The stairway that was closed at 20th Ave NE & 98th St due to erosion has been re-opened. This stairway is commonly used by students at Sacajawea Elementary, so SDOT has temporarily fixed the stairway until a permanent repair can be done in the summer. Visit Maple Leaf Life for more info and photos.
Drunk drivers are a menace to pedestrians, bicyclists, other drivers, and private property. But, to the legal system, well, maybe DUI isn’t really that big of a deal. As reported in the Times this morning:
Last year, when Dwight David Benson was sentenced to an exceptional three-year jail term for his 12th drunken-driving conviction, he promised to “never drink and drive again.”
Last weekend — while free on bond pending an appeal of that sentence — the 64-year-old Benson crashed another car, apparently while drunk.
So after 12 drunk-driving convictions, a three year sentence was an exceptionally high sentence, and the offender was bailed out last June on appeal. Well, at least he’s probably going to lose that appeal now. Who knows how many other people like this are out there, so this is a good reminder to look both ways when you cross.
The public stairway at 20th Ave NE between 98th and 100th Sts, near Sacajawea Elementary School, has been closed. Erosion made the closure necessary and SDOT engineers are investigating how to stabilize and restore the slope and repair the stairway.
Some of Seattle’s pedestrian crosswalk signals do not meet federal guidelines for how much time should be allowed to walk across an intersection safely after the don’t walk signal starts flashing.
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) sets standards for municipalities to follow for traffic control devices, including crosswalks. SDOT uses this standard to set the amount of time pedestrians have to clear the intersection once the don’t walk signal starts flashing. This length of time before cross-traffic is allowed to move, called the pedestrian clearance time, should allow enough time for people to clear the intersection before the signal changes.
Pedestrian Intervals from Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
Until 2009, the standard was based on a pedestrian foot speed 4 feet per second, which is what many intersections in Seattle are based on. The latest manual recommends enough time for a pedestrian traveling at 3.5 feet per second (fps) to clear the intersection (section 4E.06).
So, if an intersection takes 10 seconds to cross at 3.5 fps, the current recommendation would allow the flashing signal to start with 6 seconds remaining and then there would be 4 seconds where the don’t walk signal would be up before the cross signal turns green.
However, a survey of several downtown Seattle intersections found that some intersections do not even meat the older, looser standard, giving pedestrians an inadequate amount of time to cross. All crosswalks at 6th and Virginia were found to be significantly out of compliance – to meet the current federal standard, the flashing don’t walk signal at this intersection would need to last for five seconds longer.
Several other intersections are out of compliance with the stricter 2009 standard, including crosswalks across 4th at Stewart and Pine, as well as crosswalks across 5th and 6th along Pine. These intersections are commonly used by tourists, as well as families with children and the elderly, who may move at a slower pace than other pedestrians. In many cases SDOT set the standard pedestrian clearance time not a second more than the previous minimum.
While Washington has not yet adopted this revised standard, “SDOT does plan on using 3.5 fps wherever practical and is doing so with all signal timing changes currently underway,” according to spokesperson Rick Sheridan.
The Federal Highway Administration has set a target compliance date for all signals to be updated by the end of 2014. “At the current pace of signal timing changes, SDOT would not be able to modify all locations” in this timeframe. “This will be raised during the 2012 budget deliberations to determine if additional funds can be added to allow all modifications to be made by the end of 2014,” according to Sheridan.
There is flexibility in the federal standard for SDOT to set their signals at a higher level than the minimum recommended time, so it’s unfortunate that these intersection times are so short. This is a difficult thing to measure, as it’s based on intersection width, but if you find an intersection that you believe does not allow enough time for people to cross, you can report it via SDOT’s Street Maintenance Request Form or by e-mailing traffic.signals@seattle.gov.
A follow-up post has been posted: Should Signal Countdowns Exceed Standard?.
A driver pulled a gun on a man and his son after they walked in front of his vehicle. From SeattleCrime.com:
The man told police the driver had honked at them as they crossed in front of his vehicle, and that he had shouted “slow down” at the driver.
The driver then opened up his car door, got out, and racked the slide of a black handgun.
The victim then toooootally heckled the driver, shouting “what, you’re gonna use a gun now?”
The driver got back in his gold Lexus SUV and drove off.
