Georgetown residents must leave the neighborhood to get their essential supplies during the COVID-19 shelter in place order.  But unlike other communities,  a post-pandemic world promises little relief, as a result of the long term and potential permanent closure of the West Seattle High Rise Bridge. 

"Keeping our neighbors safe is our highest priority," said Georgetown’s Seattle City Council representative Tammy Morales. "As we open up the city again we know that Georgetown will be impacted by the traffic that results from finding new ways around the bridge. My office will be working closely with SDOT and with Georgetown neighbors to ensure there is a plan in place to mitigate the impacts on the neighborhood."

Georgetown will be ground zero for West Seattle Traffic trying to reach I-5, I-90, and downtown, as drivers must use the 1st Ave Bridge and S Michigan Street into Georgetown, and reach job destinations via East Marginal Way, 1st Ave S, & 4th Ave S. Freight trucks, serving Seattle’s Port terminals and warehouse hubs will continue to share these routes, with some of the highest truck collision rates in the city.  Bus service is limited in the community, and would have to share capacity with the onslaught of new West Seattle commuters.

Air quality remains an issue, as a recent study showed that life expectancy is the lowest in the neighborhood comparing with the rest of Seattle. Other neighborhoods enjoy the resilience of having a grocery store, library, community center, and health care services, but Georgetown residents will have to travel in gridlock to West Seattle, Downtown, Beacon Hill, or White Center for these necessities. 

Safe mobility even within the neighborhood continues to be an issue.  

“Though much work was done for pedestrian improvements on South Bailey, the work was never completed.  A wheelchair user can not get from the busy intersection at Corson and Bailey to the neighborhood commercial district without going into the street or crossing at the busy freeway on ramp.  Pushing traffic to these already hazardous areas will only exacerbate the problem,” says La Dele Sines, a Georgetown resident for over 20 years.
 
 A letter, signed by 67 community members to SDOT, requests that SDOT “immediately prioritizes and funds a mitigation plan for Georgetown…in community partnership with people who have the best empirical understanding the ongoing transportation issues in the community,” and asks them to “meet this challenge head on.”

 

 

LETTER

Seattle Department of Transportation Attn: Sam Zimbabwe, Director, SDOT Seattle Municipal Tower
700 5th Ave, Suite 3800

Seattle, WA 98104 sam.Zimbabwe@seattle.gov Sent by e-mail

Dear Director Zimbabwe,

April 22, 2020

As stakeholders, business owners, and residents in the Georgetown community, we are alarmed by the potential long term or permanent closure of the upper West Seattle Bridge, and the safety for the community of West and South Seattle. The potential for the lower Spokane St. swing bridge to also be shut down for safety, or left open as required by federal law should it malfunc- tion, will complicate basic services for our communities. It is in this spirit that we write to alert you of the major impacts that are present and which will increase in the Georgetown neighbor- hood and business clusters, and throughout the Duwamish Valley, including South Park. We also share the concerns of our friends, the Duwamish Tribe, where greater motor traffic is increasing the risk to visitors and employees walking to the longhouse and cultural center on West Marginal Way.

In spite of the significantly reduced traffic volumes city wide, we have observed that traffic in the corridors through Georgetown that serve as part of the alternate routes to and from West Seattle have not seen a similar decrease and in some instances appear to have increased. These corridors include S. Michigan, S. Ellis, S.Bailey, S. Lucille, Corson Ave S., 1st Ave S, 4th Ave S., Airport Way S., and East Marginal Way S. We have also noted a significant increase of traffic on inter- secting and adjacent side streets as vehicle drivers attempt to evade traffic, especially when the 1st Ave S. Bridge opens. An increase of erratic drivers on residential streets and alleys has been noted by us, as drivers engage in risky speeding and other dangerous strategies to evade traffic. As business activity hopefully begins to recover over the next year, the nearly 100,000 extra dai- ly vehicle trips detoured through our community will have a devastating impact to the safety and health of the people who work, operate a business, live, and raise children.

