By reporter Steven Smalley
UPDATE 9/19/14
It looks like there might be something in the works for this busy crosswalk. Pat writes:
I met with the City of Seattle, Traffic engineer, this morning, at the intersection. We discussed a variety of issues, and from each of the four angles. Mr. Chang will be initiating a data collection count of vehicle traffic on both W. Raye and 32nd Ave West. They will collect data over 7 days, including a weekend. While the Community presses on for a Full 4 Way Stop, the City Dept. will also review other physical aspects of the intersection that may be available to improve the flow and safety of the intersection. And they will review the crosswalk at W. Smith and 32nd Ave West. The City welcomes public comment on these efforts, particularly during this brief review period.
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EARLIER-Parents have long known the dangers of sending their children to school or to the Pop Mounger Pool by way of the crosswalk at 32nd Avenue West and West Raye Street. Some call it the ?Near Miss Intersection.? Now concerned neighbors are rallying parents to call authorities and urge new safety measures.
Adjacent to Catharine Blaine School, the pool (Seattle?s busiest), Albertson?s, Seattle Parks, and a toy/candy store, the east-west crosswalk is normally respected by drivers, and then again not, according to parents who spoke with Magnolia Voice.
?It?s not safe,? states Pat Craft, a Magnolia parent and author of a call-to-action letter located on the Blaine PTA website.
?This intersection needs a 4-way stop,? he writes. ?Other methods have been tried, but no one feels safe here.?
Craft produced home-made signs placed at the crosswalk asking passersby to call the city.
Some local parents who contacted the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) say they did not receive a satisfactory response.
?I called the DOT,? states Angela Herndon, a Magnolia mother. ?They said, ?It does not qualify,? there are federal guidelines for 4-way stops, and it does not qualify. I asked if they could put a flashing yellow light. And they said, it also doesn?t meet those guidelines.?
?I won?t let my children walk to school by themselves,? she continues. ?The way I see it, half of Magnolia is coming from this side of the hill.?
Another parent was on the same wavelength. ?My kids walk to school every day and it?s incredibly dangerous,? exclaims Cortney Anderson-Sanford, a Magnolia parent. ?There must be some way we can put our brains together to make a solution happen. If it takes a child getting killed, that?s really the wrong way.?
?I?ve seen several near misses, and I have seen debris,? adds Paula Hlastala owner of Nifty Toy & Gift from her store at the very intersection in question. ?I think a (4-way stop) would slow people down and get them to stop.?
Requests for a 4-way stop or yellow flashing light are just two suggestions purposed by Craft. ?People have called repeatedly for something to be done,? he informs Magnolia Voice. ?The city has done traffic counts in years past. They say, ?We don?t have the tragedy statistics.??
Telephone calls from Magnolia Voice to SDOT were not immediately returned.
?We?re done waiting,? says Craft. ?I?m trying to bring the decision to a new outcome.?
He encourages people to bring additional pressure to bear and phone Brian Dougherty, SDOT transportation planner, Safe Routes to School, 206-684-5124.
The whole village area south of Bartell’s, north to Barrett 32nd to 34th, should be 20 MPH all the time and strictly enforced.
If we are serious about creating an urban village— encouraging people to get out of their cars should be a safe option. I can’t believe the speed of drivers, on phones, in SUVs, with a car load of small children tearing down that street. It is insane.
It is not safe for small children but also not safe for the elderly where we are all headed one day at a time.
Thanks Steve for another important story!
I feel like speed bumps would be a more practical approach. Has anyone inquired about the requirements for that?
Did having a crossing guard there help at all? Perhaps Blaine could hire a new guard, which would be far more cost effective?
We live on 32nd near the pool and see speeding cars barreling down the street with drivers on their phone, texting, or otherwise distracted. Something needs to be done before there’s a serious accident.
Yeah, if your kids don’t know that they should wait for cars to pass or come to a stop before entering a crosswalk you are making the correct decision by not letting them walk to school.
i’d say stop signs won’t stop a cell phone junkie from barreling through an intersection…
how can this be a 4 way stop when it is only a 3 way intersection? makes no sense.
The goal would be an “all way stop”.
The crossing guard trying to get hired again, but is not in the school budget. A stop sign is actually much cheaper.
Saying that you should just watch out for cars is like saying we don’t need any stop signs anywhere in the village. People can just look out for themselves.
Cell phones and distracted driving are always going to be an issue, but a stop sign on 32nd would lessen those impacts.