Last month we posted about a new asphalt sidewalk on 15th Ave between 94th St and 97th St. This type of walkway isn’t as good as a standard concrete sidewalk, but it was an improvement that the community requested. According to SDOT spokesperson Rick Sheridan:
Seattle has approximately 12,000 street block faces that lack sidewalks. The number of blocks lacking sidewalks far exceeds the resources available to build them and SDOT only has funding to build approximately 10 to 20 block face equivalents per year.
SDOT looks for ways to maximize the impact of our funds by using less expensive construction materials like asphalt. It is not only less costly, but also can be placed faster than concrete, helping stretch our dollars further.
On 15th Ave NE between NE 94th and NE 97th streets, SDOT addressed the neighborhood’s desire to improve pedestrian accessibility and upgrade drainage infrastructure. We did so with a modest budget by utilizing asphalt for the walkway, and replacing and covering an old drainage culvert. SDOT also separated the roadway from the sidewalk with a landscaping strip, which will deter parking and improve the pedestrian walking environment.
Despite the best intentions, though, you still see problems like this:
Vehicle parked on asphalt sidewalk
SDOT has not provided figures for the cost of an asphalt sidewalk, but construction costs for a standard concrete sidewalk can range from $40,000 to $300,000 per block. It’s likely that the asphalt sidewalk here cost less than half of what a concrete sidewalk would cost.
With so many sidewalks yet to be paved, lower cost installations mean more sidewalks get built faster. But would it be better not to spend anything than to spend on an asphalt sidewalk / parking strip? Is the new sidewalk better than what was there before, or is it a waste of funds?
What do you think?
[poll id=”7″]
Impacts to pedestrians continue for pedestrians trying get around Mercer. In addition to the closed crosswalk across Mercer on the east side of Westlake, sidewalks on both sides of 9th Ave N are now closed. Click here to see the latest map showing all the closures in the area.
A reader reports a photo of a broken push button at Lake City Way & NE 20th Ave.
This broken crosslite button on the Lake City Way crossing at NE 20th demonstrates why having any crosswalks defaulted to Don’t Walk is a bad idea for pedestrians. I’ll send word to the city via that handy link you recently posted, let’s see how long it takes to repair. I’d imagine a stoplight at that location would take no more than 24 hours. In the meantime, the next crosswalks in either direction is 5+ blocks away.
He was right, SDOT fixed the crosswalk button by the next day. SDOT deserves credit for the quick response, but it’s unfortunate that the signal broke to begin with. This type of issue would be less common if all crosswalk signals would be automatic in walkable areas.
2011’s Worst Intersection in Seattle… isn’t an intersection at all. At its cross streets that don’t actually cross – John, Thomas, Harrison, and Republican – Aurora presents a nearly half-mile long barrier to pedestrian movement. Aurora Ave is a human-made scar through Seattle that obstructs the flow of people – nowhere worse than between the dense Lower Queen Anne / South Lake Union areas.
View 2011 Worst Intersection in Seattle in a larger map
The street grid will eventually be reconnected, but not until the completion of the Alaskan Way Deep Bore Tunnel boondoggle in 2015 or 2016. Councilmember Tim Burgess earlier requested that WSDOT open crossings at the completion of the Mercer Corridor Project in 2014.
Regardless of when these intersections are restored, it’s too long to wait. In the three year period between April of 2005 and March of 2008, five pedestrians were struck within the 0.4 mile length of Aurora between Denny and Mercer – this is more than were struck in the 4 miles immediately to the north between Mercer and Green Lake.
Opening these crossings to people on foot would make it significantly easier to access Seattle Center and for workers on either side to access more lunch and happy hour options. The closed intersections mean that many trips take an extra 10 minutes of walking, which is inconvenient enough to discourage people from walking at all.
Reopening the intersections could improve safety for vehicles as well. There were 72 collisions on Aurora from Thomas to Republican during the time period referenced above. Vehicles here move 40-60 miles per hour, so providing signalized intersections would protect motorists as they turn onto Aurora.
I’m not optimistic that we’ll see changes anytime soon. This section of Aurora carries roughly 60,000 vehicles daily, and signals would delay these vehicles. Highway 99 is under the jurisdiction of WSDOT, an organization whose goal for decades has been to move more cars, and adding a signal here – where Aurora is essentially a freeway – would go against their deeply-ingrained traffic engineering standards. 60,000 drivers could generate a lot of complaints, sadly more than a few concerned pedestrians can.
