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Editor:
Many comments were made regarding the recent car/pedestrian accident on 196th Street. I had emailed both the City of Edmonds Police and the Public Works Department about a huge problem on many of our streets.
196th Street, in particular, carries a tremendous amount of traffic, often cars that go above the speed limit. A particularly bad area is between 80th and 88th Aves. SW. Not only are there NO crosswalks, but the sidewalk on the North side of the street is heavily overgrown. (See my comment about the near accident of a wheelchair person!)
Cars speed up 196th heading West, many times to get ahead of other cars before the merge into one lane. If MyEdmondNews were to relay our comments about pedestrian safety, maybe your voice along with ours, can make a difference. All this being said, 196th is a beautiful, tree-lined street that is the entrance to our city. We could spend a few extra dollars to keep it beautiful!
Thanks!
Myron G. Phillips, DVM
Edmonds
I’ve lived for 20 years on 88th Avenue two blocks south of 196th Street,
For many years I commuted to downtown Seattle on the old Community Transit route 403 which stopped just north of 196th — which meant I crossed that intersection as a pedestrian twice daily, often in the dark.
Westbound cars on 196th come around a curve just before the intersection, which means drivers don’t see pedestrians and pedestrians don’t see oncoming cars until the last minute. Despite wearing bright clothing and taking extra care crossing, I had numerous close calls with cars going too fast and driven by motorists who simply didn’t see me. I’m thankful to be in reasonably good shape and able to run quickly out of the way, which saved me on several occasions.
Compounding this problem, many motorists use 88th Avenue and Maplewood Drive (both of which are residential streets) as a quick route to Main Street that bypasses the main arterial route of Puget Drive and 9th Avenue. This results in a stream of left turning vehicles into 88th from 196th, and increasingly high traffic flows through the Maplewood residential neighborhood on streets not designed to support these volumes.
I know there’s only so many dollars to go around, and more worthy projects than money to fund them. I do hope that the 196th Street/88th Avenue intersection gets on the list, and that the project includes a plan for redirecting traffic to the existing arterial routes and not using the Maplewood neighborhood as a thoroughfare short cut to Main Street.
Thanks for listening…
I have worked on transportation issues for over 15 years in Edmonds. Traffic lights, striping and cross walks are extremely hard to install on 196th because it is also a State Hwy. However, I was at a study group for Hwy 104 and heard that there is a program to improve State Hwy sections that cross through city “main streets”. I wonder if we could include some Gateway improvements, especially at 88th Ave at the same time as improvements along Edmonds Way. Remember a short time frame in a city is 5-10 years.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one who thinks this road is too dangerous. Crossing at 88th is not far from suicide. I find that 84th has better sight distance and there are two bus stops very close. However, it is still risky and sometimes takes a 10 minute wait. How about one of those pedestrian strobe lights like on Mains Street? I have even seen teenagers getting off the bus and heading north at a full sprint. There has to be some regard in the codes for a street with a local bus route and the next crossing 1/2 mile away. Something needs to be done to make that safer BEFORE someone gets hit.
I share your concerns about this DANGER zone. This problem needs to be resolved before anyone else is hurt or potentially killed. While I drive this route regularly, I don’t feel it is worth the risk to directly cross 196th from 88th to Maplewood or vice versa. Turning left onto 88th Ave from the middle turning “lane” on 196th is not for the faint of heart either. Placing a turn lane on a curve with dual lanes of traffic transitioning into a single lane is the perfect storm for an accident. Personally, I refuse to trust the oncoming cars full of distracted drivers on cell phones. What actions can we take as a community to get this danger zone addressed by the city and/or state?
CM Bloom brought this up at the workshop meeting last Tuesday, but I believe she misstated the problem. Hopefully these comments will help reduce the confusion. For future reference, it appears that the emphasis regarding safety needs to be focused on pedestrian safety and not driver/automobile safety or arterial and lane design.
The overgrown sidewalk issue at least seems like it would be pretty easy to take care of, even by a determined volunteer with a pair of cordless hedge trimmers.
Well, THIS is a problem. Who maintains this sidewalk? https://www.google.com/maps/@47.8214544,-122.3402409,3a,75y,157.18h,60.55t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sNeuYeHqmEMvRUxcFzTL1Jg!2e0
I would go out and do it but I have a feeling I’d end up dealing with at least one irate homeowner with delusions of owning the sidewalk in front of their house.
