Showing posts with label traffic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traffic. Show all posts

SR 520 closed across Lake Washington in Seattle this weekend beginning Friday night, June 14, 2024

Saturday, June 15, 2024

520 bridge closed this weekend
SEATTLE – People traveling across Lake Washington should plan for a weekend State Route 520 closure this weekend. 

The SR 520 closure spans from Interstate 5 in Seattle to 92nd Avenue Northeast in Clyde Hill and lasts from 11pm Friday, June 14, through 5am Monday, June 17.

The SR 520 Trail will also close across the lake over the weekend. In addition, a section of the Bill Dawson Trail between East Calhoun Street and Montlake Boulevard will also close.


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Pedestrian, fatal and serious injury crashes hit record highs in Shoreline

Sunday, June 9, 2024

A map from the city’s traffic report shows the locations of car crashes in Shoreline

By Oliver Moffat

Shoreline’s roads are more dangerous than ever. The number of pedestrian crashes hit a record high last year and more people were killed or seriously injured on Shoreline’s roads than ever before. These grim statistics come from Shoreline’s annual Traffic Report which was released this week.

Crashes are more violent than before. The number of collisions has returned to pre-pandemic levels but the percentage of those collisions that leave someone injured or dead is higher now than before. The number of fatal and serious injury collisions is increasing at a faster rate than the growth of the city’s population.

Graphs from Shoreline’s traffic report shows
the increasing trend of crashes that kill and injure people 

Shoreline’s data is consistent with state and nation-wide trends. According to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, traffic deaths reached a 33-year high and more pedestrians and motorcyclists were killed in Washington last year than in any other year on record.

The gory details of the Traffic Report will be reviewed by the Shoreline city council at the June 10 meeting followed by a discussion of automated Traffic Cameras

Information on how to provide public comment and how to attend either in person or online is available on the city’s website.


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Rollover accident on Saturday sends one to hospital

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Shoreline Fire had a rough weekend June 1-2, 2024 with 89 calls between Saturday and Sunday. 

On Saturday at 7:41am, they responded in force to a fatality structure fire on Burke Ave N. Readers report there were a dozen emergency vehicles and streets and cross streets were blocked during the response.

Shoreline alerted neighboring north King county departments of the need for backup, so when a call for a MVC Rescue (Motor Vehicle Collision) came across the radio, other crews responded to Westminster Way for a single vehicle roll-over with the occupant trapped. 

Bothell Fire Department was first on scene as they were covering Shoreline Fire's stations. Bothell extricated the patient, who was then transported by medics to a local hospital.


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Transportation and Middle Housing discussed at the May 20 Shoreline Council meeting

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

The locations of three new projects added to the Transportation Improvement Plan are marked on a map

By Oliver Moffat

At the May 20 meeting, the city council approved a new Transportation Improvement Plan with some amendments, discussed Electric Scooter and Bike Sharing, and provided feedback on the Comprehensive Plan.

Every year, the city council is required to approve a list of transportation projects for the subsequent six-years. The city council made three amendments to the Transportation Improvement Plan before approval: an unfunded bike bridge to Edmonds over SR 104, proposed improvements to Firlands Way, and splitting the 185th project into separate east and west projects.

Regional bike advocates lobbied the city council to build a non-motorized bridge over SR 104 where a one mile gap in the Interurban Trail between Shoreline and Edmonds drives cyclists onto busy streets. The city council agreed to pitch in $40,000 to study the project but (given staffing shortages) the city did not sound eager to commit to yet another big bike bridge project.

One block to the east of the CRISTA retirement community and one block west of the new Canopy apartment complex is Firlands Way N. A citizen-initiated proposal could convert the road with 90 feet of city-owned right of way into a six acre, tree-lined pedestrian friendly public space. 

The proposal could be both a transportation project and a park project and bring badly needed open space to the rapidly urbanizing neighborhood near Aurora. The city council added a plan to study the Firlands Way proposal to the transportation plan.

After hearing safety concerns about 180th Street from residents in North City, council member Eben Pobee sponsored an amendment to separate the 180th and 10th Ave segments of the 185th corridor project into a distinct project called the “North City Light Rail Connector”. 

