On Monday, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced that Stay Healthy Streets–streets that are highly restricted to car traffic to provide space for walking, biking, rolling, and playing–were getting a sign and post update. New signs will be posted on barrels and barricades for better visibility and security. Since the original A-frame signs have been rolled out, many have suffered from weathering, physical damage, and occasional malfeasance by motorists and passersby. That has left Stay Healthy Streets unsigned and subject to heavier, faster vehicular traffic.
“We’re replacing A-frame signs on #StayHealthyStreets w/ sturdier ones less susceptible to winter weather & movement,” SDOT tweeted. “Larger barricades near busy intersections, smaller barrel w/ a sign at all other locations. 85 locations w/ larger barriers are planned throughout city.”
Complaints of damaged and moved Stay Healthy Streets signs have been ramping up in recent weeks.
Last week, Ryan Packer, Senior Editor at The Urbanist currently filling-in at Seattle Bike Blog, reported a torn apart sign. “I usually err on the side of assuming street closure signs are getting damaged inadvertently but sometimes the evidence just speaks for itself,” Packer tweeted. Packer’s photograph showed part of the sign still intact on the A-frame but several torn pieces strewn about on the ground nearby. The signage was also heavily graffitied.
In mid-November after a windy night, Leah Missik reported that many signs had fallen down or moved from the street. “I went on a short run on some #StayHealthyStreets this morning,” she tweeted. “I fixed SEVENTEEN signs that had been knocked over or moved off the road–and that’s not counting signs that were completely gone.”
Local journalist Erica C. Barnett also expressed dismay with signage on Saturday. “People keep moving the ‘street closed’ Stay Healthy Streets signs in my neighborhood onto the sidewalk or the curb so they can zoom through back streets, and I keep moving them back,” she tweeted. “[W]e need more permanent/secure barriers to keep people safe!”
Barnett’s tweet apparently got the attention of SDOT to which the department replied that new signage was on the way. It seems though that SDOT was already in the process of designing new signage to better serve Stay Healthy Streets in lieu of more permanent solutions like concrete diverters and barriers with posted notices at intersections. At least one street has already benefited from the new signage. In Ballard, SDOT has installed a barricade on the 17th Ave NW Neighborhood Greenway.
