This morning, City Council Transportation Committee Chair Tom Rasmussen opened a workshop with about 25 people invited by SDOT to brainstorm design input for the redesign of our #1 priority intersection: the 5-way at Chelan, Delridge, Spokane and West Marginal Way SW.
Thank you Council Member Rasmussen for securing funding for design of this challenging project, and SDOT and SvR for getting this diverse group together!
This intersection, and East Marginal Way S are currently the “deal breakers” that prevent willing but wary individuals and families from riding the final 20 minutes to downtown from West Seattle, or making the connection between the Duwamish Trail and the Alki Trail. Changing this will make a huge change for using bikes in West Seattle.
All the ideas we have brought up before were considered, and some really ambitious and creative long term solutions were proposed. Short term and long term solutions will be planned, with initial design proposals back for stakeholder review in about 6 months.
Short term changes could happen fairly soon. The ultimate project will take years for full development, because, as Council Member Rasmussen noted, every mode of transportation uses this spot, including pedestrians, bike riders, cars, buses, freight trucks, fire engines, trains and ships. Well, maybe not airplanes, but most everything else.
The group included representatives from SvR Design, Port of Seattle, shipping companies, Seattle Fire Department, METRO Transit, Heffron transportation consultants, North Delridge Community Association, Seattle Bike Advisory Board, Feet First, UW, Cascade Bicycle Club, and West Seattle Bike Connections, and SDOT’s traffic, bike/ped, signalization, and freight mobility groups. SDOT staff include a number who live in West Seattle and bike through this intersection regularly.
– 11th Ave SW & SW Holden St: Holden is a high speed arterial. We are requesting a flashing beacon sign at crosswalk, so kids and slower adults can safely cross. It’s on a planned Greenway route. Submitted by Highland Park Action Committee with support from us and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways — it’s on SNG’s top 10 list city-wide!
– California Ave SW & SW Juneau St: requesting a marked cross walk with flashing beacon sign, and maybe curb bulbs, to connect future Greenways that will run parallel to California. This is a relatively flat spot to get to businesses, schools, and parks. Submitted by us, with support from Morgan Community Association and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. It’s the other SNG top 10 Greenway intersection in West Seattle.
– Alki Trail / Harbor Ave SW at SW Spokane St: Requesting trail markings to reduce bike/pedestrian conflicts at the corner and at Kitty Harbor and Cycle U. Submitted by us, with support from Admiral Neighborhood Association, Alki Community Council, and businesses.
– Delridge Ave SW mid-block crossing at Boren School: Requesting crossing improvements so kids and parents can get from parking lot, bike and walking routes to school. Submitted by WSBC member and parent Craig Rankin with support from PTSA, Highland Park Action Committee, us, and others.
Thank you to Dongho Chang, SDOT Chief Traffic Engineer, for riding out to meet and look at the bike detour. He’ll ask the project to move the fence behind the sign base and electrical box for a little more room. Video sensors now detect northbound bikes to change the light, and the east-west crosswalk signal goes on a cycle without having to press button.
Dongho Change, SDOT Chief Traffic Engineer
The Port of Seattle says it’s really tight for trucks turning into T46, so it’s really tight for us.
We’ve probably got 3 to 4 weeks before the permanent path is finished, and then will not have to cross the road. The path will have a west side option for those going south or using sidewalk to go north, and an east side option for those using the northbound bike lane or turning north from S Atlantic St.
We and others gave WSDOT some feedback on bike crossings and new detours at the newly opened Atlantic Street flyover crossing. The viaduct replacement project has responded, as you have seen this week if you take that route to downtown. Kudos to all who spoke up! Here’s their message and an invitation for more communication this Thursday at Milepost 31, from 6:00 t0 6:30 PM. 211 First Ave S in Pioneer Square.
Hello Don,
Thank you for providing us with further feedback about the shared-use path at the intersection of South Atlantic Street and Alaskan Way South. WSDOT and SDOT have been coordinating closely since the new South Atlantic Street overpass opened, and I want to respond to your questions and give you an update to some changes we’ve made after receiving feedback from you and others in the bicycle community.
We’ve changed the way the signals operate at this intersection so that it will no longer be necessary for bicyclists to push the pedestrian button to trigger the pedestrian walk signal to change. The walk signal will turn over automatically with each rotation of the signal cycle.
Due to limited sight distance and physical constraints, it is not possible to widen the path at the northwest corner of this intersection. Bicyclists should use caution when approaching this intersection. As a reminder, the width and curve of the path at this location will change when the permanent path opens.