Largely symbolic, the name change doesn’t increase the priority or funding for the project, but raises the visibility of a smaller project that was previously buried inside a larger project.

 A screenshot shows council member Betsy Robertson saying “All those folks who don’t want to see the additional housing, they are all comfortably housed.”

Although it wasn’t on the agenda, the topic of what kinds of Middle Housing the city should allow came up while discussing the Comprehensive Plan.

Mayor Chris Roberts said he wants to “double down” and “embrace middle housing of all types” not just meet the minimum density rules required by state law. “I hope the planning commission brings back policies that give us the big version of what middle housing could look like in Shoreline. And then we can work with our affordable housing developers to say ‘okay, what do you need’ and how do we get really truly affordable housing in our city,” said Roberts.

Council member Annette Ademasu disagreed with the push for more middle housing. “I’m hearing from people out there… they don’t want to see corner to corner… townhomes. They would rather see more green space interspersed when we are looking at middle housing,“ said Ademasu.

“All those folks who don’t want to see the additional housing, they are all comfortably housed,” council member Betsy Robertson said in response. “And we have a housing crisis and we need to add more units. And Shoreline is committed to doing that,” said Robertson.


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Lake Forest Park city council increases traffic camera fines

Sunday, May 26, 2024

A new No Racing Zone sign greets drivers entering Lake Forest Park on 178th street where the speed limit drops from 30 to 25 mph - photo by Oliver Moffat

By Oliver Moffat

Lake Forest Park will increase traffic camera fines starting this summer after new state laws encourage cities to use cameras to improve safety. The city designated 178th a no-racing zone to allow the city to leave the cameras active all the time (not just during school hours) despite an equity analysis raising concerns about the traffic cameras.

At the Thursday, May 23 meeting the Lake Forest Park city council voted to raise traffic camera fines to the maximum allowed under Washington state’s recently expanded laws.

With the passage this year of House Bill 2384, cities in Washington can now increase automated traffic camera fines and Lake Forest Park is speeding ahead to raise fines from $130 to $145. Repeat offenders can have their fines doubled to as much as $290 under the new law that takes effect on June 6, 2024.

The change comes after the city recently added 178th to its list of designated no-racing zones, allowing the city to leave the traffic cameras on all-day throughout the year whereas before they could only be active during school hours when Brookside elementary was in session.

Speaking in support of the plan, Council Vice Chair Tracy Furutani, said “the fact is we are going to see increased traffic volumes as the Link Light Rail stations open. And my concern is that once September rolls around and the kids start coming back to school, especially along Brookside, that there will be significant potential interactions between traffic and the walking school children.”

A graph from Lake Forest Park, shows how fast vehicles are going east-bound on 178th 

The camera infraction recidivism rate is less than 10% which, according to the city, means that the cameras are effective in getting drivers to slow down. Data collected from the Washington State Patrol’s website shows there have been a total of 45 collisions on 178th over the last ten years with crashes on the rise from a low of two in 2020 to five in 2023.

“I know that this is going to be revenue generating for the city. But that’s not the principal reason that we are doing this. We are doing this because we are very concerned about pedestrian and multi-modal safety,” Furutani said.

The city pays an external company a flat monthly fee of $4750 to operate each of its fourteen current cameras (totaling $798,000 per year). That external company does not get a percentage of the fines or any kind of commission.

The previous state law required cities who adopted traffic cameras like Lake Forest Park to give 50% of the revenue back to the state to fund transportation safety projects. 

But to entice more cities across the state to install traffic cameras, the legislature changed that rule this year: now cities can keep all the ticket revenue for three years as long as they spend the funds on traffic safety improvements. After three years, the state will take a 25% cut to fund state-wide traffic safety projects.

According to the city’s budget, traffic fines will generate $3.84 million this biennium for the general fund. At 30% of the budget, the city’s largest line item at $11 million is the police department. The city spends $2.5 million a year on transportation - making up 7% of the city’s budget.

At a December 14, 2023 meeting the city council designated 178th a no-racing zone. Then at an April 30 special meeting, the Lake Forest Park city council voted to keep the automated cameras active year round, 24 hours a day within the 178th no-racing zone.

In 2022, state law allowed cities to use automated traffic cameras to enforce speed limits on streets designated “restricted racing zones” and a new state law took effect in 2024 which also makes “drifting" illegal.

