The road crew of Gary Merlino Construction were picking up the last pieces of signage at Etruria and Nickerson streets last Friday where the heavily trafficked West Nickerson Street had been repaved with a black asphalt finish and given fresh yellow striping.
And while most of the road work is done, the lane reductions at Nickerson have business owners frustrated and confused.
"We've written the mayor and our customers are complaining, said Karen Williams, an administrator at Water's Edge Natural Health Services located at 150 Nickerson Street. "Even my FedEx drivers were complaining."
The Nickerson rechannelization or "road diet" removed two of the road's four lanes and added a center two-way turn lane. It has also included sharrows or bike symbols painted along the right-hand side of each lane indicating that the lane is to be shared with bicyclists from the Ballard Bridge interchange east to Fourth Avenue North.
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) held public meetings about the change during which several in the community, mostly those who worked in the area, complained. But the city stood by its decision. Its goal? To increase safety and lower speeds.
"The city has a three-decade history of rechannelization, of maintaining capacity, lowering speeds and making roads safer," said SDOT spokesman Richard Sheridan. He mentioned a nearby rechannelization at Stone Way North in Fremont that has lowered speeds and collision rates. Another project at Fauntleroy Way Southwest in West Seattle is under way. Added Sheridan, "We need to wait until the construction is complete to determine how the rechannelization is working."
Safety, is one thing, according to physician Marina Abrams at Water's Edge, butthe potential loss of clients is another. Traffic at Fremont Avenue North and West Nickerson Street has been notorious as the Fremont Bridge has the highest frequency of opening among all the city's drawbridges.
That dubious fame has been compounded by traffic caused by the repaving and now, the lane reductions. Abrams said there have been times in the last month, where she cannot get out of her parking lot because traffic is backed up as far as Seattle Pacific University.
"It's clearly affected our business," Abrams said. "We love bicyclists and we love biking, but this is a business and we're not happy about it."
A 2007 traffic analysis by Heffron Transportation Inc., conducted at the behest of SDOT, reported that the slimmer Nickerson Street would be able to handle the traffic volume, or 20,300 cars a day. The report also said the corridor would be able to absorb an anticipated increase in traffic volume due to the North Tunnel Portal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct project and construction of the Mercer West corridor. SDOT explained on its Web site, "We've determined that there is minimal impact and we are moving forward with the rechannelization project this summer. Once completed, this project will improve pedestrian and bicycle safety while accommodating traffic flows on this key arterial.
Josh Leigh of Capitol Hill has been driving his wife, Veronica, to SPU for classes for about a month and in that time he has noticed an increase in congestion.
However, as he sat with his laptop at the Tully's Coffee store along Nickerson, he said he liked the idea of getting more bicycling in the city. The only catch was the neighborhood connectivity. Aside from the Burke-Gilman Trail, there are few bicycle lanes that move from one neighborhood to the next.
"Once everything is connected, it will be great," Leigh said. "But there's no big picture. The city isn't connecting all these areas."
Up the street at the corner of Etruria and Nickerson streets, Ken Miller of McBride Construction said as early as 2 p.m. on weekdays, he's seeing traffic build up. He comes in from Auburn, and takes Dexter Avenue North to get to work. But on the way home, he has to take backstreets of Queen Anne to get home.
"I have a feeling they're going to get a lot of complaints," Miller said of SDOT.
Ross Budden, who works near Nickerson Street senses that the 'diet' is going to constrict any future development in the area and beyond.
"Even a bicycle shop couldn't survive on Nickerson now," he wrote in a recent email to the News. "I'm truly amazed that the business community even further downtown Seattle hasn't stood on their hind-feet and screamed at the top of their lungs against all of the restrictions on driving and parking."
There is still some restriping to do on the corridor, but by the end of the month, construction will be done. Sheridan of SDOT stressed the changes were for safety, but if the public remains steadfast against it, things can change.
"If it doesn't work, we can remove it," Sheridan said. "Our department director, Peter Hahn says, 'it's merely paint, if it doesn't function as planned we will remove it.'"[[In-content Ad]]
