15th Ave S Complete Streets Improvements

BACKGROUND

SDOT worked with the Beacon Hill neighborhood to develop a plan to improve the walking and biking environment on 15th Ave S. As part of this process we learned that the community was also interested in traffic calming and all-day on-street parking.

Prior to making these changes, the street had two 16-foot wide travel lanes with peak-hour parking restrictions in the morning and afternoon. When vehicles were parked on both sides of the street the travel lanes become 9-feet wide, making transit operations difficult. Peak hour parking restrictions made pedestrian and bicycle improvements - such as bike lanes and curb bulbs - impossible to implement.

WHAT WE HEARD

“I would like more visibility to drivers at marked crosswalks. Also I would like more pedestrian friendly streets.”

“Traffic calming is the most important goal. Design the roadway to force vehicular traffic to slow down.”

“Traffic is traveling too fast.”

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

To address concerns we heard from the community, SDOT developed a plan to improve safety, pavement conditions, pedestrian and bicycle access and transit operations on 15th Ave S between S College St and S Columbian Way:

• Repaving the street from Beacon Ave S to S McClellan St.
• Two new marked crosswalks at the intersection of S Lander St
• Four new curb bulbs at the intersection of S Lander St
• Allowing on-street parking 24-hours a day on one side of the street.
• Traffic calming provided by alternate side of the street parking. Parking will be allowed on the east side of the road for several blocks, then shift to the west side for several blocks and again back to the east side. The shift in travel lanes forces drivers to slow down.
• Dedicated bike lane in the uphill (northbound) direction with shared pavement markings (sharrows) in the downhill (southbound) direction.
• New right-turn only lane at the intersection of S Spokane St.
• Travel lanes will be wider - accommodating Metro bus operations and improving transit speed and reliability.

These changes were implemented in September, 2010. This project is funded by the “Bridging the Gap” transportation levy approved by Seattle voters in 2006.

AFTER

BEFORE