Sidewalk maintenance is the burden of the adjacent property owner. So while they may not own it, they have responsibility over it. Same would go with sweeping snow off of it as well. And while I’m at, it always helps if people clean the leaves off of storm drains during heavy rain events to prevent additional flooding of streets and possibly homes. Ok I’m done now 🙂
John R’s point tho is well taken. There are also some places on Hwy 104 west of Taco Bell where the brush crowds the feet a bit and on that road, it’s not great.
I second the SR 104 sidewalk problem. I once saw a mother have to move her stroller into the street so two strollers could get through in opposite directions. Luckily traffic was light. The city should enforce or clean.
These comments also exactly fit many streets and sidewalks in Lynnwood, where I live. It must be an universal problem of cities. I too have had to move very quickly to avoid disaster. Luckily even though I am 87 years old, I am still quick on my feet. I do feel sorry for those who are not though. I notice several people in wheelchairs trying to maneuver around the many obstacles, and just wait to hear of an accident. I often notice that car drivers seem to be watching for oncoming cars, but don’t seem to be aware of, or even watching for pedestrians.
Safety First! Irregular SAFETY issues on the streets and sidewalks is not a universal problem in cities all over. Safety is a core foundation for any city and usually issues regarding safety (and particularily where someone has died, “accidents waiting to happen”, obvious problem areas reported by citizens, etc) are quickly taken care of. . I have noticed that this is a problem in Lynnwood, Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace. I have a sister in Mountlake Terrace and to get to where she lives (no sidewalks for blocks around where she lives) I am forced to walk in the street from where I park my care (“care” freudian slip, meant to be car) instead of on a sidewalk to get to where she lives. Extremely unsafe at night unless I am wearing those green or orange fluorescent safety jackets the workers now wear. . Safety is a very basic concept regarding infrastructure and a city. The safety of the residents of a city is a core concept for the foundation of any city. Safety first, of course. Also, when there are few sidewalks people are made to walk in traffic which is always unsafe……. pedestrians walking in traffic, by 4,000 pound vehicles……. . It appears to me that at different times, there has been the building of neighborhoods with no sidewalks so this can benefit the number of units developers can build. (now and back through the mid 1970s) . In otherwords, developers can build more, make more $$$ and the safety issue (sidewalks! or very narrow sidewalks) goes away because of this. It is in the constitution regarding our government keeping the people “safe”. and this should be a core concept within our government, public works, etc in regards to development our our cities/towns. Safety first! Safety is not the “burden” of the populace. , it is the burden of our government to ensure the infrastructure built is safe in the first place.
This isn’t an issue of a few overygrown trees or shrubs………and blaming the citizens This is an issue of infrastructure and development going back at least 30+ years that I see where “safety” is thrown out to accomodate more units of development. Something wrong with that. This certainly appears to me to have been the case for quite some time here.
Down at the bottom of 196th there is a flashing light that tells us how fast we are going. It flashes wildly when cars go over the 25 MPH speed limit. Everyone slows down. Maybe a temporary fix would be to place such a light further East on 196th above 88th. My understanding is that those lights are about $8’000. If Neil Tibbott has it right we could wait 5 plus years to get a permanent fix.
Maybe some letters to property owners clarifying their responsibilities with regard to the sidewalk is in order. Clearly someone in a wheelchair, or with a stroller, would have trouble negotiating some of that. Motorists shouldn’t HAVE to watch for pedestrians stepping off the sidewalk into traffic; that’s why the sidewalk is there.
A quick fix to the problem of pedestrians trying to cross 196th St. at the bus stop near the Maplewood Presbyterian Church is to convert the traffic light at the fire station just west of the church to a pedestrian activated stop light.
The light turns red to stop all traffic on 196th St. when fire trucks leave the station. Painting a cross walk on 196th St. and adding a pedestrian activated switch to the traffic light would be relatively easy and inexpensive.
One final rant: I do wish pedestrians in Edmonds would take some responsibility for their own safety. I was recently driving northbound on the “new and improved” Sunset Ave. when I had to pass a pedestrian holding an umbrella while walking southbound in the street despite the sidewalk on the east side of the street and the new walkway on the west side of the street. It was not the first time I have encountered Edmonds’ pedestrians who walk in the street while ignoring available sidewalks and expecting cars to drive around them.
I am also tired of joggers who wear no reflective clothing and run in the dark in the street when a sidewalk is available. I have heard the argument that the pavement of a street is “softer” to run on than the concrete of a sidewalk.
The street pavement is made to support the weight of cars and trucks, which are far heavier than the weight of the average jogger. As such, I doubt the pavement offers more “give” than the sidewalk if the jogger is wearing good quality running shoes. If you are a jogger and cannot afford good quality running shoes, use the running track at the Civic Center Playfield.