Sept Traffic Safety Meeting

At the September 2nd Leschi Community Council meeting, members of Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) joined about 50 community members to provide an update on the Lakeside Avenue Improvement Plan. The plan had been shared out with the community via email, the LCC blog and LCC kiosk, and the LCC Board collected feedback via a survey ahead of the meeting. Some attendees at the community meeting participated in the survey, while others did not. The survey results were then shared with SDOT for them to consider the feedback and respond.

SDOT will collect community feedback through Sept 30th, so please go to our website to view the plan and learn how to submit your own feedback.

Sept 2nd Community Meeting Summary:

Overall, the meeting was productive, with SDOT providing further insights into their decision-making. The meeting was a valuable time for community members to share more on their perspectives. Key themes from this meeting included an appreciation that change is happening in the neighborhood. Several residents expressed that this work has been necessary for years. At the same time, concerns emerged around back-end parking in front of Leschi market for north-bound traffic. SDOT assured residents that this is a parking system that works in other parts of the city and has to be validated by their engineering and safety team, and they noted this concern as they continue shaping the plan. There was also concern that the traffic calming efforts in various areas, particularly the Lakeside Ave and Dearborn ones, may push safety issues further up the hill. SDOT also fielded questions about how effectively speed cushions will deter speeding in the area. SDOT shared that solutions that may be desired by the community, such as flashing pedestrian signals and signs, must meet certain criteria for funding (such as volume of traffic or history of crashes). SDOT emphasized that they do collect data to assess efficacy of safety solutions and will do so after construction is complete.

The project will be worked on in 2027 and into 2028, beginning with the northern portion. SDOT is welcoming further community feedback, which folks can submit through September 30th. SDOT will incorporate community feedback into their final planning. The LCC Board will share out updates via email and online.

How to Submit Feedback:

The Leschi community can submit feedback using a form available on our website or by emailing SDOT directly at VZ_SaferSpeeds@seattle.gov. SDOT will also respond to the questions asked at the meeting, and the LCC will post a follow up on our blog with their response. Reminder: the deadline for community feedback is Sept 30th. Please encourage your neighbors to review and submit as well!

Questions captured at the meeting.

The LCC will post responses from SDOT when available.

• Could we explore getting the speed limit in the Leschi business district reduced to 20 mph?

• Regarding lane narrowing at Main Street, that is a pretty wide part of the road, and neighbors agree that folks speed up there coming out of the business district. Folks are concerned that paint won’t be sufficient to slow traffic – can the team explore other solutions here?

• Regarding the proposed changes at 35th and Lane, can we please get clarity about what problem SDOT observed there and how the proposed change would address that?

• There is some concern about calming efforts pushing traffic to nearby routes. A number of neighbors asked for SDOT to observe 35th and consider calming (such as speed cushions) there.

• What about raised crosswalks like at Powell Barnett Park? SDOT noted that these can be costly, but agreed to check on this.

• Can SDOT please share their data and insights that show how speed cushions have been effective at delivering speed limit compliance?

~Maya Cutforth