A map from the Washington State Patrol website shows the locations of the six collisions in the past ten years attributed to street racing in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Kenmore 

A public records request filed with WSDOT returned a total of ten crashes attributed to street racing in Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, and Kenmore since 2010. A search on the Washington State Patrol’s website found six street racing crashes in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park in the past ten years. 

In comparison, there were 1,785 crashes in Lake Forest Park alone over the last ten years according to the Washington State Patrol’s website.

Recent changes to state law expanded where cities can deploy cameras and allows city employees to review tickets where previously a police officer needed to review each ticket.

State law requires cities to complete an equity analysis to prove traffic cameras will not disproportionately target historically over-policed people. The Lake Forest Park report raised concerns about the city’s traffic cameras. 

A graph from the city shows more than 90% of traffic camera tickets are received by people who don’t live in Lake Forest Park 

According to the police department, although less than 4% of Lake Forest Park residents are Black, 12% of people who received a traffic ticket in the city were Black. Only 8.5% of the traffic camera fines were issued to residents of Lake Forest Park - the majority of ticket recipients were from out of town.

Under the new state law, vehicle owners can dispute the ticket in court and (under the new state law) the fines must be cut in half if the owner of the vehicle is a recipient of a state public assistance program. But that requires fighting the ticket in the Lake Forest Park court.

Meanwhile in Shoreline: on June 10, the much anticipated (and overdue) Annual Traffic Report will be reviewed by the city council and traffic enforcement cameras will be discussed. While neighboring cities including Lynnwood, Lake Forest Park, and Seattle have long embraced the use of traffic cameras, the Shoreline city council has opposed their adoption in the past.

5-26-2024 corrections: 
-The camera infraction recidivism rate is less than 10%.
-traffic fines will generate $3.84 million this biennium for the general fund.
-At a December 14, 2023 meeting the city council designated 178th a no-racing zone. Then at an April 30 special meeting, the Lake Forest Park city council voted to keep the automated cameras active year round, 24 hours a day within the 178th no-racing zone.


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Memorial Day Weekend is challenging for travel but rich in events

Saturday, May 25, 2024

The WSDOT Paint Map shows major events, construction, and other happenings around the region.

We've got holiday weekend travel ahead with sporting events, concerts and festivals happening across Washington and the Puget Sound region. Plan ahead, be patient, pack snacks and give yourself some extra time to get where you're going.

And while most construction projects will be paused for the holiday weekend, we have several long-term work zones you’ll need to be ready for, so please slow down and use caution.

If you plan to be on Interstate 5, I-90, US 2 this weekend, expect congestion and more traffic than usual. State ferries also will be busier than normal. You can check our rider alerts to get the latest details.

Lastly, our real-time travel map is a great resource to see what traffic looks like before you leave home.


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Westbound NE 175th St lane restriction for signal pole foundation work


As early as Tuesday, May 28, 2024 Sound Transit will continue performing nighttime lane restrictions on westbound NE 175th St. These lanes will be restricted for curb and sidewalk restoration on the northeast corner of the northbound I-5 on- and off-ramp intersection. 

Crews perform this work at night due to the restricted hours for westbound lane closures of NE 175th St.

Tuesday, May 28, through Thursday, May 30, from 8pm. to 5am the following mornings.
  • Lane restrictions of westbound NE 175th St from 3rd Ave NE to the northbound I-5 on- and off-ramp intersection (see map).
  • The lane restrictions will occur during working hours and re-open during non-work hours.
  • Residents should expect construction noise from equipment being operated at night such as an excavator, a concrete breaker, a haul truck, a concrete truck, a concrete vibrator, a concrete demo saw, crew trucks, light plants, and various hand tools.
  • Some bus routes may be affected. Please check the King County Metro website for details.
Outreach specialist: c-jaybee.ragudo@soundtransit.org or 206-701-1469


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24 Hour Traffic Safety Cameras to be installed along NE 178th Street in Lake Forest Park on June 3, 2024

Friday, May 24, 2024

Speed restrictions on NE 178th by Brookside Elementary in LFP

The City Council and Mayor of Lake Forest Park are informing all citizens and residents of an important update regarding traffic safety measures in our city.

