In June, SDOT installed an on-street bike corral in front of McD
onald International School, near the corner of NE 54th Street and Latona Avenue. Marjorie, who lives across the street from the school, contacted Wallyhood with her concerns about what this bike rack will do to possibly intensify the current traffic backups on 54th during school drop-off and pick-up times.
Marjorie writes:
A bike rack in that location will make navigating NE 54th and that corner even more difficult—but also less safe. It’s pretty unsafe now, with people having to back up (sometimes onto Latona) just to deal with the Tetris game that getting down that street with stopped cars on the north side and parked cars (residents) on the south side and only one traffic lane.
I’m not anti-bike, and I’m glad that the school is part of our neighborhood—and even though it is a big inconvenience to deal with the morning (and often afternoon) traffic, it’s okay—the school is an important part of the community. But a bike rack (or anything creating more of a chokepoint) at the corner of NE 54th and Latona is a terrible idea and I would like to get that message to the City and invite them to come and observe that area for themselves. But I can’t find anything about this project on the SDOT website so I don’t know where to direct my input.
I contacted Kevin Lugo, a Planning and Development Specialist with SDOT, who was involved in the bike corral installation. Apparently Marjorie’s concerns were also the concerns of some McDonald staffers and parents, and the on-street bike corral is designed to be a solution to the problem. Kevin responded:
The on-street corral was installed on the northeast corner of NE 54th St and Latona Ave, just west of the crosswalk across 54th. The principal, parents, and PTA were all involved in requesting this bike corral. Parents were concerned about kids safety at this crosswalk and the school needed more bike parking. Parents noted that people dropping off their kids often block the crosswalk here and back up into it to get out, which is dangerous for the kids. Several parents mentioned kids almost being hit.
I observed traffic here and saw firsthand the situation parents described. While it is a busy location the corral will provide protection for kids (and everyone) crossing the street in addition to providing bicycle parking.
Having observed the bike corral myself, Kevin’s response makes a lot of sense. It seems the curbs around the bike racks were installed to keep drivers from backing up through the crosswalk and onto Latona. But if only curbs were installed, they’d be invisible to most drivers. Having the bike corral there makes drivers aware of the impediment to backing up, and also creates more bike parking, which sounds like a win-win to me.
If there is a location where you would like to see a bike rack installed (say, maybe, at Floating Bridge Brewing), SDOT has all the information here.
It certainly will cause fewer traffic problems than allowing car parking at the spot, plus it will teach kids that there’s a safe, healthy, non-polluting alternative to driving.
I am confused that having a bike rack in a heavily used corner which will also slow traffic of many will teach kids that there is a safe alternative to car travel. Having a useful bike borrowing system in a less obscuring location might remind and slowly provide curiosity an dpossibly learning for children that there are other means to travel in our city, However it seems that the learning here was that due to traffic congestion for before and after school pickups the solution is to put a bike rack to make ta change. Bike racks do not necessarily solve traffic problems.
Promoting bicycle riding and creating places to lock up a bike safely is great for the kids, the community, and general education about transportation options. Car drivers may be inconvenienced, having to go slower and keep from running over kids and bicycles. They can help make it safe rather than be the safety issue. This is a great thing for everyone. Please, open your mind to the benefits and positive potential rather than seeing the problems.
I’m concerned about the safety of the kids who choose to park bikes in this special rack in the street. Share the road. Sure. But with kids parking at bike racks in the street, I envision horrible accidents for them both entering and exiting. Park the bike? Back up on foot into the street to walk out to get on the side walk? Driving parent anxious to get to work on time? Smash!
Bike racks for kids should be IN the school grounds. We should not be solving our traffic problems by bringing kids into the street, a narrow street at that.
Two suggestions:
1. Look at the car-sized cement slab at the corner of Latona and 55th Street which helps drivers coming west to Latona to see better the traffic coming toward them. Why not pour a cement slab rather than a bike rack if there IS a need for a slab?
2. Better, I think, would be to turn 54th into a one-way street, in order for traffic to go in one direction. No slab needed.
Would, of course, be better to just ban car-based pick-up & drop-off entirely. School bus, public-transportation, bikes, walking, or, if absolutely necessary, a remote drop-off point a couple of blocks away from the school.
(We can, of course, have exceptions for kids who are disabled)
https://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/school-dismissal-a-dangerous-time-for-kids-getting-hit-by-cars-696797.html
So instead of installing a more visible curb, they take a whole parking spot. And for what? A bike rack that can hold what, FOUR bikes? Why not at least put a longer rack there? Oh, but we need to spend money painting bike symbols on either side of it, otherwise people would have no idea it’s a bike rack? Duh.
And why not put the bike rack on the parking strip instead of taking away a much needed drop-off spot?
I’ll tell you why: because we have a mayor who decided it would be a good idea to put an unethical, lying, car-hating former president of a failing bike-share system in charge of SDOT in the nation’s 18th largest city, that’s why.
I’m sure you read the article and the reasons for this change before falling into the “war on cars” rant.
Yes, Paul. I read the article. Which is why I asked why not install a more visible curve that would protect kids walking across the crosswalk without taking away a parking space.
So, is there anything else in my rant that you’d like to claim I got wrong?
