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Northeast Sector
NE 125th St / 25th Ave N, map
Respondent #4, 5/19/08
Posted speed limit is 30 MPH, but vehicles are typically doing 40 to 50 down the hill (and up the hill for that matter.) People making left turns into the neighborhood at the many entry points along 125th halt traffic, causing blind spots to oncoming traffic. Vehicles trying to switch lanes and accelerate do so with limited vision around the stopped vehicle. Many people use this particular crosswalk. There are at least 3 separate school bus stops that pick up and drop off at or within 50 feet of this intersection. There are stops for both the east and west bound Metro 41 route within 50 feet of this intersection as well. A "road diet", re-striping the street so that there is one lane in either direction plus a center turn lane, would
1. (limit) traffic would flow (to) the speed of the slowest driver with no option to pass and accelerate with a blind spot, (making) the speed limit much easier to enforce;
2. vehicles making left turns would be out of the traffic flow and would not only have one lane to judge before turning, but would also be visually offset to the left by a full vehicle length to make that judgment;
3. three lanes would be much easier for a pedestrian to make the critical judgment that all vehicles are stopped before crossing.
Seattle Department of Transportation (SDoT) Response, 10/23/08
You raise some very good suggestions about the NE 125th Street corridor. You may know that the Bicycle Master Plan originally recommended installing bike lanes along this portion of NE 125th Street. To install bike lanes along NE 125th Street, we would need to reduce the number of vehicle travel lanes (a “road diet”). However, the latest traffic volumes measured in this area show peak hour volumes at a level that requires retaining two vehicle travel lanes in each direction. We will continue to study existing traffic volumes and vehicle turning movements along this corridor.
Thank you again for taking the time to write; we value the contribution that citizens bring to transportation issues in their community. If you have further questions about pedestrian or bicycle issues, feel free to contact the Pedestrian and Bicycle Program directly at (206) 684-7583 or via e-mail at walkandbike@seattle.gov.
For questions about Arterial Traffic Operations you can contact the Arterial Traffic Operations group at (206) 233-0033.
Back to Northeast Sector list of critical crossings
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