Effective June 3, 2024, the school zone cameras at Brookside Elementary along NE 178th Street will be converted to speed cameras operating 24 hours a day. School zone times will continue to issue tickets for speeding over 20 mph, while outside of school zone times the cameras will enforce the posted 25 mph speed limit.

This decision has been made to enhance the safety of our community, particularly for our children, pedestrians, and drivers. There will be a 30-day warning period from June 3 to July 2, during which warnings will be issued to drivers who exceed the posted speed limits. This grace period is intended to give drivers ample time to adjust to the new enforcement policy.

Starting July 3, 2024, tickets will be issued to drivers who exceed the speed limit in this zone. We urge all residents and visitors to adhere to the posted speed limits to ensure the safety of everyone in our community. 

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding as we implement these changes. Your commitment to driving safely helps protect our residents and drivers on the road.


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No easy solution to Shoreline’s 175th problems

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

More than fifty activists with Save Shoreline Trees and Tree Action Seattle rallied on 175th against the city’s plan to expand sidewalks and add bike lanes that could remove more than 274 trees
Photo by Oliver Moffat

By Oliver Moffat

175th is a problem with no easy solutions. Traffic jams and crashes are back to pre-pandemic levels and an earthquake could send the road into Ronald Bog. Metro’s new 333 bus is coming soon to the road. The city wants people to walk and bike more but pedestrians (including students) must brave crossing up to seven lanes of traffic. 

Activists want the city to narrow sidewalks to save trees and businesses have fought road diets in the past. Whatever happens, everyone in the region will be impacted for decades to come.

An arial photo shows the 75 foot crosswalk at the intersection of Meridian and 175th where pedestrians must brave five lanes of car traffic in all directions

On Sunday, May 19, 2024 more than fifty activists with Save Shoreline Trees and Tree Action Seattle turned out for a rally on 175th to protest the City's plan to widen 175th between Aurora and I-5 to make room for pedestrians and bicyclists which could cost over $88 million and require chopping down 274 trees.

With traffic jammed (as usual) on 175th street, passing drivers honked enthusiastically, showing their support for the activists’ calls to save trees by narrowing the proposed sidewalks.

Shoreline city council member Keith Scully even stopped by to show his support.

Flyers distributed by Save Shoreline Trees called on the city to reduce sidewalks to 7 feet or less and said 13 foot sidewalks are unnecessary. The group said they don’t want 175th to be “devastated” like 145th where the city removed more than 300 trees to make way for sidewalks and roundabouts to support the light rail station opening later this year.

Trees increase walkability by providing shade and mitigate urban heat islands caused by large expanses of pavement, according Sandy Shettler from Tree Action Seattle. “Walkability includes shade. These are the public’s trees and they should be saved for the good of public health” she said while waving to passing cars.

A map from the Washington State Patrol Collision Analysis Tool shows the locations of ten years of crashes along 175th between Aurora and I-5 

Plagued by traffic jams, N 175th Street between I-5 and Aurora is Shoreline’s busiest city street with more than 20,000 vehicle trips per day. It’s also one of the city’s most dangerous roads. According to data from the Washington State Patrol, collisions on N 175th Street have roared back to pre-pandemic levels: in 2019 there were 77 crashes; in 2023 there were 76.

Starting in 2019, the city collected feedback from over 1,500 residents to list their top priorities for 175th street: pedestrian walkability, solving traffic jams, and improving safety were the top three priorities. 

Although the city didn’t ask specifically about tree preservation, “landscaping character” was rated at the bottom of the wishlist just above bike lanes by Shoreline residents.

To address traffic jams, the city won’t be able to make the road much wider - it’s already a five-lane road and is over 75 feet wide. It narrows to four lanes at Wallingford where it squeezes between rock retaining walls and spreads out to seven lanes at Aurora. Because of the phenomenon known as Induced Demand, adding more lanes probably wouldn’t help.

But traffic jams are just the start of the problems. When the city started designing the project, they discovered an earthquake could cause 175th to “slip and slide” into nearby Ronald Bog and received an $8 million grant from FEMA to rebuild the road.