Hayduke your a curmudgeon. Bike corrals for all! We should increase gas taxes threefold to keep you and all your car nazi friends off the road. In fact I just requested a bike corral for your street!
Hah! Whatever, spandex warrior!
I believe you mean… ” you’re” instead of “your”.
A “raised planter box”? That sounds an awful lot like a parklet. We can’t have those in Wallingford!
Your concerns above are squarely about “losing parking a whole spot” and a “much needed drop-off spot” and bike programs.
So yeah….. please stop with the false narrative about “wars on cars”.
If you really want a war on cars, we can go here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BJLaobBArUP/
“That sounds an awful lot like a parklet..”
Paul, what are you talking about? The typical planter box is roughly the size of a bathtub. About 3’h x 2’w x 6’long, give or take. That’s a fraction o the size of a parklet or the bike corral and would be just as effective in keeping the kids safe.
So again, is the point of this bike corral about safety? Because my suggestion solves that problem. Or is it about having a place to lock up bikes? My suggestion to put a bike rack up on the parking strip or on the school grounds solves that problem as well.
So help me out, Paul. What other possible reason could there be for the bike corral, if it’s not safety or a place to lock bikes?
LOLZ you busted him!
This was never a parking space or drop-off space for cars. It’s too dangerous for pedestrians. That’s why this is an excellent solution. According SDOT’s handy brochure:
Do not park within 30 feet of Stop and Yield signs, nor within 20 feet of a crosswalk.
http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/docs/CanIParkHereBrochure.pdf
Is there some reason not to make 54th into a one way street? If all cars are coming in one direction and all are parked in one direction, wouldn’t that go a long way to solving the movement of traffic at beginning and ending of school?
Because a single (illegal) parking space for a car is always more useful than parking spots for 4-8 bikes, plus the pedestrian buffer. You should run for state Senate, hayduke; you’d fit right in.
#TheViewFromTheWindshield
Gee, I thought this issue was about safety, rather than valuing bikes over cars. And just to be clear, as i said above I support a raised barrier of some sort being put between the parking space and the crosswalk as a safety measure. The “illegality” of it being a parking space is a straw man, since cars park near crosswalks all over the more crowded parts of our city, and yet you don’t see curb bulbs or bike racks at all those spots.
But if there’s actually a need for bike parking, they could easily build some racks on the parking strips instead, like they do elsewhere in the city. Or put them on the school grounds. But of course, with Scott Kubly’s SDOT, it’s not so much about making easier for bikes. It’s about deliberately making it harder for cars.
I was one of the parents who asked for this solution at the McDonald School. SDOT was very helpful in finding a solution to the dangerous situation that existed.
The space taken by the rack was never a legal parking space, but I wouldn’t have cared if it was. Safety for kids is more important than storage for your personal property.
I applied for a grant to get a more permanent curb bulb in this spot. Sadly, we didn’t get it this year, but I’ll try again in the next round.
If you want a bit more information, Here’s a more thorough explanation.
Thanks for the animations and clarification! I can see where this was the fastest solution as getting the full curb bulb is a longer permitting process. I would also mention there are many parents who bike to work and drop off their kids as they do so. I foresee that cohort using this rack as well, vs. cluttering the area near the existing bike rack.
Marjorie seems to make a distinction between people in cars dropping off or picking up at the school, and people using bikes. The cars are not some specially advantaged group; the ones who bike to school (and biking to school safely is an important public policy goal for lots of reasons) are also part of the school community.
Do all you bike enthusiasts realize that this is an elementary school? Most of the kids are too young to bike to school by themselves, especially the ones who would be crossing 50th, and these days with so many families having two working parents, the kids who might bike to school are a small part of the school population. The school district doesn’t provide busing for kids who live within a defined distance from the school (it was 2 miles when my daughter was in middle school), so that’s not necessarily an option. Some folks might be comfortable letting their 5 year old out of the car two blocks from school, not a good idea in my opinion. The school district also doesn’t seem to make an effort to work with SDOT on safe drop-off systems for the parents who are driving their kids to school. It’s left up to the parents, PTA, and individual schools to try and fix the problem. I was able to avoid the drive to school mess most of the time, not everyone has that option. Bike commuting doesn’t work for everyone either, and I wish people would stop trying to force it on others.
Busing is available to McDonald families that live South of 50th St. Personally, the bus stop isn’t convenient. It’s just as far to walk to the bus stop as it is to school and when you add in the time you have to wait for the bus, for our family, it isn’t worth it. And it is available should we choose to utilize the service.
Sounds like they’ve moved the boundaries since the last time I looked. My daughter was at John Stanford, she could have taken the bus, but the way the route was set up it was a 45 minute ride, kind of foolish since it took us 15 minutes or less to walk there.
Car commuting doesn’t work for everyone either, and I wish people would stop trying to force it on others.
Don’t be such a troll. The only person who said anything about banning a transportation format was a bike enthusiast. I prefer the bus system, but if people can make bike commuting work, I think that’s great, and I understand that some families may need to use their cars.
Does McDonald School have Student Patrol? Or paid Patrol staff? JSIS has both student patrol & at least 1 paid patrol man on 40th. These are also reasonable possibilities.