March 24

What’s wrong with this sign?

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4  comments

This is a “wayfinding” sign for bike commuters. It’s part of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan. Signs like this are popping up all over the neighborhood, along with “bike dots” on the pavement.

The master plan is an extensive and controversial effort by the Department of Transportation to make Seattle “the most bike-friendly city in the nation.” Among cyclists and motorists alike, there is disagreement over whether such devices as “sharrows” – Shared Lane Pavement Markings – help or hurt.

I’m not sure there can be much disagreement over the wayfaring sign, above. The sign is on Northeast 88th Street at Eighth Avenue Northeast. Olympic View School is indeed a few blocks to the north, the direction that arrow points. And so is Northgate.

Any cyclist who follows the wayfaring arrow south to find Northgate is in for a leg-wearying surprise.

Cyclists, motorists, what are your thoughts on the city’s bike plans?

About the author 

Sara W

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  1. With this kind of competency, I can understand why most folks in Seattle think a government takeover of healthcare is a good thing. Hopefully the signs directing us to the massive lines outside doctors' offices will be pointing in the right direction.

  2. Thanks for the post from the city, Rick. I appreciate it. As to the sign and route, I took it yesterday. A cyclist following the sign south instead of north and moving at traffic speed ends up not at 85th but at 75th. Which is a very busy feeder street to I-5. There is no sign or bike dot on Eighth Avenue at 85th directing a turn (and the bike dot on 85th is not apparent). -Mike

  3. The signs are installed correctly. For comfort and safety, SDOT’s route guides cyclists to Northgate using residential streets like NE 85th St and 1st Ave NE as much as possible. We direct them southward at 8th Ave NE to take advantage of lower traffic volume streets, and the signalized crossing at 5th Ave NE and NE 85th. A bicyclist heading north at NE 88th St would have no signalized means to cross 5th Ave NE, a busy arterial, except by riding up to and then along another busy arterial – NE 92nd Street. Also, the Bike Master Plan is far from controversial. The City Council unanimously approved the plan in 2007 and SDOT has aggressively delivered bike improvements based on it. In its first three years, SDOT has installed 93 miles of bike lanes and sharrows, emplaced 801 new bike racks, and built 5.2 miles of multi-purpose trails. We will continue with our implementation work in 2010.

  4. Thanks for bringing light to this. I've been wondering about this myself. Perhaps these were installed by an out-of-state or out-of-town contractor? Or maybe the person installing the sign was out-of-mind.If you approach this intersection from the south (on 8th Ave NE), you see an indication to turn right for Magnuson park, but then the signage runs out. I don't know how these way-finding signs were placed but most bicycling people I know would not get to Magnuson that way by going east on 88th.

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