The Fremont Neighborhood Council recently received the following response to FNC’s letter expressing concern about pedestrian safety, especially for Hamilton Middle School students, at N 41st and Stone Way N. The improvements planned, to be done by the end of February, and further possible action are bolded below:

Dear Stone Way Community:

Thank you for your note about pedestrian safety on Stone Way N at N 41st Street. It is very helpful to receive observations like yours from community members who see how our streets are working every day.

We have reviewed the intersection and will be making the following improvements:

– “No parking” signs will be installed on the approaches to the crosswalk to improve visibility.

– Stop bars will be placed in advance of the intersection’s marked crosswalk for northbound and southbound traffic.

– At the stop bars, “stop here for pedestrians” signs will be installed.

– Worn portions of the marked crosswalk will be remarked.

The work is scheduled to be completed, weather allowing, by the end of February.

We have also received a request from neighbors for a pedestrian-activated traffic signal at this intersection. Our review of this request will be completed by April, at which time we will share our findings with you.  

You may be interested to know how traffic engineers evaluate the need for a traffic signal. They study a given location for volumes of traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian), the physical features of that particular location, reported collision history, what opportunities there are for pedestrians to cross in traffic, and delays to traffic. Using standards that have been developed by the Federal Highway Administration, traffic engineers then determine whether or not that location meets the established criteria that would permit consideration of a traffic signal.

If you have questions or need additional information regarding our signal review process, contact Valerie Lee in our Traffic Signals Group at (206) 684-5246 or valerie.lee@seattle.gov.

If you have additional thoughts or need other information in general regarding this intersection or other locations, please feel welcome to contact me directly at (206) 684-5727 or mike.morrislent@seattle.gov.

Sincerely,

Mike Morris-Lent, Traffic Operations Engineer, Seattle Department of Transportation

Please send additional inquiries to the staff indicated in the letter or click here (do not change the subject line). You may also contact the City of Seattle’s Customer Service Bureau at (206) 684-CITY (2489).

It’s clear the intersection is dangerous, and there is question about whether the planned fix is sufficient.  Here’s more about the issue from an FNC member working on the problem:

A few weekends ago, a Wallingford couple was badly injured in the crosswalk a few weeks ago. This is the second incident in three months. Here is the story:

http://www.wallyhood.org/2014/01/young-couple-injured-in-stone-way-pedestrian-collision/

Here is the follow-up story with the details on what SDOT is planning to do: http://www.wallyhood.org/2014/01/44207/

[The neighbor  requests that FAWN members] contact the mayor’s office to request that a pedestrian-activated light be installed without further study. They had a chance to study the situation, back before the “road diet” made changes to the street, but nothing has changed – the road is wide, drivers are going too fast (particularly since it’s a hill) and they are not looking for pedestrians. Here is the contact form for the mayor’s office: http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/contact-the-mayor