After hearing from the community and conducting additional analysis, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) today announced changes to SW Admiral Way to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety without impacting existing vehicle travel lanes.

SW Admiral Way will be restriped between SW City View St and SW Manning St in September 2010. After the work is complete, the 0.7 mile stretch will feature the existing two travel lanes for each direction along with a bike lane with a striped buffer on the northbound (uphill) side of the roadway and shared lane markings in the outside southbound (downhill) lane. A pedestrian crossing island will be constructed at SW City View St to accommodate pedestrians crossing SW Admiral Way to the Metro transit stop on the west side of the roadway. On-street parking will remain on the east side of the roadway north of City View, while underutilized parking will be removed south of City View to accommodate the two travel lanes and the buffered bike lane.

This decision is based on current and future traffic conditions on the corridor, recommendations in the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master plans, and community input received via letters, phone calls and the July 13 open house. The final roadway layout carefully reflects the needs of motorists, freight, transit, bicycles, pedestrians and emergency response.

What SDOT plans to do:

Maintain the existing 4 vehicle travel lanes
Install a pedestrian median crossing island at SW City View
Install a 5 foot wide uphill bike lane with a 2 foot wide painted buffer
Add shared lane markings (sharrows) to the outside, downhill lane.
Remove parking south of SW City View St to maintain existing travel lanes and add the uphill bicycle lane.

Additional information about the changes, to include frequently asked questions and plans for the project, can be found on the project’s Web site at: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikeprojects/sw_admiral_way.htm