Flyers distributed by Save Shoreline Tree called 175th “a primary access route to I-5 and a truck route” and said because there was no light rail station, wider sidewalks weren’t necessary. But later this year, Metro’s new route 333 will provide frequent, cross-town bus service along 175th street, increasing pedestrian traffic on the road.

The city’s Transportation Element Bicycle Plan, adopted by the city council in 2022, promises bike lanes on 175th street that would be safe enough for children to ride on.

At the rally, Susanne Tsoming, co-chair of Save Shoreline Trees, when asked about the city’s plan said, “It’s a major arterial and not made for strolling… I think it’s insane to ride a bike on this road with cars.”

Parents and students, who must brave five lanes of car traffic to get to Meridian Park elementary, want the city council to do something about traffic safety on 175th. Between I-5 and Aurora there are only seven crosswalks and the road can be up to 90 feet wide.

The location of trees to be removed to make way for sidewalks and a bike lane near Meridian Park elementary are shown on a map from the arborist report 

The city’s Climate Action Plan says vehicles are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Shoreline and sets a goal to get more people to ride busses and bikes. Shoreline’s Complete Streets policy requires road projects to be designed for the safe and convenient access of all users including pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users; not just motorists.

On the other side of town, the city’s Transportation Improvement Plan calls for a road diet on the east side of I-5 that (instead of expanding the width of the road) would shrink NE 175th St from four lanes to three while adding bike lanes. 

A table shows the number of car lanes and widths of the seven crosswalks pedestrians must brave while crossing 175th street between Aurora and I-5.
That plan would cost about $2.3 million without removing trees. Although the U.S. Department of Transportation says road diets improve safety and calm traffic, twenty years ago the city council rolled back a plan to put 15th Ave NE in the North City business district on a road diet after push back from businesses.

On May 20, the city council was scheduled to vote on adoption of the Transportation Improvement Plan. And the council was scheduled to discuss a plan to roll out Scooter and Bike Sharing in the city. The Natural Environment and Transportation sections of the Comprehensive Plan were also on the agenda.

UPDATE: At the June 3rd city council meeting, the 175th street project will be back on the agenda for discussion.

A presentation from Save Shoreline Trees is no longer on the agenda. In an email, Kathleen Russell from Save Shoreline Trees said, “Although the City initially approved our application for a presentation, we are not in agreement on the guidelines and we have withdrawn our application.” 

On June 10, the much anticipated (and overdue) Annual Traffic Report will be reviewed by the city council and Traffic Enforcement Cameras will be discussed. The council will vote on whether to add Scooters and Bicycle Sharing to Shoreline’s roads.

On June 24, before the council adjourns for their summer vacation, the Commute Trip Reduction Plan will be reviewed.

5-23-2024 Save Shoreline Trees will not be making a presentation at the June 3rd council meeting.


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Westbound NE 175th St lane restriction at night for signal pole foundation work

Saturday, May 18, 2024

175rh lane closure

As early as Monday, May 20, 2024 Sound Transit will perform nighttime lane restrictions on westbound NE 175th St between 3rd Ave NE and the northbound I-5 on- and off-ramp intersection.

These lane restrictions will be utilized for signal pole foundation work on the northeast corner of the northbound I-5 on- and off-ramp intersection. This work activity is performed at night due to the restricted hours for westbound lane closures of NE 175th St.

Closures: Monday, May 20, through Thursday, May 23, from 11pm to 5am the following mornings. The lanes will be closed during work hours and opened during non-work hours.

Residents should expect construction noise from equipment being operated at night such as a vac truck, an auger truck, a dump truck, a concrete truck, crew trucks, light plants, and various hand tools.

Some bus routes may be affected. Please check the King County Metro website for details.


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Shoreline students lobby city council for safer streets

Friday, May 17, 2024

A request from St Luke elementary students asks for an improved crosswalk,
a speed limit beacon and an automated speed camera 

By Oliver Moffat

At the Monday May 13, 2024 Shoreline city council meeting, students Thomas, Solomon and Isaac from St Luke, joined a growing chorus of students and parents from schools across Shoreline asking the city council to do something about Shoreline’s dangerous roads.

The eighth grader’s request comes after a school staff member was nearly run down while crossing the road in front of the school. With assistance from city staff, police and the fire department, the students measured vehicle speeds on the roads in front of St Luke where Dayton, Greenwood and 175th Street intersect.