We all need to travel within the area on all modes of transportation, including walking, bicycling, and transit, and we will all be subject to a spike in unhealthy exhaust, noise, and risk of personal safety. This will not only impact our personal lives, but will also impact the viability of business- es and the creative arts district that has evolved over the past 25 years. Historically, our proximi- ty to the industrial manufacturing base in Seattle has meant that even though our community generates a higher per capita amount of tax revenue per resident, our community is often over- looked for transportation investments that will mitigate the impacts of this economic activity. In- creasing traffic over the coming months will exacerbate this ongoing disparity, and the COVID-19 crisis has illuminated the severity of this disparity. Yet we are not seeing the needed attention from your agency in terms of engagement, funding, or even public discussion.

Addressing how traffic gets in and out of West Seattle is not sufficient. We are asking that SDOT immediately prioritizes and funds a mitigation plan for Georgetown and our neighbors, in com- munity partnership with people who have the best empirical understanding the ongoing trans- portation issues in the community. The City of Seattle has made a commitment to us to reverse years of neglect, lack of investment, and environmental racism. This dual crisis of COVID-19 and the bridge closure presents an opportunity to meet this challenge head on. Attached to this letter is a list of our broad and specific concerns, as well as possible mitigation outcomes to ad- dress these. We are also including the ongoing projects and studies that should not be abandoned, as they provide the information and guidance that will inform our solutions to the immediate concerns we have raised.

We look forward to collaborating to solve our own emerging traffic related crisis in our George- town community.

Very Truly Yours,

Sam Farrazaino, Equinox Studios
Paulina Lopez, Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, Executive Director
estelle kutz, Yaw Theater
Dawna Holloway, studio e
Mary Ann Peters, artist
Jolene Haas, Director, Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center
John Persak, Niche Community Strategies, maritime workforce advocate, Georgetown resident Mary Gioia, Owner, studio Gioia, metal fabrication and blacksmithing
Rosario-Maria Medina, Administrative Assistant Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center Sarah Mottaghinejad, South Park resident and Georgetown business owner
LukeMalpass, LukeMalpassDesigns
David (Tabasco) Mills, The Blacksmith Shop
Daniel Reveles, Facilities Manager / Gage Academy of Art
Melissa Knowles. Georgetown resident, self employed artist, and bicycle commuter
Sydney Shera, Artist, with studio where I work in Georgetown
Erica LeSuer, Gage Academy of Art
Michael Magrath
Anne Mann, Anne Mann Studio
Keith Leggett, Owner, 2K Metal Works, LLC
Sarah Kaye, SKaye Cearmics

Sheryl Andrist, Owner of She-Metal 502 S River St
Emilie Shepherd, Executive director, Georgetown Merchants Association Yvonne E. Jarrett, Artist/Tenant at Equinox Art Studios
M. Anne Sweet, Sole Proprietor, Studio SixEight, Georgetown
Amy K Horn, Georgetown resident and commercial property owner
Clare Sayas, Georgetown resident, homeowner and taxpayer
Krupa Poobala-chandran
Patty Foley, Chair, Georgetown Open Space Committee
Ruth Keating Lockwood, Director, Oxbow; Operations Manager, BEMA ELIZABETH GAHAN, Elizabeth Gahan Studios LLC
Tracy Madison, Equinox Studios
Garth L’Esperance, Owner, Cyclefab LLC, and tenant of Equinox Studios Robert Ferry, Architect
Jennifer Feagan, Resident of Georgetown
Steve Hussey, President, Burning Specialties Inc.
Larry Sheetz, Georgetown resident
Mary Enslow, Georgetown Trailer Park Mall // Pugmill Society @ Equinox Sarah Lippek, Homeowner and small-business person
Crystal Sturm, Co-President of the Georgetown Merchants Association Cambell Thibo, Coral, part of Equinox Studios
Wendy Carmikle, Georgetown Resident
Kevin Byers, Georgetown resident
Marissa Birchman, Resident of South Park, Work in SoDo
Lisa Erickson, Lisa Rutherickson Designs
Rebecca Harris, Georgetown homeowner
Andrew Nepstad
Greg Ramirez, Chair, Georgetown Comunity Council Board of Directors Rebecca Aldrich
Jack Yuan, Georgetown citizen
Peaches Thomas, Duwamish Valley Safe Streets
Brenda Gardner, South Park resident
Hazel Margaretes, Owner, Sideros Designs

