The detours around 15th Avenue Northeast aren’t just increasing traffic through Maple Leaf’s corridors along Fifth Avenue Northeast and Roosevelt Way Northeast.
Many drivers traveling north also are taking Lake City Way, then cutting back west via 24th Avenue Northeast and Northgate Way. And lately, pedestrians have noticed that crossing the street at 24th Avenue and Northgate has only gotten more difficult.
But now they’ve got a sign on their side, reminding drivers who may not be familiar with the neighborhood that, yes, they must “stop for pedestrians when turning” from 24th Avenue onto Northgate Way.
Mike Morris-Lent, a traffic operations engineer for the Seattle Department of Transportation who also happens to live in Maple Leaf, requested the sign after a neighbor explained how difficult crossing the intersection was, which was followed by a review of the intersection by SDOT.
The sign was installed June 9.
The city plans to install a marked crosswalk at Roosevelt Way Northeast and Northeast 90th Street, and Isla writes that a pedestrian light is needed at Roosevelt and Northeast 100th Street. And several readers have demanded a crosswalk at Northeast 92nd Street and Roosevelt. What other intersections do you think need reminders that drivers need to stop for pedestrians?
Don’t just tell us. Morris-Lent says the best person at SDOT to contact if you’d like to make neighborhood traffic requests is Gretchen Conrad, who can be reached at [email protected] or 684-7319.
That route via 24th is actually the “correct” way for people to use arterials to drive east and west through Maple Leaf/Northgate. 24th is designated as an arterial, and has always been intended as the way to head west (“turn left”) onto Northgate Way from Lake City Way. I find it’s often a bit faster to go that way than by cutting through the residential streets in Maple Leaf with the turnabouts and chicanes everywhere.