Currently, bicycles approaching the intersection in the northbound bike lane do in fact trigger the signal sensors in the same way that vehicles do, using video detection which senses forward motion in the bike lane. This will continue to be the case when the permanent path opens.
We are committed to providing timely and helpful information to the bicycle community. On Thursday, Feb. 6, WSDOT and SDOT staff will be on-hand at Milepost 31 to answer questions and comments about the shared-use path. We have posted signs on this path to inform commuters of the event, and let them know how to contact us directly. We hope that you can join us, and would appreciate your help in spreading the word about this opportunity.
Prior to the new path opening in March 2014, we will notify bicycle stakeholder groups in the area and submit a post to the Seattle Bike Blog. We will be on-site during the peak commute times with information about the changing configuration. If you have any other suggestions about ways to reach out to the bicycle community, please let me know.
WSDOT and Contractor Skanska are learning from the Duwamish and Suquamish
How long will this new bike trap last? Until the last cyclist is caught? Five foot wide blind corner with fence post blocks in the curve, for two-way bike and pedestrian traffic ?
Would you like to encourage kids at Denny Middle School to join and ride in their Major Taylor Club?
They need some bikes to ride!
West Seattle Bike Connections’ Theresa Beaulieu has a gofundme campaign started, to buy 12 to 15 new mountain bikes to get kids riding who cannot afford bikes, as her latest bike project at Denny.
Chief Sealth has a Major Taylor for high school students, now in its third year, thanks to Cascade Bicycle Club. These older kids have an Earn-a-bike program. Bringing this to Middle Schools is a new venture. West Seattleite Ed Ewing leads Cascade’s Major Taylor Club project.
Completion of the flyover lanes affects bicyclists this weekend
from Genevieve Stokes, Communications Officer, Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program
To complete the connections between the new South Atlantic Street overpass and nearby streets, crews must close South Atlantic Street and the State Route 99 off-ramp to Atlantic this weekend. Both closures will start at 4 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25. The overpass and off-ramp will open to traffic by 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 27.
During the closure, bicyclists will be able to travel from Alaskan Way South (south of South Atlantic Street) to the temporary bike path on the west side of the new overpass. However, bicyclists will not be able to use the bike lane north of South Massachusetts Street. Instead they will need to use the sidewalk on the west side of the street between South Massachusetts and South Atlantic streets, crossing in front of Terminal 46 via the crosswalk. In addition, flaggers will direct bicyclists riding east on South Atlantic Street.
When the new overpass opens, South Atlantic Street will remain closed to through traffic under SR 99. The crosswalks and sidewalks on the north side of South Atlantic Street will be open and bicyclists will also be able to use the overpass when a train is blocking the roadway.*Please note, the sidewalk on the overpass will not open until late in the week of Jan. 27.[WSBC note: the guardrail was not poured as of yesterday, Don’t try it!]
More changes coming soon to the shared-use path
Later this winter, crews will complete the link between the new path from South King Street and the on-street bike lanes south of South Atlantic Street. Until then, bicyclists will continue to use the temporary path between South Royal Brougham Way and South Atlantic Street. A map on our webpage highlights the temporary and future shared-use path and the bike routes in this area.
This is what you look like with high-powered lights.
Have you ever wondered what you look like at night while riding a bike? A few of us have, and we decided to record ourselves from the perspective of sitting in the driver’s seat of a car.
There has been debate about bike lighting, more specifically how effective it is to have high-powered lights and using lights in “strobe” or “blinky” mode. Seattle Bike Blog has some interesting comments about bike lighting in an article published back in October, and Crosscut called out “bike bullies” back in November. Lots of talk, but no one has ever shown what these lights look like to others.
On Friday, January 17th, we went to Jack Block Park where four of us were on bikes with an arsenal of lights and we had a car to use for setting up a video camera. We used Jack Block Park because there are some dark areas and we knew there wouldn’t be anyone else around.
Our video setup consisted of a GoPro Hero 2 camera with headstrap mounted to the headrest of the driver’s seat inside a car. We moved the seat forward so we could position the camera as close as possible to where your head would be if you were sitting in the seat. The GoPro camera recorded video with 960 resolution, 30 fps, and wide angle of 170 degrees. Humans have an almost 180-degree forward-facing horizontal field of view, so we figured this camera setup would be comparable to what you’d see.
Lights & Gear Info
Below is a list of the lights and other gear we had for these tests that you’ll see in the videos. We’ll have some notes about each test to help show where in the videos they’re being used.