Chris Kent, Homeowner
Sheyne Benedict, Resident
Bec Chapin, NODE Eco
jesse moore, Duwamish Valley Safe Streets George Karl Seng, Equinox artist

Susan Oliver, Director @ Microsoft & Georgetown Resident Noelle Lindenmann South Park Resident
Amanda B Slepski, Resident
Monica Perman, Strength of Spirit with Equinox Studios Edward Ball, Resident

Chris SheridanVisual artist (Equinox Studios tenant) Daniel Lincoln, Operations Manager
Joel Kikuchi, Small business owner
J NED BLOCK

William Hicks, Seiji Fabrication
John Kirschenbaum, self employer craftsman

CC: City of Seattle, OED; City of Seattle, DON; City of Seattle, Office of Sustainability; City of Seattle, OPCD; Adrianne Thompson; CM Tammy Morales; CM Lisa Herbold; CM Alex Peterson; Seattle Freight Advisory Board; Manufacturers Industrial Council; Lindsay Wolpa, NW Seaport Alliance; Erin Goodman, SoDo BIA; WA Dept of Com- merce; WSDOT.

Issues of concern for Georgetown residents, business and stakeholders, on impacts of diverted traffic from West Seattle Bridge closure (April 21, 2020)

Broad Issue of concern Specific challenges Mitigation or data needed Notes and references

Higher Volumes causing gridlock across Michigan

Michigan at "normal rush hour" volumes throughout day currently, will be much worse post-COVID

Need traffic counts throughout day/ night and accurate predictions based on total pre-bridge closure volumes for all of WS,

Heavy local traffic and longer commute times:

1st Ave Br. already backed up Fri

Request revised traffic flow to alleviate congestion (adjustment of traffic lights at Corson; Michigan; White Center; etc) Remove Carpool lane between West Seattle Bridge and Corson Exit to allow for more efficient traffic (if traffic lights are adjusted to handle).

Also issue for South Park, northbound SR 509 backup

Wear and Tear on local roads/ alternate routes

Some residential routes are already in poor shape

Request to maintain local roads prior, during and after detour is imposed. Ensure additional traffic is not routed through neighborhood streets

Also issue for South Park

City may mitgate once then move on

Post COVID will come in phased approach, traffic impacts in stages

traffic counts and monitoring

Also issue for South Park,14th Ave, Cloverdale

Corson/Michigan/Bailey Intersection will experience greater vehicular traffic volumes.

Long standing concern by locals wanting improvments to pedestrian realm at this intersection as well as signage, speed controls and rechanelization. An SDOT BPSA priority location. Documented speeding problem. Better controls on intersection needed.

Implement improvements at this intersection. In addition to completed plan, consider closing the southbound ingress of Carleton from MI/Bailey to prevent speeding cut throughs

Access to Airport Way S hazard

Nebraska/AWS intersection

traffic control device

Potential defunding or delay of Georgetown to Downtown bicycle facility Planning Phase. The bicycle collision rate in Georgetown per 100,000 people is 155 VS 75 for the rest of Seattle (per Mayor's Duwamish Valley Action Plan).

More collisions, deaths or serious injuries will be a result of increased vehicular volumes. People biking need separated facilities from people driving to deal with excessive volume

Do not abandon/shelve plan/study. Implement low cost protected facilities to provide safe bike travel option. Begin with higher risk areas.

