The Aurora Bridge speed trap

Posted by Geeky Swedes on May 14th, 2008

Seattle motorcycle cops are back at it today at the north end of the Aurora Bridge, catching northbound speeders. We see them there a few times a month — the only consistent speed trap we’re familiar with in the general Ballard-Phinney-Fremont area (anyone else know of any?) While I would normally whine about speed traps, speeders on the nailbiting Aurora Bridge are just plain dangerous. 40 MPH is fast enough, if you ask me.

Update: Few more speed traps to add from comments below. “M” says motorcycle cops also hang out at the north end of the Ballard Bridge, near Louie’s. Kais says that there’s also an occasional speed trap on 3rd Ave, southbound, in the school zone just south of Market. And for Fremont commuters, Chris says that motorcycle cops hide in the clutter of cars on the east side of Westlake and catch folks going southbound.

Tags: Ballard · Fremont · Phinney Ridge-Greenwood Facebook

detector

This is really very nice post, i enjoyed reading it, I would appreciate if you post more on topics like this.

Cheers
Rocky

northbound

Aurora northbound on the 7200 block (Gas station at the end of greenlake) has a beautiful speed trap - speed goes down to 30 from 40 for a brief segment, the signs are obscured. People get pulled over all the time there.

toudios

re: "FYI the ’s’ curve by Greenlake is a blast on a motorcycle doing 60."

really?

lakreitz

Nickerson St between SPU and 15th. Posted at 30 - make sure you go 30.

robert

"the canlis pullout"

maneuver du jour

Silver

Jasmine - Doh! You are so right, I was cornfused. North of the Ballard Bridge is where I hear so many people getting stopped. I completely missed the word Aurora in the original post. Thanks for catching it for me. ;-)

Just as m, T Tee & Amy said, cops lie in wait at Louie's or Les Schwab looking for people driving 40 or more in that 30 mph zone. I know they have a spotter somewhere though, because I can hear them on the scanner.

The traffic cops aren't as nice as the regular cops. I recently heard one say "I guess they don't give out brains at Lakeside, just money." His victim must have had a lakeside bumper sticker on his car. Bitter much?

ChrisH

New Speedtrap catching people escaping from Fremont every morning.
Southbound on Westlake-motorcycle cops hide in the clutter of cars on the east side of the street and catch folks going southbound. Seen it happen Monday 4/12 and Tuesday 4/13

Bella

Ha ha, Jasmine, that's what I do! Thank Bob for all those wusses, staying out of our way :D
I usually stick to no faster than 50 tho...You never know when one of the wussies will do something stupid, and there's nowhere to go.
:P

Suthii

"ah, yes, the Canlis slowdown."

Even better is watching the 'Canlis pullout' after drinking 2 bottles of Chateau Neuf, spending $350 and then trying to get back to Ballard without getting pulled over. Luckily you can slip off at 35th/Fremont and weave down the back streets.

Geeky Swedes

Yup, the Aurora Bridge. I just realized that this post makes us sound old. Sigh.

Jasmine

Silver, I think the Geeks are talking about the Aurora bridge, which is 40 mph. You're right that the Ballard bridge is 30 mph.

Has anyone else noticed that most cars travelling on 99 all bunch up in the middle lane? Wussies. Jump in the left lane and push the pedal to the metal! (and pray there's no speed trap)

joe

ah, yes, the Canlis slowdown. Speaking of dangerous, someone's going to get hit there one of these days.

Amy

Also on Aurora, heading north, a cop likes to sit at the gas station that's just on the edge of Greenlake (I believe it's a Texaco?), it's in the area of Beth's and Kangaroo & Kiwi, just on the east side of the street. The cops that are at the aforementioned Louie's site in the afternoons spend their mornings sitting closer to Les Schwab, which makes them impossible to see heading north, but gives everyone headed south a reason to slam on the brakes.

Suthii

Follow Suthii's Aurora Ave driving rule: 60 mph 'til you see the line of yuppies waiting to park at Canlis, ease up 'til you hit 50th, then gun it 'til you see Butches Guns. After that, it's lights and crazies in the street that will slow you down.

FYI the 's' curve by Greenlake is a blast on a motorcycle doing 60.

Thanks for the Louie's on 15th speed trap tip, I only saw it as a land mark for terrible Chinese food, now I'll use it a a reference point to slow down.

biff

Elttaes, if you want to kill yourself with frustration, watch the drug dealing thugs at Walgreens on 3rd and Pike during the crush of tourist season. Then walk down to Benaroya area and jaywalk for a $50 ticket.
The drug shootout last summer in the middle of the afternoon was badass. All the coppers looked like tools.

T. Tee.

Reiterating m's comment, there is a major speed trap on 15 Ave NW, right at Louie's restaurant. Two motorcycle cops fill their quota rather quickly once a month.

Elttaes

And we wonder why incarceration rate is so low. Apparantly telling victims of car theft that "the SPDs policy is to not investigate car theft" has freed up thier time to generate revenue off those still with vehicles. Or perhaps they get bored after recovering stolen vehicles and then proceeding to "misfile the release paperwork" and release the car back to thieves. Worthless.

911 is joke.

m

Occasionally 2 motorcycle cops will spend an afternoon at the corner next to Louie's at the north end of the bridge. They do quite well there.

biff

God forbid somebody in Seattle actually gets somewhere in a reasonable amount of time.

Silver

Hmmmm...

Northbound on 15th Avenue NW the speed limit is 40 until you get near the bridge. There's a sign before the bridge deck that says "Reduce speed to 30" then another sign that says 30 MPH. It would be worth checking the exact position of those signs, as I believe the speed limit on the bridge, proper, might well be 30!

I hear the "bwoop bwoop" of the traffic cops pulling people over about every two weeks. On my scanner, I hear the conversation between the spotter (with the radar gun) and the chasers. They are targeting cars going 40+ MPH.

Hope this helps!

- Silver