The “Poem Dazzle” crosswalks are returning

The city says it has made progress responding to community feedback to address safety improvements and design mistakes at the key Melrose Ave connections in the work to complete the overhaul of Pike and Pine between Capitol Hill and downtown Seattle.

CHS reported in May on members of Central Seattle Greenways calling out the dangerous situations and half-measures taken during the construction process as the Office of the Waterfront and the Seattle Department of Transportation completed construction of the $17.45 million project meant to boost bicycling and pedestrian activity and create connectivity between downtown and Capitol Hill as the routes along the arteries are transitioned to one-way traffic .

“We are seeing that the adjustments we have been making during construction are improving things right now and address many of the concerns we have heard,” the city said in an update on the work this week.

CSG member Cory Hutton has been especially effective with an ongoing campaign via the @streetcrafting social media account to document the issues — and the solutions. How much has the city and SDOT depended on Hutton? They used @streetcrafting photos to document their progress.

The city says it has begun its response to the calls from the Central Seattle Greenways group to improve the intersection of Pike, Melrose, and Minor Ave including improvements made to the intersection and traffic signals. The city also says a new concrete island will be built to better protect people walking, rolling, and biking.

While the the $17.45 million Pike/Pine overhaul and the previous $4.3 million Melrose Promenade overhaul offer benefits for bikers and pedestrians, many have criticized the efforts for the design compromises and half-baked safety measures around partially completed changes that have made the area dangerous for walkers, bikers, and drivers alike while raising core questions around how Seattle City Hall handles transition into daily use for its new major projects.

Officials say they are taking these concerns seriously and have identified several short-term changes as the work is completed. They are also considering the possibility of more changes in the future based on the suggestions from community members.

Last week, crews finished moving traffic signal equipment at the intersection of Pike and Melrose. The signal lights with automatic bike detection have been relocated to the east side of the street where they are hoped to be more visible for people traveling along Pike. This will be a better fit for the newly redesigned one-way street, reducing some of the confusion reported for people driving and riding bikes.

While the new design improves visibility and addresses some of the concerns, officials are also considering community’ requests to further change the intersection.

The current design is a “half-signal,” which has signal lights controlling traffic on Pike and stop signs facing Melrose and Minor Ave. The city says this is a common design for intersections where a major street intersects with a smaller street, and while it works well in many locations, reports of how people are traveling through this intersection indicate that it is worth considering the suggestion to create a “full-signal” by adding traffic lights facing Melrose and Minor Ave, the city says.

Officials are considering the request to create a special pedestrian and bike-only phase of the signal, during which cars are not allowed into the intersection and people walking and biking would be able to cross freely.

The entrance to Melrose was also recently reconfigured with temporary barriers that prevent cars from entering this street from Pike or northbound Minor. This helped simplify the intersection and made the new bike route work better but reports continue of instances of drivers ignoring the temporary signs and barricades to illegally cross the bike lane to get onto northbound Melrose.

The city says work will begin this week to replace the temporary barricades with a new concrete island which will take a few weeks to build to block drivers from illegally entering Melrose.

The crosswalk murals were originally painted in 2018

Meanwhile, the city says problems with vandalism and graffiti causing confusion about the new one-way setups on Pike and Pine have been reduced now that new permanent signage is mostly in place.

Officials have also identified more places to install additional “Do Not Enter” signs to make things clearer for people coming from different directions. They have also removed turn arrow signs at certain locations which may have been confusing people and leading them to make the wrong turn.

The new traffic signal location and soon-to-come concrete island will complete this effort, making the intersection function more smoothly, the city says.

Melrose is also due for a touch-up. Later this summer, crews will repaint the “Poem Dazzle” community crosswalks which were removed during recent construction. The crosswalk murals will be painted across Melrose at both Pike and Pine and will have the same colorful design as the original crosswalk mural.

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