ANSI II rated safety vest (for construction and road work), yellow with wide silver 3M retroreflective tape
Test 1 – Car Lights Off, Bike Lights Off
This test clearly shows that you should have some kind of light at night. There’s some ambient light coming from the left side of the video, which is Port property. You can barely see the light-colored jackets in the video, and it’s only when we ride by the car at very close distances.
Test 2 – Car Lights Off, Bike Lights On (“Normal Mode”)
Here we’ve got our lights on modes that we’d normally ride with at night. We haven’t seen ourselves or gotten feedback until this point. We only put the lights on at levels we feel comfortable with (so we can see and be seen).
We’ve all got similar rear red lights, but the bright blinking red helmet light on the third bike is the Serfas Thunderbolt UTL-6. It’s highly visible and not too annoying. The other rear blinky lights are detectable, but could probably be even brighter for those cases of drivers who forget to turn on headlights when it’s dark outside.
The SpokeGrenade SG-1000 is pretty bright, but Al says he generally covers it or directs it down for approaching traffic since he knows it’s bright and uses it to see dangerous obstacles on dark trails (like tree branches and glass on the Duwamish Trail). None of the other front lights appear to be overpowering.
It should be pretty clear that reflective gear is very visible with car lights on. The distance from the car to the fence in the background is about 100 feet. The most noticeable reflective gear is generally on things that move (wheels, legs, shoes). One thing with the Schwalbe Marathon tires is that the reflective sidewall needs to be clean to be visible.
Test 4 – Car Lights On, Bike Lights On (High Modes)
This is where it gets good. The first bike has two Magicshine 900-lumen lights and one Niterider Lumina 650, all on high. And they’re pointed straight ahead (not down at the ground). The Magicshine lights are cheap Chinese lights that are more like 600 lumens, but all of these on high is like having something around 2000 lumens. Clearly this is annoying and overpowering. We’d never run lights like this on the streets.
Test 6 – Car Lights On, Bike Lights On (Blinky Modes)
This is where it gets better. Some front lights on blinky mode can give you a seizure. We wanted to show this.
The first bike has Niterider Lumina 650 (on strobe mode) and Serfas CP-USB (blinky mode). The strobe mode on the Niterider light is actually called “walk” mode and only outputs ~40 lumens. But clearly it’s annoying and distracting (and is never used in this mode).
Yes, blinky lights are noticeable. They even draw your eyes to them. But they can be distracting to others and really don’t help for a rider to see anything in front of them. And it’s technically illegal to have a front flashing light (although you could have an amber colored front light that flashes).
(3) Flashing lights are prohibited except as required in RCW 46.37.190, 46.37.200, 46.37.210, 46.37.215, and 46.37.300, warning lamps authorized by the state patrol, and light-emitting diode flashing taillights on bicycles.
Test 7 – Helmet view of pedestrians with no lights
Many people simply aren’t aware of what they look like at night when they’re walking. Bike lights on “normal” modes don’t have the same power or beam spread as a car headlight, and the most dangerous situation arises when bikes and pedestrians share the same off-street trail with no ambient lighting, and pedestrians have no lights while wearing non-reflective dark clothing.
This video shows two people, one wearing a light colored reflective jacket and the other wearing all black. With ambient lighting behind them you can only pick out silhouettes. The bike light is a Niterider Lumina 650 on low (~200 lumens) and pointed down (“normal” mode for commuting).
LED lights can pack a punch. There’s no legal limit for how bright a bike light can be. And there’s plenty of high-powered bike lights out there that are very cheap (you can get 1800+ lumen lights for about $20 on eBay). Even “commuter” bike lights are getting close to 1000 lumens.
Lights around 200 lumens are definitely acceptable for commuting. Anything over 500 lumens should be used sparingly and definitely not pointed straight ahead but rather down at the ground in front of you.
Blinky lights should be used courteously. And high-powered lights should not be used in blinky (or strobe) mode. You should know what your own lights look like before using them.
Spoke lights are great for being visible from the side and at angles. Monkey Lights are a good choice.
Reflective gear (clothing, stickers, tires, etc) works well when there’s a light source hitting it. Light-colored clothing is definitely better than dark clothing.
Local bike shops can be a great source of lights and information. They likely won’t recommend a high-powered light for commuting.
Questions and comments are appreciated. Special thanks to Don Brubeck, Kathy Dunn, Al Jackson, and Jeff Hallman for riding, and Bob Winship for the car to video from.
This morning, City Council Transportation Committee Chair Tom Rasmussen opened a workshop with about 25 people invited by SDOT to brainstorm design input for the redesign of our #1 priority intersection: the 5-way at Chelan, Delridge, Spokane and West Marginal Way SW.
