Now that we’ve had the new, definitely not improved 35th Ave NE for about six months, it’s time to take stock in how it has worked out and determine what the group opposed to safety improvements accomplished.
According to the Save 35th group’s signs, door hangers, and other handouts, their main goal was to “save our parking”. They even made a self-absorbed video about it with business owners who dot 35th explaining how loss of parking would destroy their lives—it literally said, ‘we fear for our survival’.
But then, curiously, the leaders of Save 35th presented a compromise that removed approximately 50% of parking (the entire west side of the road).
They used to warn–based on no data–that the original plan with the bike lanes would remove 60% of all parking, so maybe they consider only losing 50% a win. However, when I spoke to representatives of the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and the engineering firm in charge of the original design while we were fighting for bike lanes, they both said we wouldn’t have lost nearly 60% (there used to be certain times you could park on certain sides, zone restrictions, there were no set parking spots, etc.).
So, according to Save 35th, their number one demand was to not lose any parking and they lost nearly half of it. It’s difficult to see that as a win.
Second, according to their signs, they wanted cyclists on side streets. This absurdly conceited demand for people on bikes to be forced off 35tth failed too. There are no bike lanes, but there are still lots and lots of people who commute on bikes, so now cyclists and drivers use the same lane, which causes delays (and dangerous situations of course).
There’s no mandate to not bike on 35th. In fact, Sam Zimbabwe, director of SDOT, advised cyclists to ‘take the lane,’ which is what many of us do. Entitled drivers get upset and act aggressively. There’s a cottage industry online of close calls, antagonism, and nastiness from drivers on 35th to cyclists.
Finally, they asked for more lighted crosswalks, which is great; however, as noted numerous times by SDOT during the public outreach process, if we don’t calm traffic, cars go faster and don’t/can’t stop at crosswalks safely.
In an attempt to correct issues, the speed limit has been reduced to 25 mph and we have turn signals at key intersections now on 35th.
It is SDOT who changed the speed limit. At no time was that a request of Save 35th. In fact, their design widened drive lanes to 11-12 feet–the size of lanes on freeways, hardly promoting slowing down. It should be noted as well that generally engineers and urban planners don’t think a speed limit sign does much. “Simply, a speed limit sign should not dictate speed,” said Tom Sohrwelde, who authored The Truth About Speed Limits. “It should reflect how drivers are actually behaving on the road. When you want drivers to slow down, you change the road through traffic calming measures like speed bumps or even design narrower roads, both of which make speedy drivers less comfortable.”
But Save 35th did promote turn signals. So, they won that one! And, yes, it was their plan (one their group originally rejected) to insert a center turn lane down the length of 35th (wherever was feasible). The problem with that is because of the nature of 35th (mostly residential with libraries, churches, apartment complexes and other large facilities) there are hundreds and hundreds of feet where the turn lane doesn’t turn into anything. There is nowhere for a driver to turn into using this brilliant turn lane.
In addition, at even more places, the turn lane only turns into private driveways. So, they got all the people on 35th their own private turn lane (to go with the alleyway many of them have).
Of course, the problem with a center turn lane that turns into nothing is since it isn’t used for turning very often, it’s free most the time. Savvy drivers see a free lane and they drive in. For fun, use the hashtag #durkanspeedway on Twitter and you can watch video after video of drivers using the lane to pass other cars or cyclists, to drive blocks and blocks to get to a light, near head-on collisions, and all sorts of dangerous events.
