Now at 13th and E Pine, a 4-way stop (Image: CHS)
In December, the City of Seattle will identify potential sites for “Urban Pedestrian Zones” with limits on cars and investments in walk and bike-friendly enhancements.
But the Seattle Department of Transportation has already lined up changes that will help make busy streets safer in one area of Capitol Hill.
The new stop signs at 13th and Pine are part five new Pike/Pine locations for new 4-way stops to be installed “in coming weeks” around the neighborhood’s nightlife and entertainment core.
“Based on the large number of people walking and driving through these intersections, we are adding 4-way stop signs at five intersections in this area to improve safety for pedestrians and to create a consistent traffic control network in the Capitol Hill Neighborhood,” an SDOT spokesperson tells CHS.
Intersections changing into 4-way stops will include a series on E Pike at 10th, 11th, and 13th Ave as well as 10th and Union.
The 13th and Pine set has already been installed at the corners outside Fire Station 25 and The Cuff and is already working to make the intersection an easier place to cross while slowing motor vehicle traffic in the area.
It joins a new configuration at 10th Ave designed to make crossing back and forth to Cal Anderson Park safer completed with the installation of the Black Lives Matter mural on E Pine in 2020.
The city has included temporary signage to help everybody with the change (Image: CHS)
The E Pike intersections set for the changes are the scene of some of the busiest interaction between pedestrian, bike, and vehicle traffic in the city — especially at night and on weekends. The new 4-way stops are hoped to aid that flow and will likely dissuade some amount of vehicular traffic that already stacks up at busy times even without the signage.
Driving in the area will also be more challenging than ever as crews dig in and tear up portions of E Madison over the next three years for construction of the RapidRide G bus line.
Meanwhile, another important Capitol Hill crossing also had its long awaited 4-way stop setup installed last month as the city completed a long-planned addition of new stop signs to the crossing of 14th Ave at E Aloha to better connect areas to the south to Volunteer Parik.
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Yes please. And let’s also put them on Pike at Summit, Belmont, and Boylston.
Right? No brainer.
Great news!
Nice to see sdot putting those tempo signs in a place that doesn’t block bike lanes he bike lane. I don’t see that often enough
I was outside the restaurant in the first photo watching cars blow right through the stop sign the other day. People will need some time to reprogram at that intersection.
Just curious have people studied the possibility of making Pike and Pine one way street and shut down smaller north-south oriented streets like 10th and 11th? Probably will (1) help east-west traffic flow (2) and make the area more walkable.
that would be so great – imagine it one way, with one travel lane, much wider sidewalks and a proper space for deliveries/loading, so it’s not total chaos in the “turn lane” like it is today.
They could probably just close a number of streets to traffic altogether, and just allow buses and delivery vehicles. You see that in Europe and it’s a good compromise.
One-way couplets have historically been done to speed up traffic and generally result in a less pedestrian-friendly environment. I would rather see all one-way streets converted back to two-way streets, including downtown.
That’s strange, some of the slowest and most desirable streets I can think of in the world (that have car traffic) are one way with one travel lane. Care to share any research about why that’s a bad idea? Agree when there’s more than one travel lane