West Seattle Blog… | FOLLOWUP: SDOT says it is reviewing counterproposals from citizen groups for Highland Park Way Hill

Dear Highland Park Connection Team, SDOT and members of the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee –

Thank you for the first round of presentations on improving the public safety infrastructure on Highland Park Way SW, also known as Boeing Hill. We appreciate the intense efforts you all have made to reach out to the user community of this route.

Highland Park Way SW is a major West Seattle transportation route. Capacity and transportation options for travel by bus, car, truck, and bicycle are critical to the resilience of the transportation network, as we learned the hard way with the recent extended closure of the West Seattle High Bridge, increased single-vehicle traffic from the Vashon/Southworth/Fauntleroy ferry route, and increasing residential density in the area.

Highland Park Way SW is also a key segment of a potential east-west bike route through the middle of the peninsula over the ridges and valleys connecting Morgan Junction, High Point, Delridge, Highland Park, as well as the Duwamish Trail and South Park.

From conversations with SDOT staff and our constituents over the past month of outreach, we all believe that the hill:
• The 11% gradient encourages speeding and unsafe driving.
• Better facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users, separated from car traffic, are needed.

We’ve also heard numerous comments about SDOT’s lack of proposed solutions for improvements. All options presented to the public so far have been variations on a single idea. Will the agency listen to public feedback and pivot to responsive design options, or simply check the “outreach complete” box on its work plan? A true partnership with the community is one of two-way communication.

Concerns we’ve heard about the design so far:
• Loss of vehicle capacity and lanes needed to stack vehicles at the bottom of the hill as drivers self-sort to access West Marginal, the First Ave South Bridge, SR599 and SR509.
• Unsafe interactions between bus, bicycle and vehicle when coaches stop to pick up passengers.
• Driver’s fear of head-on collisions with oncoming traffic.
• Loss of capacity in large semi-trailers, garbage trucks, emergency vehicles, snow plows,
Tandem gravel trucks and the like. Although not designated as a “freight route,” in reality it is frequently used as such by delivery vehicles of all types and sizes.
• Reducing the resilience of the route (which is prone to disruptions caused by landslides, fallen trees, accidents, etc.). As Seattle Police noted, the five lanes at the bottom of the hill are necessary to route traffic around these short-term and historically long-term disruptions.
• As has been emphasized many times in public discussions, this route is an important way for people on the West Seattle Peninsula to access the rest of the city. It provides a backup in emergency situations such as the closure of the West Seattle High Bridge, low bridge maintenance needs, etc.
• Pedestrians and drivers fear aggressive outbursts in traffic caused by traffic congestion on a single-lane downhill stretch.
• Negative egress/entrance impacts for residents on the east side of Highland Park Way who rely on SW Othello St. Currently, at least 79 households rely on this route to exit the neighborhood.
• During rainy periods, large amounts of water runoff on the road surface can create unsafe conditions for cyclists.
• Counterintuitive cycling on the “wrong side”, riding to the left of oncoming cyclists instead of the right on two-lane cycle paths.
• This type of road design should not be viewed as a one-size-fits-all solution. Improvements should take into account the unique slope conditions as well as the needs of the project.
• We have seen numerous examples of this type of bike protection, such as in the form of ‘post marked’ bike lanes on other city streets. Protection for cyclists is minimal and largely looks like chaos in our city, with frequent vehicle damage breaking off white posts and leaving trash on the roadway. This is an entry portal to our area, a beautiful green space and natural corridor. Any work undertaken should complement this in design and materials and provide robust protection for cyclists and pedestrians.
• Our area has been neglected by the city for decades and lacks infrastructure that is taken for granted elsewhere. We expect this project to be a step towards fixing this in a quality way.

In summary, given these concerns, we are not convinced that this is the best solution to the two problems identified above. We urge SDOT to reconsider and suggest considering the following ideas:

Option 4:
• Replace the existing narrow asphalt sidewalk with a wide multi-use path on the south side outside the existing roadway, with a curb separating the downhill bike lane from the uphill bike/pedestrian traffic. Unlike SDOT concepts, the downhill bike lane should be to the right of the uphill lane (as is common in the US).
• Avoid the dangers of bus turns into a downhill bike lane, as in SDOT concepts. There is enough width for a good design. Some retaining walls are needed at the top and bottom of the hill, some poles need to be moved, and some trees need to be removed. It is worth funding a project that meets safety standards and is intuitive, comfortable, and predictable for all users.
• Maintain the existing lane configuration.
• Enforce speed limits with surveillance cameras and police patrols.

Option 5:
• Narrow HP Way SW to one lane at the top of the hill as cars descend from the Highland/Holden intersection. Convert the right lane to downhill bicycle traffic and replace the existing sidewalk with a multi-use path for uphill bicycles and uphill and downhill pedestrians.
• As traffic reaches Othello St., all bicycle and pedestrian traffic will be moved off the road to the right onto a widened and improved off-road bicycle/pedestrian path. This will allow buses to stop to access the Othello bus stop while motorists can pass on the left. It will also keep this area wider where the most active landslide slopes are on the mountain side.
• When the road splits into two downhill lanes, vehicles approach the curve where most drivers naturally slow down to keep traffic speeds down.
• The right-of-way below Othello Street is much wider at this point, allowing space for a widened bike path without retaining walls almost to the bottom of the hill.

Note that Option 5 costs less than Option 4, but is less intuitive for cyclists because it requires either a bike crossing at Othello or, as with SDOT’s options in the section below, requires riding on the “wrong side.”

We understand that solutions that retain the bottom three eastbound lanes downhill may require more work, such as drainage and retaining walls along the way, but believe this option should be explored. We also suggest that any proposed solution considers enforcing the speed limit through automated cameras.

We also propose to conduct a pilot project for any selected designs that would reduce the roadway width for vehicles. Installing temporary orange traffic buffers, such as those recently installed on the 4th Avenue South Bridge, will allow drivers to experience the conditions and provide further suggestions for improvement.

We look forward to working together to develop a safer route for everyone.

Highland Park, Riverview and South Delridge Action Coalition (HPAC)
West Seattle Bike Connections (WSBC)
Morgan Community Association (MoCA)