There’s an intersection in the south part of our neighborhood that’s always been bad for users of the Burke Gilman Trail and drivers trying to cross it. I don’t think it’s actually terribly dangerous — although the intersection has some risks for trail users – but it’s been a source of many moments of frustration and angst over the years. And now, with an increase in the number of cars in that area, the problem seems to be getting worse.
Let me explain.
The Location
The intersection I’m talking about is one of those irregular ones between Pacific St. and Northlake Way. 36th comes into Pacific almost but not quite at a right angle. On the Lake Union side of Pacific, 36th crosses the BGT, then splits into two parts with traffic heading east on 36th going down the fork on their right to Northlake Way and traffic heading west (much of that destined for Pacific St.) using the other fork. Corliss also comes into Pacific here, at a crazy angle, and there’s a crosswalk on one side of this mess. Best to refer to the screen grab of google maps which you’ll find somewhere on this page, or use this link.
The Problem
For cars heading east on 36th or turning off of Pacific to go down to Northlake Way, drivers have a pretty good view of traffic on Pacific and the BGT. They merely have to be patient to wait for a break. The problems come from drivers heading up from Northlake on 36th. I took a photo of the intersection which, somewhat miraculously, captures everything.
Drivers are supposed to stop at the clearly painted stop line before the bike path, keeping the path clear for bikes and others to pass while the driver waits for their chance to pull onto Pacific. But most drivers stop beyond the stop line blocking the bike path. Many bicyclists will attempt to go around these cars by going in front of them. It’s nearly impossible to pass behind cars blocking the path because of a curbing that’s in the way.
This sets up a situation in which bicyclists have to hope drivers don’t try to zip onto Pacific at the moment they’re biking in front while raging against drivers who have failed to stop at the stop line. Drivers, for their part, have to be frustrated by a seemingly constant stream of bikes cutting in front of them while they try to turn on to an often busy Pacific. Many drivers realize that they are supposed to stop at the stop line, and mime apologies to passing bicyclists and sometimes even try to back up. As a very frequent bicyclist passing through this intersection, I think the number of cars trying to head up to Pacific from Northlake has increased markedly in the past year or two, perhaps because of the opening of new businesses such as Bowriders and Gasworks Brewing down on the lake. This makes the bad intersection worse.
So why don’t drivers stop at the stop line? The answer is simple. From the stop line, unless you have a 6 or 8 foot long periscope sticking out of your roof, there’s just no way you can adequately see east and west along Pacific to safely turn on to it. Not only are drivers too far back from Pacific, but they are on a slope which makes it difficult just to see over the dashboard.
Solutions?
While I think it’s perfectly fine to point out problems without surfacing solutions, I have a few ideas to offer although there are some pretty solid objections to all of them. My approach for years has been simply to avoid that intersection when I’m driving my car. If all drivers followed my stellar example, the problem would be solved. Drivers headed to parts east and north can cross the BGT near Dunn Lumber or, even better, near Ivar’s Salmon House where the bike path is elevated above all the roadways completely deconflicting cars and bikes. If heading to parts west, drivers can cross at Meridian or, even better, at Stone Way where there’s a traffic light managing the chaos.
Of course, not all drivers are going to get the memo on these alternatives, and there’s always new people. The city could essentially make these alternative routes compulsory by closing that intersection to cars. A softer version of this approach would be to close that short segment of 36th to traffic heading from Northlake to Pacific while still allowing cars to flow the other way. I’m sure that would inconvenience someone, though.
In an effort to clearly establish right of way, the city could put stop signs on the bike path and move the stop line for cars up to where it needs to be for drivers to safely enter Pacific. But although there are many intersections in our region where bike paths have stop signs at road crossings, this seems to conflict with state law requiring cars to stop for pedestrians and bicyclists at intersections. In addition, Seattle drivers are very deferential toward folks on bikes (which I love us for!), and they would probably stop for bikers regardless of signage. So I’m not sure this idea clears anything up.
A more radical idea would be to redesign that intersection so that bikes could pass behind cars that have pulled forward to where they can see along Pacific. Bikes passing behind in this way would probably be hard to see for cars headed to Northlake, though, and there would probably have to be some signage for motorists to indicate that one car at a time can creep forward across the bike path while the others wait their turn. Also there’s precious little real estate for this ingenious redesign I’m proposing, and it’s on a slope. So this idea seems like some combination of “not feasible” and “not safe.”
What are your thoughts?