Thanks in part to the efforts of our local Queen Anne Greenways group, pedestrians are getting more time to cross Mercer St. Back in late May, Queen Anne Greenways led a “Mercer Adaptive Signal Walking Tour” with 34 participants including SDOT Director Scott Kubly and City Traffic Engineer Dongho Chang. On this tour, SDOT saw how the signal system didn’t give pedestrians enough time to cross busy Mercer St.
According to the SDOT, a new adaptive signal control system reduced automobile travel times along Mercer, Valley and Roy Streets, but pedestrians had less time to cross safely. Here are the locations of the adaptive signals:
Thanks to Queen Anne Greenways and other community groups, SDOT has now increased the pedestrian crossing time at six intersections:
You can read more about the process on the SDOT blog, find out about Queen Anne Greenways on their Facebook page or follow their Twitter account, and check out the SDOT Mercer Corridor website for updates on the project.