It turns out that the Seattle Department of Transportation has a draft transportation plan out for review right now, and they're looking for public comments. It also turns out that the comment period closes May 31st. Time to get cracking and take a look at this!
The press release provides a bit of context:
[...] a draft transportation plan developed to serve as a blueprint for improvements in Southeast Seattle over the next 20 years. The plan is part of Mayor Greg Nickels̢۪ Southeast Seattle Action Plan and contributes to the goal of improving public safety and transportation financing and programming. The study area is bound by city limits to the south, I-90 to the north, I-5 to the west, and Lake Washington to the east.
The draft transportation plan itself is at http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/ppmp_sets.htm
The highlights just from the executive summary contain some insights into the type of projects detailed in the full report. From the executive summary:
Columbia City already has many of the transportation improvements that make a great place: wide, well-maintained sidewalks, street furniture, curb bulbs, and pedestrian lighting. But for many hours of the day, Rainier has high volumes of quickly-moving traffic. [...]
Key projects include:
- Convert travel lanes along Rainier Ave S from four lanes to three lanes to slow traffic, improve safety, and create a pedestrian-friendly area.
- Add or improve pedestrian crossings on Rainier at S. Genesee St., S. Oregon St, and 39th Ave. S.
- Improve S. Alaska St. between the Columbia City Station on MLK and Columbia City at Rainier for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders.
[...] Nearly half of all the projects recommended in this study are on Rainier; a few others cross Rainier or connect to it. The number one focus of these projects is safety.
The first and the last item particularly got my attention. In fact, I am very curious what they were planning on S Alaska St, as I've talked about this before myself.
So, I first dug into the Alaska St "connection" between Columbia City and the new Link Light Rail station:
- Pedestrian improvements, including "pedestrian scale lighting", and a landscaping buffer between the sidewalk and moving traffic.
- "urban design elements" are added to pedestrian crossings at 35th ave S.
That's it. Just those two. I certainly like them, especially the landscape buffer for pedestrians, that's perfect. But I was really hoping for both a dedicated bike lane in each direction (much like the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan recommends) and zoning changes to further encourage development along this stretch for pedestrian friendly businesses. It wouldn't be a landmark district, but it would be a great pedestrian corridor - imagine Columbia City Station as being the Seattle Cuisine stop. Right from the train you can walk past all sorts of interesting restaurants and shops. Beatwalk would be even more wildly popular if this happened.
Interestingly enough, the report notes "S Edmunds St., two blocks south of Alaska, has been identified as the pedestrian connector between the Columbia City Station and the Columbia City business district and has been improved with streetscape amenities to enhance the pedestrian environment." I suppose that makes sense, although S Edmunds in my opinion doesn't have quite the potential to be a pedestrian friendly business corridor linked to Columbia City like Alaska St does.
Secondly, what about the lane reductions?
There is a long section on this talking about Rainier in general which is very interesting. Some salient points:
- Rainier, mile for mile, is one of the highest collision corridors in the city, averaging nearly 50 collisions per month, including 37 where someone was either killed or disabled.
- Most collisions occur on clear days in daylight hours, with most drivers being sober.
- On street parking demand is high, but drivers often park over the curb due to perceived narrow lanes, which leads to damaged curbs and reduced/uninviting pedestrian access.
- Over 11,000 people a day get on and off Metro's bus service on Rainier
- Average daily vehicle volumes on Rainier range from between 42,000 at the north end near Davenport to 18,000 at the south end near the city limits. The entire length is classified as a "principal arterial", even though the street type varies considerably along the corridor.
There has been a lot of pressure for some time now apparently to do a 4 lane to 3 lane conversion along Rainier, with it being the top recommendation in the 1999 neighborhood plan for Hillman City, Columbia City, and Genesee. Most other business districts along Rainier have given the message that if the conversion is "good enough for Columbia City" it's good enough for them.
So what's the plan?
- Between S Alaska St and S Cloverdale St, convert Rainier to a three lane configuration. One lane in each direction, center turn lane, and left turn pockets at intersections where appropriate. Support parking, bus stops, loading zones, etc.
- Further study, including a block by block design study, to extend this reconfiguration all the way south to the city limits.
All I can say here is, yes! Yes yes yes! I love it!
Finally, the pedestrian improvements. Almost all of these are geared towards slowing traffic down and making it safer with easier access for pedestrians. Almost all of the recommendations are of the same type, just applied to specific intersections. For example, at Rainier and S Genesee, the recommendations include:
- Removing the free right turn lanes for folks westbound turning north, and for folks northbound turning east. Make the turns sharper so cars have to slow down more, and remove the pedestrian islands so visibility is improved.
- Add on street parking on Genesee itself to slow traffic down, and remove on street parking north of Genesee on the east side of Rainier to make lives easier for busses.
These types of traffic calming improvements are handled at each of the intersections noted in our neighborhood. All in all, good things - travel times for cars are increased only slighly (measured in low single digit minutes for a trip from Renton to downtown), while pedestrian safety and the overall "walkability" of the neighborhood is greatly improved.
Get your comments in at the URL above, and do it before the end of the month!