Also issue for South Park, SP bike commuters use 1st Ave Bridge and Georgetown arterials to efficiently reach downtown.

Issues of concern for Georgetown residents, business and stakeholders, on impacts of diverted traffic from West Seattle Bridge closure (April 21, 2020)

“local access only” signage and law
Road rage diverting from arterials Safety (vehicular and personal) enforcement monitoring Also issue for South Park

Changes in employment patterns, hosehold incomes are happening, due to the challeges posed from the Covid-19 epidemic. Pre-epidemic, more than 20.3% of Georgetown households don't own a personal vehicle VS 16.4% in the rest of Seattle (per Mayor's Duwamish Valley Action Plan).

Greater need for inexpensive transportation options durring ecconmoic recovery.

Implement GT City Hall Transit Hub. Implement low cost separated bicycle network facilities (item 8)

Safety for people crossing at arterial intersections. The pedestrian collision rate in Georgetown is 388.5 VS 81 for the rest of Seattle (per Mayor's Duwamish Vally Action Plan).

SDOT identified BPSA (Bike Ped Safety Analysis) Priority locations in Georgetown at arterial intersections leading to I-5 and 1st Ave Bridge. Higher vehicle volumes = greater risk.

Implement Safety Improvments at BPSA intesection locations effected by detour routes.

Also issue for South Park

Impact of large vehicle volumes on GT retail business core

GT small retail bussinesses in ecconomic recovery and need to attract new and repeat customers. Need to ensure more traffic is benefit and not a detractor to area businesses.

Implement Airport Way Speed Management and install business area Gateways

Communication plan for neighborhood

How does City plan to inform residents and businesses in GT about closure impacts and mitigation plans?

Assistance in improving/establishing a robust community emergency response plan for Georgetown residents and businesses.

Traffic counts/patterns

Will timing of lights, detour signage, the mitigation reflect changes in baseline figures; do we have current data?

Continual monitoring

Also issue for South Park

Broaden scope of impact

City's focus is solely on residents of West Seattle.

Public acknowledgment of impacts in Georgetown and river communities, commitment to emergency funding and mitigation to the level it is being pursued for neighborhoods along alternate routes in West Seattle

Also issue for South Park

Issues of concern for Georgetown residents, business and stakeholders, on impacts of diverted traffic from West Seattle Bridge closure (April 21, 2020)

Better understanding of how GT fits into the Duwamish traffic overflow from West Seattle

What criteria is used to prioritize capital projects?

Prioritize and complete, and expedite current projects that will address bridge closure traffic impacts (e.g 4th Ave bridge)

What are SDOT and SPDs plans for directing traffic post-COVID stay at home orders?

On site traffic control by law enforcement officers?

Also issue for South Park

Safety in Neighborhood with cut thru traffic on side streets. Loading and access etc in Commercial. Kids and peds in Residential

What is SDOT plan for limiting cut thru traffic when drivers get frustrated or creative. We see huge increases in volumes and speed just with recent 4th/Michigan roadwork detours, alleys, residential

Limited access, signage, enforcement, Waze and other directions apps

Also issue for South Park

Environmental concerns with increased volumes and slower transit times/idling (air quality)

Are there any plans for mitigation?

Air quality monitoring in established hot spots

Also issue for South Park

Community Engagement

How will SDOT and other city agencies guarantee partnership and consultation knowledgable people in the community

Georgetown leaders at ongoing task force for short and long term decision making/ monitoring/adjustments

Also issue for South Park

Emergency services access with higher traffic volumes

Does SDOT, SPD SFD have a plan?

Discuss and plan as part of emergency response planning (immediate needs and long range)

Also issue for South Park

Freight Access with increased volumes

What are the impacts on freight mobility and access points to local businesses?

Discuss with Freight Advisory Board`