Can you slalom through Seattle’s monorail columns on 5th Avenue?
Nov 15, 2018, 7:29 AM | Updated: 12:38 pm
Signs on the monorail columns in Seattle indicate drivers cannot take left turns, but they can slalom through the columns. (Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio)
(Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio)
KIRO Radio historian Feliks Banel raised this unusual Chokepoint during a recent on-air segment. He said that he loves to test his slalom skills by switching lanes between the concrete monorail columns on 5th Avenue in Seattle.
“You can legally drive as a slalom course, just last night I changed lanes several times,” he told host Dave Ross.
But Ross replied, “you cannot.” Actually, both Dave Ross and I agreed that while it might be fun to drive back-and-forth between those concrete columns under the monorail, it certainly couldn’t be legal.
To set the stage, there is a single white line running on either side of the columns as they run down the middle of 5th Avenue. There isn’t a lot of space between the columns, but if you’re careful there is enough room to cross between them.
I reached out to the Seattle Police Department. A communications officer there was certain this was illegal, but he suggested I confirm that with the Seattle Department of Transportation.
So my next stop was with Mafara Hobson with SDOT. I asked, “Is it legal to drive between the monorail columns on 5th? The only signs show you can’t turn at intersections but nothing about in between. There is a solid white line but no signs. Can you help?”
This was Hobson’s response: “Mr. Sullivan. It is indeed legal to change lanes with the current striping.”
Consider my mind blown. I double-checked with Hobson and she confirmed. It is legal to switch lanes between those columns.
That said, I would warn you to do this with extreme caution. There isn’t a lot of space. A ton of bicyclists use 5th Avenue, and they can hide in your blind spot behind those columns. I would only do it with little or no traffic, since most other drivers would probably not be expecting lane changes there.
You cannot switch lanes or make turns across the lanes at the intersections on 5th Avenue. There are signs posted about that.
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