12th Avenue Improvements Between King St & Yesler Way
To: Seattle Department of Transportation
From: Central Seattle Greenways & Beacon Hill Safe Streets
Central Seattle Greenways and Beacon Hill Safe Streets are very excited to see the dedicated bike lanes on 12th Ave S from S King St south across the Jose Rizal Bridge nearing completion! We are also highly engaged in the planning process for the safe bike route through Beacon Hill. This corridor is a key route for people riding their bikes between the entire southeast quadrant of the city and central Seattle neighborhoods (and beyond). The planned improvements will make this corridor much safer, enabling more people to comfortably walk, roll, and bike to their destinations.
While progress on these improvements is wonderful to see, it also makes the gap on 12th Ave S between E Yesler Way and S King Street even more apparent.
SDOT collision data shows that 66 cyclists and pedestrians were injured on 12th Ave S between E Yesler Way and S King St between 2004-2019, a rate of about four and a half injuries per year. We frequently observe even strong cyclists riding on the sidewalk along this stretch of 12th Ave S due to the stressful riding conditions, particularly northbound.
After SDOT removed that stretch from its work plan, several of us met with you in June 2019 to walk the area and discuss potential strategies for improving conditions for cyclists, since full protected bike lanes were unlikely to be built in the near term.
We recognize this is a challenging series of intersections with conflicting modal priorities. Nonetheless, the consensus after the walk was that interim improvements to the cycling infrastructure in this section would be feasible. For example:
● 12th Ave S northbound: It appears there is sufficient ROW to accommodate a painted bike lane along the northbound section of the corridor, which is uphill and therefore the more stressful of the two directions when biking.
● 12th Ave S southbound: There also may be an opportunity to add a southbound bike lane for a portion of the corridor. Both of these changes would likely require some rechannelization of 12th Ave S between Yesler and Jackson.
● Pavement quality: The intersection of 12th Ave S and Boren Ave is desperately in need of repaving. Deep potholes in this area make for dangerous riding conditions.
Has SDOT done further analysis of this corridor for opportunities to close this critical gap in the bicycle network, either via interim improvements or a longer-term vision for this series of intersections?
Sincerely,
Beacon Hill Safe Streets Central Seattle Greenways
info@bhsafestreets.org centralseattlegreenways@gmail.com