The city released it’s Pedestrian Master Plan last night. $60 million will be spent in the next 6 years to improve the cities walkability. I’ve pulled some of the more useful maps and cropped off the extraneous parts (the rest of the city), so we can take a look at what’s in store for Capitol Hill.
This first map is the Pedestrian Linkage Priority, which prioritizes corridors based on their importance to the transportation network. It also seems to be taking into account the current conditions of the corridor, since the northern part of 12th Ave is rated higher than Broadway or Pike/Pine. Good news that 12th is a high priority though, it could definitely use improvement.
It’s also worth noting that these corridors are all major arterials, the city didn’t recognize any calmer, side streets as possible pedestrian corridors (Nagle Pl for example).
This cluster-fuck of dots represents “how comfortable it is to cross different roadways.” Looks like our major problem spots are covered here, including a bunch down on Pike/ Pine (which should be helped out by the curb bulbs that will be installed soon). Also included are a couple crossings on Olive, which will only get worse when the dump trucks start rolling.
This last map is all the places where the high priority intersections from the previous map, intersect with high priority areas (AKA, projects that might actually get done). Lucky for us, most of Capitol Hill is considered a high priority area, so most of our problem areas carry over to this map.
These maps seem to hit most of our problem spots, though I’d like to see more green dots on Olive. Any other spots the city is missing?
Reports from everybody about their part of the Hill? The biggest issue around my home near St. Joe’s is Aloha at various spots. Probably most dangerous is Aloha around 13th and 14th. Falls outside their prio areas (probably rightly so compared to issue in Pike/Pine) but still would love to see some solutions for that area eventually.
Here is a list of all maps used in the plan
One of the worst areas, in my opinion, is the area between Harvard and Bellevue that Olive runs through. There is very little visibility because of the hill, and cars tend to be going fairly fast. It’s also on the bus line, which causes visibility problems. There are no safe areas to cross on many intersections, and the crosswalk on Summit (by the Starbucks) takes FOREVER so most people jaywalk. I have also almost been hit several times by cars turning right to go down Denny hill who don’t see that there is a “walk” signal because they are in a hurry to get to the freeway.
You’re right Allison, The Denny/Olive/Summit triangle is difficult, coming from both a pedestrian and driver point of view. That right on red is necessary, otherwise Olive would be backed up for blocks. It’s too bad that the green light (going west on Olive) coincides with the walk signal across Denny. Drivers need to be vigilant that pedestrians have the right of way, even if they (the drivers) have the green light.
Maybe adding a dedicated turn signal which is on when the walk sign is off would help the situation.
I think that SDOT needs to do something about the intersection of Bellevue and Olive, for both pedestrians and automobiles. When you have left hand turns, and cars taking risky chances, and a lot of pedestrians thre don’t seem to care what the walk signs say, plus long crosswalks, I think this intersection needs help.
I would insist that there be no left turns in any direction at Olive and Denny. By the way, have others noticed what’s going on at 7th Ave & Spring? There’s a new light going in and a lane configuration change. I expect it is in preparation for the closure of the Olive Way Exit next week. One thing they are doing is forcing the southbound lane to the left (east) by a lane width. It’s already been hard for buses to turn left from Spring on to 7th and this just makes it more difficult. Brilliant.
We need a way to cross I-5 that isn’t Denny or the Lakeview Overpass, somewhere around Harrison Street, perhaps Republican. If we had a pedestrian bridge with an elevator on the west side (at Eastlake), it would be a very short walk from the densest part of Capitol Hill to the new heart of South Lake Union. A pedestrian bridge was once proposed here as part of a light rail station, before today’s route was chosen.
Once the SR 99 project is complete, you’d be able to continue walking on Harrison all the way to Seattle Center. It’s only a mile from Melrose Ave. to the Space Needle via Harrison. With the elevator, it would be a 15 minute, level walk.
Imagine how much better this would be than it is today! A bridge here would be expensive, but while we’re making master plans, it seems like a huge lost opportunity not to address the connectivity between these two adjacent neighborhoods.