Is this unique Seattle street becoming unsafe?
Feb 15, 2016, 11:14 PM | Updated: May 6, 2016, 11:15 pm
A KIRO Radio listener says he’s seeing a lot more traffic flying down Ballard’s 14th Avenue, which parallels the main commuter route of 15th Avenue.
The roadway is one of Seattle’s unique streets. It still has old railroad tracks running through the middle. It is very wide because of that, and is the reason there is a parking strip in the middle of the road.
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What also makes 14th unique is that it is a mix of residential and heavy industrial.
But Seattle traffic engineer Dongho Chang says traffic volumes haven’t increased.
“I think that’s not, historically, been a cut-through route,” he said. “Because it doesn’t really connect, it’s not a location where you’re going to save time at all.”
Chang says volumes have actually decreased, from 5,300 cars a day in 2011, to 3,700 a day in 2014. He says it is better to take 8th, 15th, Highway 99, or I-5.
There are changes coming to 14th Avenue later this year. The city is building a park between 59th and 61st, at the request of the neighborhood, and will remove the center parking area.
And what about the old railroad tracks in the middle of 14th Avenue? Officials would like to remove them, but Chang says they have not been much of a problem.
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