It’s time for a change along North 152nd Street in Shoreline residents believe. If enough ballots are collected by the City today, Aug. 1, that change could be on its way.
According to city operations manager Jesus Sanchez, the next step toward decreasing speed and the amount of traffic along Ashworth Avenue North between North 152nd and North 155th Streets could be a partial street closure. If 60 percent of the residents in the neighborhood approve of the change Shoreline’s Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program (NTSP) staff will construct a traffic calming device called a curb bulb on North 152nd Street. Made of rubber blocks, the device will extend the width of a sidewalk, narrow the road and detour traffic from heading eastbound on the street. Westbound traffic would remain unaffected.
“We’re looking at a 90-day demonstration project,” operations manager Jesus Sanchez said. “It could be longer or shorter depending on how well (the project) functions.”
The demonstration project is welcomed by neighbors who feel their neighborhood traffic problems have continued, despite efforts by the NTSP to use radar speed displays to raise driver awareness, increase police enforcement, a traffic circle demonstration and the installation of two speed humps on Ashworth Avenue North between North 153rd Street and Ashworth Place North.
“It’s been an ongoing problem since we moved in,” said Bob McWold, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1992. “Something has to be done to abate the traffic and cut the speeds down. It’s just gotten worse as times go by.”
The neighborhood has been a part of the NTSP since November 2006, according to John Marek, associate traffic engineer. Traffic speeds range between 22 and 23 mph on the residential street while an average of 1,300 cars pass through, he said.
Those numbers, especially the amount of vehicles traveling through the neighborhood need to decrease, Ashworth Avenue North resident Joseph Irons believes.
When Irons learned ballots about the project would be mailed out to his neighbors he spent two evenings knocking on doors, explaining the project and collecting signatures.
“I personally knocked and received over 50 signatures from taxpayers and business owners,” Irons said. “I’m not running for an election, I’m selling street improvements here.”
Working with the NTSP has been frustrating, he said, adding that his attempts to garner enough support for the demonstration project have been met with several revisions of the project by city staff.
“I don’t know if other neighborhoods are happy with the results of the NTSP but we’re not,” he said.
The NTSP includes two phases. In Phase 1 education and enforcement are used to encourage behavioral changes while traffic engineering solutions are introduced in Phase 2.
Currently more than 50 streets are included in the NTSP program and many have been in the program for the past few years, according to Sanchez.
“There are a whole host of neighborhoods who have been in process a lot longer looking for improvements,” Sanchez said. “We have a limited pool of dollars and to maximize dollars we try to go to (projects) that are top priorities. We just don’t have enough (resources) to do it all.”
If the demonstration project is approved, work could begin Aug. 11, Marek said. NTSP staff will analyze the project for up to 90 days and inform residents of results before deciding whether to make the project permanent.
“It’s a change the neighbors want to see,” resident Bruce Streckenbach said. “Temporary is a prelude to making (the project) permanent. That’s the way we see it.”
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