The Maple Leaf Community Council isn’t about to let the city put in a bike lane through much of Maple Leaf’s portion of Roosevelt Way Northeast without at least trying to get some of its own concessions, namely crosswalks at some of the arterial’s busiest intersections.
The Seattle Department of Transportation is planning to add a dedicated bike lane to the uphill portions of Roosevelt, with a shared car-bike lane on the downhill portions. The project also is slated to eliminate parking on the west side of Roosevelt from Northeast 85th Street to Northeast 75th Street.
The department is taking comments through Wednesday on the project, including input on where residents would like to see additional crosswalks in addition to the marked crosswalk it plans to add at Northeast 90th Street.
Here’s where the Community Council would like additional painted crosswalks:
- Northeast 92nd Street, south side
- Northeast 91st Street, south side
- Northeast 89th Street, south side
- Northeast 94th Street, north side
- Northeast 97th Street, south side
Where would you like to see additional crosswalks not only on Roosevelt, but also at other intersections throughout Maple Leaf?
It would be interesting to see what the parked car count is during the short time in the winter when the trees aren’t dripping or dropping something on the parked cars. SDOT was made aware of the issue with the trees. I am glad they are taking more time to anaylze the parking and traffic.
ML Resident,
I was only counting the number of vehicles parked on the west side of Roosevelt (those that could be displaced for the bike lane).
I always saw lots of open parking on the east side of the street but apparently this was not the case last night!
I’m all for a more scientific method of counting parking usage on this stretch. Lets figure out an approach that includes more observers.
Doug Campbell
206-526-1694
@Kevin – SDOT indicated a crosswalk would be going in at 90th, but it isn’t on their PDF plans so MLCC just reminded them to fix that mistake in addition to 5 new crosswalks.
@ML Resident Bus Commuter – I’d appreciate your thoughts on a superior methodology to spot-checking at various times/days.
Climbing Roosevelt alongside traffic can be a true nightmare. It will be a great addition to have a dedicated bike lane to keep bikers safe. There is always the argument of pushing bikers to 8th instead, but countless clueless drivers take the left turns on the “quick sides” of the round-abouts and are honestly far more perilous than chancing Roosevelt.
And as far as painting crosswalks.. how about UNDER THE CROSSWALK LIGHT on 90th in front of Ace. It might be hanging there but I can wait 10 min for anyone to actually stop without the paint.
I’m glad to see this is getting much needed attention. However, I agree that the larger issue is that of vehicles failing to stop for pedestrians in general. It makes no difference if I am standing at a crosswalk (either by myself or with my 3 year old child) – very, very few stop for us. Even when I finally ‘push’ my way into the intersection to ‘force’ vehicles to comply with their legal responsibility, it is a fight.
What is REALLY needed are one or two additional pedestrian activated lights similar to the one at 88th and Roosevelt. This seems the only way to encourage vehicles to stop for pedestrians on our busy arterial Roosevelt.
Besides a pedestrian light, I’d like to see our police actually enforce this and ticket offenders. Until it becomes a priority for them, it will not be a priority for our greater community.
Unfortunately, Doug’s survey on parking is totally worthless. At anytime, one can count cars and not come up with anything meaningful. In exactly the opposite of Doug’s “scientific study” here’s what I counted last night:
According to SDOT there are 17 parking places available on the East side of Roosevelt Way between 75th and 80th.
July 25 6:00 hour – 14 total cars parked
July 25 7:00 hour – 18 total cars parked
This is light given the summer hours and people who wish to avoid the sticky mess on their cars due to the Linden tree drip from June-August.
To say that residents don’t need parking is to ignore the facts. Again, anyone (as SDOT has proved) can simple count with there are many cars parked by taking “single snap-shot counts.”
Until someone gets serious about studying the parking needs, such snapshot counts only hide the truth rather than reveal it. Those who actually live on Roosevelt 24 hours a day know how hard it is to find parking at times anywhere near your home on the street. Oh, sure you can park your car a few blocks away, and hope that it’s still there in the morning with mirrors still attached.
Let’s get a real study done instead of just snapshot “proof” studies that a meaningless.
How about crosswalks on Lake City Way? From the 80th-15th intersection to 92nd there is oNlt one crosswalk. Also, hearty agreement on the need for sidewalks.
The 75th to 85th section of Roosevelt, uphill, has been a bottleneck for cyclists for a long time. Personally, I just take Ravenna to Greenlake and them come up 5th or continue around the west side and mosey up 1st. Really don’t need to deal with traffic on my way home.
