The Ballard Bridge “death trap”—a brief cut in the tall curb that divides a narrow bike lane from the traffic that zooms by at 45 mph just inches away on the Ballard Bridge—leads directly into the path of right-turning oncoming traffic. If you’re on a bike, you have to stop, swivel your head 180 degrees to look behind you, and hope for a break in the traffic long enough to pedal like mad across two lanes back into the flow of traffic.
A lot of bikers I know who are not otherwise histrionic would rather go a mile out of their way to cross the Ship Canal at the Fremont Bridge than risk life and limb on the Ballard Bridge.
In 2007, a cyclist ran into the concrete barrier and fell into traffic, where he was struck by a car; he died of his injuries in 2008.
So what’s the city doing about it? Nothing.
Here’s what the curb cut looks like today:
Last month, an ad hoc group of freight, bicycling, and pedestrian advocates met with Seattle Department of Transportation staff to come up with a solution for the dangerous curb cut. Their ideas included: Adding a new grade-separated loop that would provide safer (if more circuitous) access to 15th Avenue NW; creating a “switchback,” also separate, also circuitous, to provide safe access; and adding a parallel but physically separate lane that would parallel the bridge without putting cyclists directly in speeding drivers’ path.
All three of those options would have physically segregated cyclists from traffic, the holy grail of many cycling advocates because the safer cycling is perceived to be, the more people opt to get around by bicycle. Another option would have at least widened the curb cut, giving cyclists a little extra room to work up speed before entering the flow of traffic.
So what did they decide on? New signs warning drivers to slow down, “monitoring” of traffic speeds, and tree trimming (!). Because the cost of the proposals ranged from $900,000 to $3.1 million, SDOT determined that they were “cost prohibitive” and scrapped them.
Not to sound like Mike McGinn, but: $900,000 is pocket change compared to a $4.2 billion tunnel.
According to a letter from SDOT director Grace Crunican to the 15 members of the ad hoc advisory committee, “I want to be up front with you about the feasibility of designing and constructing this project within the next year to year and a half. As the city works through a $72 million revenue shortfall and we move into new leadership, priorities and projects may change. However, at this time an unplanned project of this magnitude with all of our fiscal constraints could not be implemented in 2010.”
Translation: The next mayor may decide to deal with this problem, but for now, cyclists, your life’s in your hands.
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An SDOT staffer once told me, in response to a profanity-free email from me, that “very familiar with the curb cut on the SW corner of the bridge.
However, the placement is not a simple as might be expected.”
That was in April 2007. You’d think they’d have figured something out by now.
I’ve ridden my bike on fourth ave in SODO during rush hour, and on East Marginal way, and I’d have to say the Ballard bridge gives me the willies more than any other road in Seattle.
Let’s face it- 15th is a freeway. People go 60mph. Enforcement is nonexistent.
That corner needs a chicane!
I lived in Ballard for a year or so and loved to ride my bike all over and I rode that route exactly once, and never again. It’s nuts. The tone of some people who post on any blog that mentions bikes is that only kooks care about bikes but I know from experience that it is quite possible to live a full life in Seattle without a car, getting around only by bike and bus, when necessary. It is not always fun, convenient or as easy as it might be in a city with better mass transit options, but it is possible. It is stuff like this that makes it really difficult.
Isn’t there a stairway on both sides of the road that allows one to cross that intersection under the highway. Not very convenient to have to carry a bike down and up some stairs but if it is as dangerous as you say…
Until the city gets serious about bikes as transportation, don’t plan to bike where it isn’t safe. $900,000 to $3 million isn’t chump change; there’s an increasing need for basic shelter in Seattle and I’m not sure how you could promote one particular fix for bike commuters as being more important than shelter.
SDOT seems to take the most expensive path possible to avoid any possible constructive engagement with citizenry.
From the photo, it looks like all you have to do is cut ten foot wide opening in the curb, paint a giant cross walk, and put up a bigger sign that says, “Exiting Traffic Yield to Bicycles.”
What, a thousand bucks to knock out the curb and buy some paint?
kinda agree with @6
doesn’t seem like a 900k project, but then again, SDOT has never been swift and innovative in solving problems.
also, the bike community always wants it their way and nobody is willing to compromise. you could put a traffic stop in there and open that lane and just make it a known bike crossing. shit, light that sucker up with a flashing bike sign.
If they really don’t have the money right now, they could at least slow traffic to 30 on the bridge and enlarge the curb cut. People don’t need to get there so fast they can’t slow down for one minute.
You couldn’t pay enough to take that route. The fact that the city has it on their bike map as a suggested route is ludicrous. Why don’t we just suggest that people “share the road” over the Ballard Bridge? The kind of nonsolution that drives me crazy–looks reasonable only on paper, but makes it sound like the city is doing something.
@5: I hear you, but we can’t stop all projects until everyone gets shelter. The place would grind to a halt.
Several people have died on that bridge using city-suggested bike routes. That’s pretty damn serious and worthy of funding.
@10: More than two dozen people have died outside, while homeless, this year. 2,631 people were found outside in the middle of the night on January 25; that was an approximate count as not all people could be found. A number were walking the streets all night or huddling in bus shelters.
