Update!It came as quite a surprise to us when we received an email from our representative, Reuven Carlyle, asking if we would add a link to his site. If you recall, we linked to his legislative site when we were urging the public to protest the new liquor tax.
It turns out that our Silver Fox politico likes our site and gets some traffic from us! "Hey, I get a number of clicks from your awesome site...not sure if you get many from me. Could I get a link from your site since I represent Ballard in the Legislature and try and be relatively cool (that a father of 4 can muster in a minivan!). "
Well, we think you're pretty cool! Especially if you can help repeal that stupid new liquor tax. Oh, and our other pet peeve about our fair city - WHY CAN'T WE GET SYNCHRONIZED LIGHTS ALONG MARKET STREET?! This is the 21st Century people. So, Reuven, anything you can do to help with that would be awesome. Thanks!
Update:
Reuven responded to our plea. Here's what he found out - basically, our lights are old and tired and too many old and tired people are walking around Ballard for them to fix it.
BGG,
Here's the response from Seattle DOT about the signals along Market that you asked me to tackle for you.
Hum....how's this for a non answer answer?! Always takes more, more. Sheesh.
"The signals on NW Market St. between 8th Ave. N.W. and 24th Ave. N.W. were synchronized in 2008. SDOT does re-calibrate the signal synchronization periodically as needed.
There are a few items to take into account with respect to optimizing this corridor. There are high volumes of pedestrians. As a result, we need to balance the needs of the pedestrians and vehicles traversing the corridor, which will result in less than optimum conditions for vehicle progression. In addition, with the close proximity of the fire station just west of 15th Ave. N.W., Market Street experiences a high number of emergency responses throughout the day, resulting in the signal system not operating in a coordinated fashion for periods of time. Parking activities along Market Street also contribute to less than optimal conditions for progression. This corridor also has some of the oldest electronics running the intersections, limiting our ability to provide the very best results. We have applied for grant funding over the past years to upgrade the system in downtown Ballard, but to this point, we have been unsuccessful in doing so."
I have no idea what this means in English.
Your partner in service,
Reuven "Ballard's Foxy Pol" Carlyle :-)
State Representative
36th District--the heart, soul, passion and spirit of Seattle
4 comments:
You're preaching to the choir, BGG - I have to go through that stupid traffic light trap EVERY DAY twice a day! Because the only alternative route to the other side of the neighborhood is 65th. I've been saying FOREVER that they need to be synchronized; I can't imagine it's hard. Every other neighborhood has done it!
BGG,
Here's the response from Seattle DOT about the signals along Market that you asked me to tackle for you.
Hum....how's this for a non answer answer?! Always takes more, more. Sheesh.
"The signals on NW Market St. between 8th Ave. N.W. and 24th Ave. N.W. were synchronized in 2008. SDOT does re-calibrate the signal synchronization periodically as needed.
There are a few items to take into account with respect to optimizing this corridor. There are high volumes of pedestrians. As a result, we need to balance the needs of the pedestrians and vehicles traversing the corridor, which will result in less than optimum conditions for vehicle progression. In addition, with the close proximity of the fire station just west of 15th Ave. N.W., Market Street experiences a high number of emergency responses throughout the day, resulting in the signal system not operating in a coordinated fashion for periods of time. Parking activities along Market Street also contribute to less than optimal conditions for progression. This corridor also has some of the oldest electronics running the intersections, limiting our ability to provide the very best results. We have applied for grant funding over the past years to upgrade the system in downtown Ballard, but to this point, we have been unsuccessful in doing so."
I have no idea what this means in English.
Your partner in service,
Reuven "Ballard's Foxy Pol" Carlyle :-)
State Representative
36th District--the heart, soul, passion and spirit of Seattle
Reuven -
Thanks for looking into it. What it means, in plain English, is:
"HAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. We don't care. Try again next year."
Jerks.
What the SDOT response is that there are enough pedestrians that you can't give too much priority to the east-west vehicle trips. Also, people park and move N-S on all these roads too (think of all the traffic coming from Leary and 15th) so it makes very little sense to turn Market into a highway.
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