I have seen many people jogging southbound in the northbound car lanes here. What is up with that? You have given way too many one-fingered hellos!
It should be noted SDOT has offered, and the Maple Leaf Community Council has agreed, to postpone striping between NE 75th and NE 85th until 2011 pending study of the restriping’s effect on bus service. The striping from NE 85th to NE 115th is due to start later this year.
Our hope is by taking a bit more time to look at the situation and bringing some additional expertise to the table, we can come up with a suitable solution that increases bike safety for the dozens of cyclists who use this route without adversely affecting the thousands of bus commuters who flow through the same area.
@Doug – Thanks for doing the survey. Those data are helpful to the decision-making process.
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Has anyone noticed that buses making a right turn from eastbound NE 80th to southbound Roosevelt can barely make the turn while staying in it’s lane. How is a bus going to make that turn when the lane has been narrowed by 5 feet to make room for the northbound bike lane? Looks to me that the buses are going to have to cross the Roosevelt center line to make the turn.
One of the several problems that will be created regarding buses if the parking lane is omitted.
I guess they will help but I still don’t see how you are supposed to cross the street when the cars won’t stop for you.
Yeah bike lane!
Gee, it’s almost like the city recently became aware that Maple Leaf is a part of the incorporated City of Seattle! Now if only they can finish putting in our sidewalks promised in the 1950s and can remember to plow snow here in the winter…
Seriously, though. These crosswalks are LONG overdue on Roosevelt.
15th needs crosswalks at the puppet theater, at 90th, at the Free Methodist Church, and at 98th at the very least.
Also, the crosswalks at 15th and Lake City Way could use sprucing up to make them bolder and clearer, e.g. painting the pedestrian paths red.
Honestly, 15th could use some permanent speed bumps or something, too.
I did a survey over the last few days to see how many cars were actually parked on the west side of Roosevelt in the entire ten blocks between 75th and 85th. Here is what I found:
July 20 6:00pm: 4 cars parked
July 21 2:00pm: 5 cars parked
July 21 10:30pm: 6 cars, all above 80th
July 22 7:30am: 5 cars, all above 80th
July 22 11:30am: 3 cars south of 80th, 0 above 80th
July 22 2:00pm: 1 car above 80th, 2 below 80th
July 22 4:52pm: 1 car above 80th, 1 below 80th
July 22 6:22pm: 3 cars above 80th, 3 below 80th
July 23 12:45am: 4 cars above 80th, 2 below 80th
July 23 2:00pm 5 cars above 80th, 1 below 80th
July 23 9:45pm 5 cars above 80th, 7 below 80th
July 24 8:55am 7 cars above 80th, 5 cars below 80th
July 24 10:20am 6 cars above 80th, 0 cars below 80th
July 24 4:40pm 4 cars above 80th, 3 cars below 80th
July 24 8:40pm 8 cars above 80th, 5 cars below 80th
July 25 6:30am 8 cars above 80th, 5 cars below 80th
July 25 10:15am 4 cars above 80th, 5 cars below 80th
July 25 6:30pm 3 cars above 80th, 3 cars below 80th
July 26 6:30am 4 cars above 80th, 0 cars below 80th
July 26 4:25 pm 1 car above 80th, 2 cars below 80th
Of the approximately 70 parking spaces possible, I saw a maximum of 13 occupied at any one time over the last several days. It was usually far fewer. During this period there was always ample space for two or three times this number of vehicles to park on the east side of the Roosevelt.
For what it’s worth, these numbers are accurate. Roosevelt is much more lightly parked than the adjoining side streets. Please confirm my observations with your own.
It would be inconvenient for the homeowners affected, but I see a substantial public benefit to both drivers and cyclists in an uphill segregated bike lane from 75th to 85th at the expense of this parking. Fortunately, many of the homeowners on the west side of Roosevelt have back alley vehicle access to their properties.
I hope that a some other Maple Leafers will join me in giving some positve feedback to the city for this needed bike lane. I fear it is getting flamed.
Doug Campbell
8302 8th Ave NE
Residing since 1986
About time. I hope that they a painted on the road, unlike the hanging sign on the north side of 90th and Roosevelt, which goes unnoticed by all passing motorists
I’d love to see a crosswalk on 15th somewhere between Lake City Way and NE 96th, maybe at 88th or 90th. Those of us who live on the East side of 15th have to make a dash across the road to get to Maple Leaf Park or the stores on Roosevelt.