Most bike riders have the power of discretionary thinking to decide which routes are dangerous and which are safe. Making safe choices could reduce their danger. More shelter could enable homeless people to suffer less danger by having a choice to be inside at night.
That’s “pretty damn serious and worthy of funding” also.
Safety Sue, the walkway under the Ballard Bridge is littered with human feces and extremely unpleasant.
I have the same question as #6.
My girlfriend commutes on that exact route every day to work, and it scares the shit out of me. In the spring of 2007, on that same spot she fell off her bike onto oncoming traffic (a bus, which God thankfully stopped in time). I didn’t know about this other guy, killed just a few months after her accident.
Fuck.
Where’s a guerrilla bike lane group when you need one?
Just a couple of additional facts to help explain the decision.
SDOT had proposed changes at the south end of the Ballard Bridge with the goal of enhancing bicycle safety. These included moving the curb opening south, installing a green bike lane from the new cut across W Emerson Street, shifting signs to better alert drivers about the crossing, and adding raised markers and pavement markings to discourage high speed turns by motorists. This would have cost $20,000. We asked the public and a group of bike and freight stakeholders to examine the concept.
Based on what we heard from stakeholders and the public, the department decided to leave the cut in its current location and only make small improvements. This decision was endorsed by the Seattle Bike Advisory Board and the Cascade Bicycle Club.
Our traffic records show there have been zero fatalities and zero bike collisions at this curb cut over the past ten years. Bicyclists pause and wait for a break in traffic to enter the roadway and bike stakeholders believe this is an important element for preventing car/bike collisions.
At the request of a local business owner, SDOT also looked at three options for a grade-separated bike crossing solely at W Emerson. The three options, based only on a planning level estimate, ranged in cost from $900,000 to $3.1 million. Given the current finances of the city, these proposed ideas are unfortunately cost prohibitive. More info about SDOT’s original proposal and the final decision can be found here.
@6 – Exactly.
I bike from Ballard to Lower Queen Anne almost every day and 15th is the fastest route for me. That little gap is the worst spot. I have noticed that since they put the little lame sign up, a few more cars slow down and wave me on but why not a powerhouse of signage. Put up those blinking road lights that pedestrians get down by the piers and a bright orange, blinking “Caution: Bikers exiting here” sign. People pay more attention to “caution” than they do “yield”.
And, please, make the gap a little bit bigger.
“Our traffic records show there have been zero fatalities and zero bike collisions at this curb cut over the past ten years.”
I’m confused. Doesn’t this article start off discussing a person that was killed after getting hit at this very curb? Am I reading this incorrectly?
rick–can you explain what the feedback was on your $20k solution vs the $900k one? why was that not agreeable to CBC and others?
@17: Bike and freight stakeholders agreed that a grade separated crossing was the preferred option, though more work was needed before selecting one. But given the high cost to build it and lack of available funding, all endorsed a shorter term approach of making small modifications now instead of altering the curb cut’s location. Even with a green bike lane and raised lane markers, they felt a new curb cut that created a straighter route could potentially increase bike/vehicle collisions if a car failed to yield or a bike entered traffic abruptly.
So SDOT will move the warning signs north to better highlight the existing curb cut, paint the curb cut area so it stands out for drivers, trim vegetation that hinders visibility and conduct speed studies to see if lowering the speed limit on 15th Ave W is warranted.
people have been killed and i’m kinda curious why this hasn’t happened before now. and why do you need a study?
my advice. stop overthinking this thing and put some advance precautions in place now.
thanks
I have commuted across this location 4-5 days per week since March, 2007. In my judgment, @6′s solution would work just fine. Bicyclists will always have to watch for traffic here unless there is an expensive grade separation (likely with an accompanying hill to climb – why does the city seem to think that bicycle routes on hills are preferable to flats – Dexter vs. Westlake). The problem is that the current curb cut must be navigated by going into a southbound traffic lane. I’d much rather take my chances with turning traffic, which has to slow for the corner. More signage will not slow most vehicles. I would probably hurt just as much getting hit by a 30 mph car as by a 45 mph car. I proceed every day when there’s a break in traffic wide enough for cars to see me pulling out. Their delay is usually less than a few seconds.
#6 has it right – here in Portland, it’s how we have bikes cross the busy spot on the Hawthorne Bridge where autos exit to another arterial/highway. See the Google Street View here: http://bit.ly/ITAvy
That’s a heavily traveled bike lane on the far right, buffered from traffic, before it crosses the exit at a 90 degree angle. The bike lane there is painted bright green to warn autos, who are generally exceeding the posted speed limit and going at least 40-45 mph. Most slow significantly before taking the exit, and yield to any cyclists present.
It’s one of our most heavily traveled bike routes out of the central city, and I have yet to hear of an injury here. It certainly cost less than $900K.
Amy @ 21
Awesome solution, thanks for sharing. Alas, the Ballard Bridge doesn’t have the surface area for that specific solution.
I’m commenting because no one’s mentioned it…
One of my coworkers bikes via Fremont.
The other goes via the Ballard Locks. A little bit out of the way, but much safer.
I have biked the Ballard Bridge regularly since 1991. Lately, I have enjoyed more drivers pausing to let cyclists enter the flow.
I hate the term “stakeholders”.
@21-
Every freeway onramp entrance in King and Snohomish counties need blue bike crossings like that!