A proposed “road diet” that would add a turn lane in the center of Nickerson Ave. NW, add a bike lane in one direction and a sharrow in the other, and reduce travel lanes for cars to two, has been postponed indefinitely. Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) traffic engineer Eric Widstrand says the agency “wanted to make sure we coordinated [the Nickerson rechannelization] with the Alaskan Way Viaduct” replacement. According to SDOT’s web site, the agency needs to “evaluate how Nickerson Street would interact with the roadway network… taking into account the north portal of the bored tunnel” that is supposed to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, according to SDOT’s web site. Translated, that means: SDOT is waiting to see if car traffic on Nickerson will go up if and when the bored tunnel is built. Although residents expressed opposition to the changes at community meetings held by SDOT last month, Widstrand says the decision was “not based on community concerns.” Tomorrow is the last day to comment on the proposal.
Nickerson Road Diet Postponed Indefinitely
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Screw the street. The city has been lagging about linking Fishermen’s Terminal to the Fremont Canal FOREVER.
Perfectly good urban trail site, completely unused. Bikes program said 2009 was the year it would be finished.
What is the tunnel going to dump traffic on Westlake ave N instead of aurora? Or stoneway?
Maybe if they’d finish the damn bike path on the south side of the canal.
Miss Stereo is right.
Maybe if we killed the Mercer project we’d be able to do that – this year.
Nickerson’s not even a quarter as bad as Westlake, but the cars on that street treat it like a freeway. What are residents getting so worked up about — not being able to barrel down Nickerson at 50mph?
I went from being a Puget Sound pro-bike advocate to the following:
Biking in the Puget Sound is too dangerous.
There are too many vehicles on the road, the area is over crowded and there aren’t enough highways so streets become interstates.
Bicycling on the street is insane, so only me and few other nutcases should do it.
Mostly though, I get my exercise in the safety of 24 hour fitness.
What’s wrong fellas, can’t afford a car on a barista’s salary?
Good riddance to a stupid idea.
Yay! A glint of reason!
More inaction from our jolly “green” mayor and inept city council, doing nothing while they wait for that other thing they’re never going to do. I guess the death of Tatsuo Nakata taught them nothing.
And apparently Widstrand and departing city councilmember Richard McIver aren’t on the same page, because in an email to me McIver stated:
I had previously heard from a number of citizens who had questioned the intelligence of eliminating lanes on Nickerson in light of these plans for the tunnel. Frankly, I have to agree with these people. It is my hope that the tunnel proposal will be altered to provide a more direct access point to the tunnel than what is currently proposed, but until this becomes an option it would seem foolish to eliminate traffic lanes that may be critical to the flow of traffic. I think SDOT’s position is a reasonable and responsible one.
“Road Diets” are f-ing ridiculous. We live in a city that enjoys no traffic. (don’t believe me? live in practically any other major us city) Why do we want to end that?
Disclosure: I’ve been a cyclist for 24 years, but see how impractical commuting by bike is in Seattle.
The environmentalists have enjoyed a stranglehold on Seattle for long enough. I can’t even get a goddamn full-flow shower in my house! What the fawk? Stop it, stop it, stop it.
Care about something else. Give to a homeless shelter, a food bank, or something. Help people!
Fuck you stupid white man.
Keshmeshl… its not the residents who are speeding!!!!!
Further, I live on Nickerson and I was PUMPED when I thought this was gonna happen. I just wrote ’em a letter to get my point across, which is that cars would drive slower and bikes would be safer if they rechanneled the street. lets hope
There is not that much traffic on Nickerson. Just another example of the city bending over for another powerful neighborhood…
Why does this city department always lie through it’s ass?!? Just tell us the real reasons, don’t dance around what we all know in pedantic bureaucratese. And why didn’t they think of this before they wasted all those tax dollars and citizen’s time telling them false promises and then jilting them at the altar. Jeez!
Wow, did I misread this title. For a minute there, I thought Greg Nickels was going on a diet.