I just talked with Brad at the SDoT and he is pretty adamant that there will be no all way stop since it does not meet federal guidelines. (since there is not enough traffic on Raye). He says they may look at other options such as speed bumps (I personally hate speed bumps, I would much rather come to a complete stop) or a flashing yellow light during school hours with a 20mph limit (much more expensive and is ignored unless actively enforced). His explanation is that an all way stop is ignored by drivers once they become accustomed to not seeing any cross traffic. Seems to me that a stop sign that is actively enforced the same as a flashing light with a 20 mph limit would be safer.
Thorndyke & W Galer St. is another spot like this. People coming across the bridge and up the hill, speed 10-20 over the 35 mph speed limit. They don’t see the crosswalk until it’s too late to slow down. I’ve seen way too many adults, kids, and pets nearly hit when someone comes barreling around the corner. *Sigh*
The drivers in Magnolia are hideous about speeding and distraction.
West Raye St. is a street, continuing west, to the school and along side the Pool parking lot. The pool is the busiest in the entire Seattle system.The playground equipment you see beyond that point is actually a Community playground, installed in partnership to encourage physical activity. The school lost funding for the Crossing guard to appear twice a day.
This morning I counted at least 121 children, 189 cars and 72 adults between 9:17 and 9:46 am,.
A Full Stop is the best hope for 24/ 7 protection for all of the community who pass thru this intersection, in any form. This is not just for children, it benefits everyone, and at all times of the day and night.
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Community members have pursued this idea for years and been offered piece meal corrections. The initial City response was the statistics are not there for east /west vehicle count along the east section of West Raye St., nor did we have the highest amount necessary for the Tragedy count in the intersection.
We are currently in brief review period. And It will take a Chorus of voices to make this right.
We are purposely saying that we want to beyond the standard and not wait for the tragedy.
There is a cross section of 2 streets here… why are people saying it’s only a 3 way stop? Cars can approach 32nd and W Raye from all four streets.
Wondering how did the stop at W McGraw and 33rd come into being? It’s very busy east to west, but not so much north to south. How did it meet the Federal guidelines for how busy the street must be?
OR– is SDOT being persnickety on the terminology all the while overlooking the intent… making the intersection safer. In which case, could they grant a 2 WAY STOP? Since nearly all of the troublesome traffic travels along 32nd, that would do the most good. Speeders travel along 32nd going both north and south. The traffic from Raye approaching either way would then not have a stop, but rather a yield. Just please, some sort of traffic revision!
Are speed bumps not an option?
They are not an option…won’t happen on a major thoroughfare…it is rare even on a side street or alley for that matter.
If you knew what they paid that crossing guard last year you’d be shocked it’s been cut from any “budget”. Ridiculous and a sad symptom.
I met with the City of Seattle, Traffic engineer, this morning, at the intersection.
We discussed a variety of issues, and from each of the four angles.
Mr. Chang will be initiating a data collection count of vehicle traffic on both W. Raye and 32nd Ave West.
They will collect data over 7 days, including a weekend.
While the Community presses on for a Full 4 Way Stop, the City Dept. will also review other physical aspects of the intersection that may be available to improve the flow and safety of the intersection.
And they will review the crosswalk at W. Smith and 32nd Ave West.
The CIty welcomes public comment on these efforts, particularly during this brief review period.
I cannot agree more about the four way stop but also with the speeding in Magnolia and around the village. I know we can’t do anything about most of Magnolia but my children and I were almost hit in front of Starbucks this summer by someone who ran the sign…literally kept driving despite me screaming. The worst part is that often these are other mothers and fathers with children. Yes, I often recognize you as I’d expect you to recognize me. It’s a small community. Can you imagine if you answered a text but killed someone? Stop. Think. We also have a lot of elderly and new families. We all want to walk the village and by all the schools safely. Please if you’re late, don’t race by ANY school or through the village…it could be such a horrifying disaster.
32nnd Ave West and West Raye Street is an obvious corner with significant markings for pedestrian crossing, that only a moron driver could miss.
In my opinion, the unmarked mid -block crossing of 32nd Ave West, approximately one block south of West Raye Street, is far more likely to be the source spot of serious car injury to our children. It is at this point where a walkway opens from the school and athletic fields, to an exit point that children coming from Blaine School, The Magnolia Rec Ctr.,
and sports activities on fields #1 and #2 are inexplicably drawn to cross the street, by Joe Albertson’s wonderful products. Not only is there no crosswalk or pedestrian crossing signs to alert passing car drivers, but often times parked cars along the west side of 32nd Ave West, from West Raye Street to West Smith Street, can make it virtually impossible for even non-moron car drivers to see our small people. To make matters worse, our small people are often lost in conversations, no doubt about how wonderful a maple square is going to taste and they will blindly walk out into the street without looking.
Twenty-five years ago, I telephoned the city, Blaine, and the Rec Ctr., apparently to no avail.