By Gwen Davis

Tuesday evening the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) rolled out its highly anticipated safety improvement plans for SW Roxbury. The need for improvements of the street first came forth in 2013.

West Seattle Transportation Coalition (WSTC) co-chair and City Council candidate, Amanda Kay Helmick facilitated the meeting.

SW Roxbury plans:

Jim Curtin of SDOT described the plans: “Not a whole lot has changed,” since the improvements were originally drawn said. “We are moving forward with changes in mid-October.” The Safe Routes To Schools (SRTS) procured the funding for the project. “As for the existing conditions, we look very closely at what’s happening on the corridor. It serves 13,000 vehicles to 25,000 vehicles every weekday. “One of the main reasons this project got born is because of speeds.”

“We've had very high 85th percentile speeds at Roxhill Elementary which in SDOT’s book is a big problem.”

The injury rate is 50 percent higher than the citywide average. There were 223 collisions in the past three years and 112 injuries. There have been 11 pedestrian-vehicle crashes and two bicycle-vehicle crashes.

“Our design proposal, we are currently at 60 percent design which is rapidly approaching ready to go,” he said. “Roxbury is at the city limits and those limits go right down the city street, so we need to work closely with King County. We will be reaching 100 percent design by June. We want to complete this work by the next school year.”

SDOT will eliminate a lane of traffic, while still maintaining travel times that are essentially unchanged, he said. 17th Ave SW to 35th Ave SW will have bus lanes, re-paving and curbs. “This is the last piece of land without sidewalks so we are very happy about this,” he said.

White Center improvements: eight new ramps, accessible pedestrian signals, sign improvements and painting the curbs in the five-way intersection.

"On the western end of the corridor we will be putting in a bus-only lane, spot pavement repair, signage improvements and later will install bike facilities.” Bike facilities will come in 2016.

“The benefits obviously are lower speeds, improved safety and reduced crashes.”

Past road re-channelization projects in West Seattle include Delridge Way SW, California Ave. SW and Fauntleroy Way SW.

“We have thought and thought and thought about 8th Ave SW and have tried to deal with it,” he said. There have been a plethora of rear-end crashes at 8th and 4th. “The thought was, what could we do to deal with rear-end collisions. What could we do to help drivers understand that there’s potential hazards at this location?”

The answer is to lower the speed limit. It will go from 35 mph to 30 mph. “We intend to limit it all the way down the hill this coming year,” he said.

Other projects will include school zone photo enforcement and grant funded sidewalks.

With the “Move Seattle” initiative, additional funding will come in so SDOT can deal with deeper re-paving issues on Roxbury. A pedestrian signal near 12th Ave SW will be constructed.

Curtin then asked participants what else they would like for long-term projects.

Throughout this spring and summer the public will still have opportunities to provide input to SDOT about the plans.

Other announcements:

—> The next WSTC meeting is Thursday, April 23 at High Point House. The “Move Seattle” initiative is looking for feedback at this time. The coalition will discuss the initiative's elements at the meeting.
—> There will be an open house about Roxbury traffic analysis on April 16 from 3-4 p.m. This meeting will finalize SW Roxbury plans.

To view all the plans, visit SDOT's presentation slides at http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/Roxbury2015_0407.pdf