During an open house last night, representatives from the Seattle Department of Transportation and King County Metro were on hand to explain proposed changes to Market Street and Route 44.
For drivers, one of the major changes could happen at the intersection of 24th and Market. Under the plan, several parking spaces will be removed from the west side of the intersection.
On the north side of Market, four parking spaces will be permanently removed. On the south side of Market, one space closest to the intersection will be permanently removed while eight additional spaces would be restricted during the morning peak hours (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) to accommodate the eastbound right-turn traffic.
Heading eastbound there will be three lanes for traffic – for left turns, heading straight and turning right. In the westbound direction, there will be two lanes that go straight through the intersection, although one will also allow right turns. There will also be a dedicated left-turn lane.
The north/south traffic will also be affected under the proposed changes. If all goes as planned, there will be one left-turn lane, one through-traffic lane and a bike lane in the southbound direction. A single lane would be provided for the northbound left-turn traffic and one lane for the traffic heading straight and turning right.
Click here for a larger version of this map.
Metro is proposing several changes for Route 44. Several stops are slated for closure, as denoted by the X over current stops (market by green dots.) The red circles indicate where a curb bulb is proposed. The large “T” at several intersections means that buses will have signal priority.
According to SDOT, these changes will save Route 44 up to nearly three minutes in both directions during the morning drive times, nearly four minutes during the midday heading from Montlake into Ballard and almost three minute savings headed toward Montlake in the midday. During the afternoon commute, riders will save nearly six minutes for those heading from the U District into Ballard and three minutes for those heading out of Ballard.
A funding package hasn’t been secured for the project, so SDOT believes the implementation will be carried out in phases between 2011 and 2014.
If you were unable to attend Thursday’s open house and would like to provide feedback for this proposal, email your comments to Jeff Bender at jeff.bender@seattle.gov or call: 206-684-8837.
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Halelujah! The only question is how can we get these changes implemented faster?
Remove all bike lane. Biker are stupid
Those part-time restricted spaces really need to be restricted in the evening rush hour as well.
And frankly, on weekends too (anytime there are many pedestrians blocking the right-turners, who in turn block the straight-travelers).
Me love bike. You big poo head. Bike and me make love baby.
no restrictions just permanently remove them. the back up is ridiculous now.
Combine the Metro route 44 changes with the restriction to one lane eastbound on Market Street at 24th Avenue NW means that there will be no way to overtake and pass a bus at that point… This becomes a critical traffic “choke point”. Bad idea…
The single eastbound straight lane remains so for only a few feet after the intersection. It returns to two lanes long before the bus stop between Ballard Ave and 22nd, giving you plenty of room to maneuver around it while it picks up passengers.
Or by “pass a bus,” did you actually mean “cut off the bus before the intersection?”
That’s a bit myopic. Permanently removing the parking spaces would hurt several of the businesses they front, including Sunset Hill Vet, which does a lot of work with animals post surgery (knees, hips, etc.), so those spots are critical. Other businesses right there would also suffer if their primary parking suddenly vanished.
That’s a bit myopic. Permanently removing the parking spaces would hurt several of the businesses they front, including Sunset Hill Vet, which does a lot of work with animals post surgery (knees, hips, etc.), so those spots are critical. Other businesses right there would also suffer if their primary parking suddenly vanished.
Oops – my comments was supposed to be in response to the comment by “kim” that said “no restrictions just permanently remove them. the back up is ridiculous now.”
I guess I should have shown up for that meeting. It really would have been better to plan for Northbound and Southbound to have right turn only lanes instead of left turn only lanes. With the current plan, both right turns and straight traveling will have to wait on pedestrians.
I foresee many people in jumping into the left turn only lane and going straight rather than waiting for pedestrians.
I believe Sunset Hill Vet has parking behind their building. And the 8 spots in front are only unavailable 6am to 9am.
While I’d agree with that, good luck with ANY of this. Not gonna happen. Why?
The delivery trucks for the bar park – and block lots of traffic – in the right-turn lane on Market eastbound (on the south side of the street). There is a delivery truck there pretty much every morning during commute hours. It’s not parked in a parking space – they just stop and block the lane. Every day.
Keep that lane clear – going back all the way to the Quilting shop – and it would help traffic flow eastbound much, much better. Of course, the city doesn’t want to make traffic flow better – part of their war on car owners. I won’t be holding my breath for things to improve.
This all depends on what’s going to be done with the signal timing – if it’s still going to be “one direction + left turns-at-a-time” this will be a massive disaster for Westbound traffic especially (Northbound is already a disaster and I don’t see this being a major change). If it’s a more sensible arrangement where straight/right traffic can be moving more of the time with left arrows on demand, it will be an improvement.
The bus stop is very well West of the intersection. 44’s aren’t going to be any different than another car at that point, and as has been pointed out, there will still be 2 lanes East of the intersection.
“I foresee many people in jumping into the left turn only lane and going straight rather than waiting for pedestrians.”
I, for one, cannot promise that I won’t do this :P. Combine that with the highway of cyclists passing stopped/turning cars on the right, and you have double the nightmare that we have now.
I was at the open house, and it sounds like the whole point of the 24th & Market thing is that it will not be one direction at a time – they’re going to get rid of the old timer system.
i have called delivery company’s in the past with the license plate/vehicle numbers in similar situations and it’s helped.
i get the vet thing but why would the other businesses suffer? because their clients would have to walk a block or cross the street?
“The local businesses did pretty well”
Nice bit of ‘truthiness’.
“means that there will be no way to overtake and pass a bus at that point… This becomes a critical traffic “choke point”. ”
That’s the PLAN! It is part of SDOT’s plan to “discourage driving” by making it less convenient. That way you’ll get frustrated and just take the bus.
Isn’t this city swell…………..?
The southbound bike lane currently ends before the intersection. The plan is to now remove the right turn lane that relieves a lot of the pressure, in order to make the bike lane go all the way through. This will very significantly hurt southbound traffic, for a tiny if any benefit to bikes. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. This is a terrible idea.