Seattle Times Bumper to Bumper Column: Q&A | “Mukilteo Speedway”? | No Sign of Any Sign
By Charles Brown, Seattle Times
Apr. 16–Q: “As someone who frequents Whidbey Island, I find it frustrating when people ignore or do not see the sign indicating the place to enter the ferry lane” at the Mukilteo terminal, wrote Jane Bigelow of Seattle. “This sign should be highlighted with a blinking yellow light so it is noticed by the many tourists that visit the island,” she said.
She said there should also be signs at the ferry-loading intersection to indicate that when ferry traffic is unloading it has the right of way: “I have seen near-mishaps at this intersection all too often.”
A: Mike Swires, the state Department of Transportation’s Snohomish-area traffic engineer, agrees more is needed to help direct drivers to the entrance to the ferry holding lane.
“We will install reflective orange markers, which look like flags, on the sign that indicates where drivers should enter the lane,” he said, and those markers should help draw attention to the sign, especially for drivers who are unfamiliar with the area.
Swires said the state also will look into adding more signs at the intersection of Front Street and Highway 525, more commonly known as the “Mukilteo Speedway.”"This can be a confusing intersection for drivers when ferry traffic is off-loading,” Swires agreed. Drivers leaving the ferry do not have to stop, while the other three directions of traffic have stop signs.
“Before we make any changes to the signs, we will study the area to get a sense of typical traffic patterns throughout the day, and how any changes might affect traffic flow in the area,” he said.
Q: The flurry of downtown construction has been giving Martha Lim, a downtown worker, the bus-stop blues.
One day a couple of weeks ago, she raced out to catch her bus only to discover that the stop in front of the Federal Courthouse at Seventh Avenue and Stewart Street had been moved a half-block east. A few days later, it was moved across the street, to Eighth Avenue. The next day, she again rushed to get her bus but couldn’t find the bus stop, and no sign of a sign saying where it was.
“Fortunately, a kind Community Transit supervisor was sitting in his van and told me the bus stop had moved to Ninth and Stewart,” she said. “This is very frustrating when trying to make bus connections, and not know where to catch one’s bus.”
It’s also frustrating to try to flag down the bus, she said. And even more frustrating when the bus doesn’t stop. (“That happened to some of us riders on Second Avenue and Virginia Street last month,” she added.)
Aren’t transit agencies supposed to give advance notice of bus-stop changes?
A: They are. And usually they do. In this case, a construction project with a floating schedule may have gotten in the way. Jim Kost, Metro Transit’s construction-information planner, said the transit agency relies on street-use departments of local jurisdictions to enforce the requirements in approved work plans so that Metro can inform its bus riders and drivers in a timely manner.
“But sometimes contractors deviate from a plan and everyone has to respond quickly.”
Because of a construction project at Seventh and Stewart, the bus stop was moved. But it was supposed to be moved back before it was. The return to the earlier location was delayed because construction equipment was parked on the sidewalk at the stop, and Metro scrambled to make changes. The agency says it finally got around to posting rider-alert signs.
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