominations through April 24. The top most-frequently nominated intersections will be selected to advance to the voting round.

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10 Responses to “Nominate Seattle’s worst intersection for 2016”


  • I stand by what I wrote in 2014 on this Leary intersection in Ballard: http://bit.ly/1T5q3kk

  • NW Leary Way / 20th Ave NW / NW Vernon Pl in Ballard. It’s a spot where I regularly get nearly hit by cars.

  • I could nominate the pictured intersection (NE 40th St & 7th Ave NE), but SDOT actually has done something: 5 years after I first suggested it, doubtless after focus groups and neighborhood outreach, they put up a bollard at the end of the bike facility. So there – SDOT is capable of action.

    Instead, I will nominate N 50th St & Phinney Ave N: https://goo.gl/maps/6YDRxwhXSmE2

    I’ve almost been hit where Phinney turns onto Phinney, or possibly it briefly becomes N 50th St? The way SDOT has angled the stop lights strongly suggests that drivers are continuing straight and should not slow down at all, despite the presence of a crosswalk. Drivers will barrel through the crosswalk at 30+ mph without regards to pedestrians, and in fact probably cannot even see them until they are about 30′ away due to the way the street curves around the zoo.

  • How about Rainier? About half of the top 10 worst intersections in Seattle have got to be along Rainier!

    – Rainier at the northbound-to-eastbound offramp to I-90. Crosswalk across two exit ramp lanes. One is HOV, so it may be moving while the other is backed up, and it’s also set up so pedestrians can’t tell whether a driver in that lane is going to exit or not until the last second.

    – Rainier/Henderson was called out recently on Twitter as one of the most dangerous in the city. It’s a pretty straightforward design, but I guess that much fast traffic right by a couple schools is a bad combination.

    Really you could go up and down Rainier and Boren and find several whose badness is competitive citywide. Rainier/MLK and Rainier/23rd are annoying off-angle crossings with lots of missing crosswalks. Boren/Pine is another straightforward design that gets really chaotic because everyone treats it like a highway junction. Boren/Fairview really hacks up the street network in the area. But I think the two above have the best case for Worst Intersection.

  • 5th and Stewart. The buses cut across all four lanes of Stewart from 7th to turn left on 5th. It’s awful.

  • Montlake blvd and 520 interchange. angry drivers, all on their phones waiting to get on 520, buses, lots of pedestrians, very long lights, pedestrians darting across to catch their bus, bikes routed to sidewalks and crosswalks because of construction. It is a disastrous spot.

  • Montlake
    & Pacific beg button takes forever. lots of light rail passengers trying to cross.
    & 520, agree with Lisa, always a dance with drivers. I think big changes are planned here long term, hopefully something can be done in the sort term to improve safety.

    45th & Union bay 5 way. All 5 ways are problematic including the one at greenlake and ravenna.

    Sand point way and 50th – really bad visibility crossing sand point from east to west, cars going way too fast in both directions.

  • I nominate Ravenna & 54th, “The Ravenna Park Triangle” https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6679856,-122.3036375,70m/data=!3m1!1e3
    for being utterly unpredictable. Cars can go both ways on all three of those intersections, and during rush hour traffic backs up and people get impatient. Walking through, especially during that time, is a disaster.

    Greenlake & 50th https://www.google.com/maps/@47.665106,-122.3405144,70m/data=!3m1!1e3
    is my least favorite for walk wait times. There are so many intersections at that point that it can be several minutes before you get a walk light.

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