A graphic from a 2021 Shoreline city staff report illustrates
how pedestrian fatality rates increase with vehicles speed.

In the report presented to the city council, the students found that 70% of vehicles were going above the speed limit. The students asked the city council to improve a crosswalk, install a speed limit beacon and install an automated speed camera.

The St Luke student presentation is the latest in a growing chorus of voices from children and parents from across Shoreline who want the city council to do something about traffic safety.

On May 14, Gracie and Evelyn from Girl Scout Troop 41974, who are fourth graders at Meridian Park Elementary, wrote to Shoreline Area News about traffic safety at the intersection of Meridian and 175th Street in front of their school. Parents from Meridian Park have raised safety concerns about that intersection.

Angelina Vaughn Shorecrest Sophomore asks the city council
for safety improvements on 155th street near Paramount Park 
Angelina, a Shorecrest Sophomore, has spoken in front of the council not once, but twice asking for safety improvements on 155th street near Paramount School Park where she catches the bus.

At the November 13 council meeting, Angelina told the city council, “there isn’t a blinking light for someone to signal, or a light to stop cars if they want to cross the street. 

''All we have are orange flags that usually disappear.”

Angelina returned to the city council at the April 8 meeting and again told the city council about the danger of 155th street and asked for safety improvements. 

She also told the city council the useless orange flags had disappeared. Again.

“I really hope that we can have some sort of pedestrian sign or some sort of lights there, because the orange flags and the stop signs don’t really work,” she told the city council.

According to data from WSDOT, Angelina, Thomas, Solomon, Isaac, Gracie and Evelyn are right: Shoreline’s streets have gotten more dangerous in recent years.

Shoreline’s police department recently told the city council that the number of reported traffic collisions in Shoreline has increased by 65% and Chief of Police Kelly Park warned the city council about “highly aggressive” driving on city streets.

The city restocked orange flags at the intersection on 155th street
where a Shorecrest student raised safety concerns
Photo by Oliver Moffat

As reported on KUOW and The Seattle Times, 2023 was the deadliest year for traffic fatalities in Washington State since 1990.

While neighboring cities like Lake Forest Park, Lynnwood and Seattle have moved to lower speed limits and installed automated traffic enforcement cameras, Shoreline’s city council has rejected traffic cameras and chosen to keep top speed limits at 30 mph.

The Shoreline city council voted to set top speed limits at 30 mph in 2021 after reviewing a staff report that showed when Seattle reduced speed limits from 30 mph to 25 mph the number of crashes decreased.

In 2023, the city council told staff not to install automated traffic enforcement cameras in Shoreline.

Although the city council has not moved to lower speed limits or install traffic cameras, the city has restocked the orange flags at the intersection on 155th street where Angelina crosses the street.


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Overnight I-5 lane reductions and ramp closures scheduled for next week at MLT - Shoreline county line / SR 104

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Cloverleaf is at SR 104

As part of its ongoing Lynnwood Light Rail extension, Sound Transit will close lanes and ramps on I-5 overnight next week, including:
  • The southbound I-5 right lane between the 44th Avenue West on-ramp and 220th Street Southwest will close from 8pm to 5am nightly Monday, May 13, through Friday morning, May 17.
  • The southbound I-5 right lane between 220th Street Southwest and SR 104 will close from 8pm to 5am nightly Monday, May 13, through Thursday morning, May 16.
  • The 220th Street Southwest on-ramp to southbound I-5 will close from 8pm to 4:30am nightly Monday, May 13, through Thursday morning, May 16.
  • The northbound I-5 on- and off-ramps at eastbound and westbound SR 104 will close from 8pm to 5am nightly Monday, May 13, through Friday morning, May 17.

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Night closures of northbound I-5 right lane and northbound I-5 on-ramp from NE 175th St

As early as Tuesday, May 14, 2024 Sound Transit will close the northbound I-5 right lane from NE 175th St to NE 195th St, including the closure of the northbound I-5 on-ramp from NE 175th St. 

Crews will be pouring concrete for the Lynnwood Link Extension.

Crews will work at night to minimize effects on traffic. Tuesday, May 14, through Thursday, May 16, from 9pm to 5am the following mornings.

