Lake City pedestrian says cars won't stop

Q: Irene Grebenschikoff moved recently from Seattle's Northgate area to Lake City. Already she's discovered a neighborhood street, 35th Avenue Northeast at Northeast 130th Street, which is near a Fred Meyer store, can be very busy, especially during rush hours.

"Traffic goes much faster than [the 30-mph speed limit], and there is no crosswalk to get across 35th Avenue Northeast," she said.

Besides that, it seems 35th Northeast is used by some motorists to bypass busy Lake City Way Northeast, just west of there, and that's adding even more traffic.

"Routinely, I'm crossing the street and cars do not stop," she said. "Instead, [they're] either swerving around me or forcing me to stop in the middle of the road."

Grebenschikoff says a number of the streets to the east that run more-or-less parallel to 35th Avenue have speed bumps to slow traffic.

"Has the city thought about ways to slow the traffic down [on 35th Avenue Northeast] and get cars to stop for pedestrians? It's just a matter of time before a nasty accident occurs."

A: Seattle's Department of Transportation (SDOT) has plans for improvements next year at 35th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 130th Street, says Eric Widstrand, the department's traffic-operations manager. Those improvements include installing "curb bulbs" and extending sidewalks 6 feet into the roadway. Curb bulbs are extensions of the sidewalk into the street and are designed to shorten crossing distance for pedestrians. SDOT also plans to install a marked pedestrian crosswalk with signs.

As a minor arterial, 35th Avenue Northeast is not eligible for speed humps like some nonarterial streets in the area, Widstrand said. But, he said, the speeding problem has been forwarded to the Seattle Police Department, "with a request for enforcement."

Q: North Seattle resident Jerome Yager says he was almost run over twice while crossing in a crosswalk near a Starbucks at Green Lake.

At East Greenlake Way North and Northeast Ravenna Boulevard, stop signs control traffic from several directions, but "drivers are getting more and more aggressive, trying to push people out of their way in the crosswalk," he said. "They inch toward you as you are walking. If you stopped or tripped, they would surely hit you.

"I know we have cameras for red lights. What about for busy intersection crosswalks?"

A: Sorry, says SDOT's Widstrand. "There are not established technologies to enforce motorist behavior at all-way stops."

Intersections with multiple approaches can be confusing for both motorists and pedestrians. Fortunately, says Widstrand, most confusion occurs at very low speeds.

Widstrand says better motorist behavior at such intersections will likely come through traffic enforcement. He said SDOT will request additional enforcement by Seattle police at that intersection.

Bumper note

In last Monday's Bumper, SDOT's Widstrand recommended a route for large commercial vehicles going from "downtown" Fremont to northbound Aurora Avenue North. His directions could work. But eagle-eyed reader Adam Morley pointed out, after reading the item, that North 34th Street west of Fremont Avenue North in the heart of Fremont is one-way westbound. And there are some turn restrictions.

So maybe Widstrand should have recommended North 35th Street, which is used by buses, as is Bridge Way North.

Morley says Fremont has "a certain oddness because of the history of the Aurora Bridge being built primarily so autos could bypass Fremont and the Fremont Bridge" when headed to what were once considered the sleepy suburbs of North Seattle.

Widstrand says Morley makes a good point about steering traffic to North 35th Street.