Making 2nd and Jackson safer for cyclists in Seattle
David Winiecki's blog
Friday November 13th, 2015
This is 2nd Ave Ext S and Jackson in Seattle. (2nd Ave S and Jackson is two blocks to the west. Henceforth when I say "2nd", it's 2nd Ave Ext S.)
This is how traffic passes through this intersection from the north. (2nd is one way.)
There is a bike lane on the east side of 2nd, but it soon disappears and the curb comes out into the street as you approach Jackson, so cyclists are forced to merge to their right. I do this every day. It's a little scary because there are cars to your left along the bike lane, where doors may open or pedestrians may appear, and meanwhile you're trying to look behind and to the right to make sure there is no car coming and it's safe to move into the street. Cars also tend to be accelerating in this section of 2nd, making things yet more dicey.
The path cyclists take to merge onto 2nd is shown by the green arrow.
The red arrows show where the two left lanes go. Very important note: 2 lanes turn left onto Jackson.
For more context, here's the street view if you stand in the middle of 2nd, just north of Jackson, and look south. (I don't recommend you actually do that. Don't do that.)
If you're in the leftmost lane when you make the turn, you cross 3 streetcar rails and then you're sitting between 2 streetcar rails on Jackson, and you're nervous. (You're also very likely sitting behind 3 stopped cars because at least one of them is waiting to make the left turn onto 4th Ave S.)
If you're in the other lane when you make the turn, you cross all 4 streetcar rails and you're in the right lane. That would be great but is difficult to achieve. I have never attempted to get in that lane before making the turn and haven't observed many other cyclists doing so.
So in the common case, you're sitting between two rails that want to grab your tires, behind stopped cars, and more vehicles are coming behind you because the stretch between 2nd Ave Ext S and 4th Ave S is very short. Meanwhile the lane to your right is empty and there is probably no one approaching in the right lane, so I often switch to the right lane (which requires making a very aggressive change in direction to cross the 4th rail, a motion that would be difficult to abort if necessary). That is kind of unsafe and I never feel right about doing it, but I've done it many times anyway.
Why does all this matter? Yes these negotiations with the intersection, rails, and vehicles are annoying and risky, but there's a deeper problem. I for one have become desensitized to how bad an idea it is to cross the streetcar rails. Really, I should be very reluctant to cross them and should avoid them at all costs, when possible, but because I have so much continual exposure to them, crossing them to get into the left lane for the sake of passing some stopped buses becomes a seemingly reasonable possibility. But it's not, and I shouldn't be thinking that way. Cyclists shouldn't really be in the left lane. Drivers don't expect them to be there, and if it's dark and rainy and you're not lit up like a Christmas tree, then you will be invisible, and a truck will switch into your lane and knock you into oncoming traffic where you will DIE.
So this situation where cyclists have to negotiate tricky traffic and street car rails is a very poor state of affairs, and I want something to be done about it!
Making this turn is the most unpleasant part of my daily commute, but I think there might be a simple solution: remove some of that curb on the northeast corner of 2nd and Jackson and extend the bike lane through the intersection to deposit cyclists in the right lane of Jackson headed east, and give cyclists a separate traffic light that is only green when other drivers have a red light. Also paint the lane bright solid green like the protected lanes elsewhere so it's really obvious to everyone what's going on and where the cyclists should go.
I have thought of one possible problem with this idea. Suppose a car coming south on 2nd blows through their red light and whips through the left turn, crashing into a cyclist in the new bike lane? Is this likely, or would only a very negligent driver do that, in which case the new bike lane is still no worse than the current situation? I'm out of steam for now, so maybe we will discuss this in the comments.
Another problem, probably just as significant as the difficult turn onto Jackson, is the lack of visibility at 5pm, in the winter, on a rainy day. This is especially troublesome when the action on the road is busy and complicated, as is the case on Jackson east of 2nd where there are bikes in the left lane, cars in the left lane waiting to make a left a turn, slow or stopped buses in the right lane, and other cars trying to switch lanes to get around all those obstacles. It's dark, and there is not a lot of lighting there. Cyclists riding in those conditions should be wearing a lot of lights and reflective clothing, but many (like me) have only about half the gear they should, or they haven't charged their light batteries lately. This all makes for very unsafe conditions where cars and buses may switch lanes and collide with a cyclist that they didn't see. I hate light pollution, but we need way more lighting in complicated busy areas like that. Maybe aim toward sports stadium levels of illumination (again, just in special areas like Jackson east of 2nd).