Residents should expect construction noise from equipment being operated at night such as a concrete truck, a boom truck, a loader, a rotary hammer, a power vacuum, trucks and trailers, light plants, and various hand tools.
 
Some bus routes may be affected. Please check the King County Metro website for details.

More project info: soundtransit.org/lynnwoodlink

Outreach Specialist: c-jaybee.ragudo@soundtransit.org or 206-701-1469


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Truck snags electrical wires on Aurora, pulling down poles and lines

Monday, May 6, 2024

The red and green truck snagged a power line.
Photo by Bruce Miller

Traffic was at a total standstill on Aurora Sunday evening May 5, 2024, starting about 4:00pm when a truck with high load snagged lines while southbound on Aurora Ave N at about 141st St in North Seattle.

Photo by Bruce Miller

The lines pulled down four or five poles, both metal and wood. 

Aurora was shut down for hours.
Photo by Bruce Miller

The road was closed in both directions.

The truck that caught the wires
Photo by Bruce Miller

Amazingly, no one was injured but traffic was at a standstill for hours.

Just one of the poles that came down
Photo by Bruce Miller

It was quite a mess. Along three blocks of Aurora, poles were leaning, broken, touching the street, with wires blocking businesses and draped along the road


Seattle City Light was on scene at 10:30pm, replacing poles. The road was reopened at 1:50am, almost four hours later.

updated 5-7-2024



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Meridian Park parents want traffic safety on 175th; “Every child should be able to walk and bike to school without fear”

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Meridian Park students and parents cross 175th street
Photo by Mike Remarcke

By Oliver Moffat

On school days, Everton Drakes walks with his daughters to Meridian Park elementary - his older daughter rides a scooter while his little one rides along in a push car.

The ride to school requires crossing both Meridian Ave and 175th street, an intersection littered with car crash debris and plagued by traffic jams and speeders.

Drakes and a cohort of parents from the Meridian Park PTSA want the city to pay more attention to safety near Shoreline schools and are trying to build support for automated traffic enforcement cameras near the school.

“Every child should be able to walk and bike to school without fear of the intersection near their school. These are children. It’s not fair to them,” said Drakes.

A screenshot from photoenforced.com shows the location of traffic cameras
in cities neighboring Shoreline

While neighboring cities including Lynnwood, Lake Forest Park, and Seattle have long embraced the use of traffic cameras, the Shoreline city council has opposed their adoption.

Recent changes to state law expanded where cities can deploy cameras and allows city employees to review tickets where previously a police officers needed to review each ticket.

The law requires cities complete an equity analysis to prove traffic cameras will not disproportionately target historically over-policed neighborhoods.

To discourage cities from using traffic cameras as a long term source of revenue, after three years, the city has to share revenue with the state.

The city is actively working on improvements to the 175th street starting with the intersection of 175th and Meridian Ave.

The city wants to widen 175th on the west side of I-5 to make room for pedestrians and bicyclists which could cost over $88 million and require chopping down 274 trees.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a road diet on the east side of I-5 would shrink 175th from four lanes to three while adding bike lanes and could cost an estimated $2.3 million (without removing trees).

The city council will discuss the 175th street project again at the June 3rd city council meeting.

The city council will discuss traffic enforcement cameras at the June 10th meeting.


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No Racing Zone: Automated speed safety cameras to monitor a section of NE 178th Street in LFP

Thursday, May 2, 2024

The yellow line shows the "No Racing Zone" on NE 178th St in LFP
The large building in the center is Brookside Elementary 

On December 14, 2023, the Lake Forest Park city council adopted Ordinance 23-1284, designating NE 178th Street from 25th Avenue NE to State Route 104 as a “No Racing Zone” within Lake Forest Park.

This measure was taken to enhance the safety and security of the community.

New signs along NE 178th St
Photo by Laci Graciano
Following months of deliberation and identifying safety improvements on NE 178th Street as one of the council’s top ten goals during a March 2024 Council Retreat, the city council adopted Resolution 24-1952 at a special meeting on April 30, 2024.

This resolution authorizes automated speed safety cameras to monitor a section of NE 178th Street for speed violations. The section to be monitored is the same stretch that is currently monitored for speed violations during school hours, identified by the yellow dashed line on the image.

