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One car crash every 3.4 days for the past 10 years. 40% of the crashes include injuries, many to people trying to cross on foot or on bikes, and five fatalities.

Initial public input meeting on 35th Avenue SW Safety Corridor Project last night: Well attended, well moderated by Jim Curtin, SDOT project manager, who lives on the corridor.
See the WS Blog today for a full illustrated report including the city’s slides.

Send your ideas, comments, questions to jim.curtin@seattle.gov.

Repeat of this input meeting:  Tuesday, October 28th, 3:30-5 pm at Southwest Branch Library on 35th at SW Henderson

It was good to see Kathy Dunn, Sakaru Tsuchiya, Aaron Goss, Joe Szilagyi, Amanda Helmick, Chas Redmond and Cathy Tuttle of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways at the meeting.

Here are some comments from Joe, who lives just off 35th in High Point and rides with his young daughter on board:

“35th ave SW is very dangerous road to bike on.  In fact, it is the only street in West Seattle that I will not bike even one block.  Cars drive very fast and there is no bike lane.  No sharrows.  No safe place to ride.  I am constantly seeing smashed parked cars by the side of the road.

“That being said – 35th Ave SW is bordered by very low volume streets that are a joy to bike on.  For example, if you want to bike from Highpoint to Westwood, you can take 30th or 31st and have a pleasant and safe ride.  We do it all the time.  As much as I’d love for every street to be bike friendly, I wonder if that’s a reasonable goal for 35th.  My thought is let the cars stay on 35th and that way the bikes are able to safely use the side roads.

“Now… pedestrians and bikes will need to cross 35th.  So there are improvements that need to be made.  And 35th needs to be made safer for motorists as well.  So I applaud and support the efforts to make 35th safer.  I just don’t see making 35th ave SW biker friendly as a reasonable goal given the excessive volume of cars.  But I trust the WSBC leadership.  So I’ll be behind whatever approach the group thinks is the best for the community.”

from Don:
We can follow the lead of the Central Area group that is getting greenways built parallel to 23rd Ave before the re-do of 23rd. It helps prevent those quiet residential streets from becoming a short cut for car traffic, and provides a safe place to walk and ride while the road construction happens, and forever after for those who don’t want to ride on busy arterials.

I rode from downtown Tuesday night to my granddaughter’s birthday party in Arbor Heights west of 35th. From Avalon, I rode 36th/37th going there. It’s got some big uphills going south, but it works. Going home I took 34th all the way to Graham, used the sidewalk from Graham to the library, crossed there to 36th, and went back to Alaska on 36th/37th, then over to Alki.  Very pleasant and direct at night. 34th is not as hilly as 36th/37th. 34th is a great connector for three schools, HP Library, HP Community Center, churches,  parks, etc.

Wednesday, i rode from downtown and WS Bridge trail onto the Delridge sidewalk, then down to 26th Ave Greenway, then west to 30th, up the hill (walking my heavy bike up the really steep block of Snake Hill) and up through High Point to Neighborhood House.  Went back on Morgan to 34th and the same way as previous night.  That’s three good routes parallel to 35th that already work really well, and would be better if they had greenway treatment and signals at busy street crossings for rush hour crossing.

Aaron Goss (Aaron’s Bike Repair) was at the meeting. He commutes daily along 35th by bike and is obviously experienced. He likes it because 35th is less hilly, and wants bike lanes and center turn lanes and one regular traffic lane each way.

There’s a repeat of this input meeting next week.3:30-5 pm at Southwest Branch Library on 35th at SW Henderson