This section of NE 178th Street is currently operating to measure for speeds exceeding 20 mph when children are present during school hours or when warning flashers are active.

Beginning June 2, 2024, these same cameras will begin measuring for speeds exceeding the posted 25 mph speed limit at all other times of the day. The city will be issuing warnings for the first 30 days of operation. After the 30-day warning period, speed violation citations will start being issued.  


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185th Roundabout is open

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

 Ready to try your luck?

The new roundabout on 185th by the Shoreline/North transit station is open to traffic.




Thanks to Johanna Polit for risking life and limb to get these shots.


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LFP Mayor: Please take the time to slow down on our local roads

Sunday, April 28, 2024

Lake Forest Park Mayor Tom French
From Lake Forest Park Mayor Tom French

Kindly do your part and set the tone on our streets for everyone, including those who visit our community. We all lead busy lives and sometimes we find ourselves running behind—this is not the time to speed on our roads.

The City Council just accepted a Safe Speed Study which will inform changes on our neighborhood streets, arterials, and connectors. This is part of a larger pedestrian and multi-modal safety program that we have been working on for more than two years.

In the coming months, watch for changes in speed limits on our roads. Smaller neighborhood streets will be reduced from 25 mph to 20 mph and to a uniform 25 mph on arterials and collectors. 

The City has also made an application to the Washington State Department of Transportation for reductions in the speed limits on our two State Routes.

Tragically, each of the past several years, the number of fatalities on Washington’s roads has increased at an alarming rate. Last year was no exception with more than 800 fatalities setting a new record for the past 30 years. For context, the State of Washington has more than 100 cities and towns that have less than 800 residents. This alarming fatality number is equivalent to the loss of an entire small community.

Speed infractions and traffic volume in our two school zones continue to climb. Near Brookside Elementary in 2022 over 1.3 million vehicles trips were logged. In 2023, traffic volume was over 1.6 million vehicles logged or a 23 percent increase.

The two school traffic safety cameras on 178th reported a 14 percent and a 12 percent increase in violations over the previous year. The increases in the number of citations near LFP elementary were smaller, but still significant.

More alarming are the recorded speeds near schools: 137 of the citations in 2023 were for speeds more than 40 mph, with the top speed being 56 mph. 

Also concerning are the 980 more citations that were issued for speeds between 35 and 39 mph. 

These citations were issued when the warning lights on the sign were flashing and when children were present on the sidewalks and in the school area.

These trends are deeply concerning.

Please do your part and slow down -- our children and loved ones depend on all of us to keep them safe.

With respect,
Mayor Tom French

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Change your behavior to protect the lives of WSDOT workers on the highways

Work zone. Photo courtesy WSDOT

As a WSDOT traffic control supervisor, Ashley Jackson designs traffic plans to create work zones for projects on our state highways. Unfortunately, traffic control doesn’t eliminate the risk our crews face in the field. Ashley and all our crews need your help.

With Work Zone Awareness Month entering its final days of 2024, Ashley’s message to every driver:
  • Get off your phones while driving.
  • Don't drink and drive.
  • And, slow down and pay attention in work zones.
Read more about Ashley, her role in creating traffic control and some of the workers she’s helping to protect in this blog.


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Scenic SR 20 North Cascades Highway now open

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

SR 20 North Cascades Highway opened after its annual winter closure on Friday, April 19.
Photo courtesy WSDOT

Following a final avalanche control mission on Monday, April 15, 2024 WSDOT reopened SR 20/North Cascades Highway on Friday morning, April 19. 

This section of SR 20 from milepost 134 to 171 closes every winter due to safety and access concerns. The road closed for the winter on November 30, 2023; spring clearing began March 25.

The 33-mile long North Cascades Highway is sometimes referred to the as the “North Cross” as the northernmost east-west route over the Cascade mountains.

Even with the highway reopened for the season, travelers should be prepared for the potential for snow and ice while traveling through the mountain passes and should keep in mind that many of the United States Forest Service and National Park Service facilities have not yet opened for the season. 

WSDOT crews will clear the road and shoulder and any pullout areas needed for maintenance work, but otherwise, there are few facilities open and no cell service through the mountain passes.


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