The Urbanist wants to bring your attention to a certain North Seattle traffic choke-point where "nobody wins" from cars to bikes to pedestrians. They've named N 50th St and Stone Way N the worst intersection in Seattle and anyone who has sat there losing track of all the signals before you can move again might just agree.
So many cars are coming from and going to so many different roadways that nobody wins. People stuck in their cars often wait through multiple light cycles as backups can stretch for several blocks in all directions. And it’s worse for pedestrians, who also have long wait times and often have to cross more than one street.
The worst experience is walking north from the west side of Stone Way N. People on foot cross a right turn lane and have to wait on a little island, surrounded by a sea of metal and concrete. Then, there’s the wait to cross at least two streets.
The fact that three different roads intersect here would be bad enough but what we find makes things extra tough is the way lanes are revealed to be turn-only or straight-only late in the process, causing newbie drivers to stop and wait for an opening, delaying everyone behind them. Then factor in the long lights and it's a recipe for backup city.
So what could be done to make life easier and get traffic moving quicker. One suggestion is to return the intersection to it's former four-way glory and find a way to reroute the wonky Green Lake Way extension. Another suggestion is to turn the entire spot into a roundabout, which would decrease vehicle speeds and reduce the chance of collisions but could also make things more complicated for cyclists.
The Urbanist also has other terrible Seattle intersections for you to choose from if you think you can find more worse.
· 2016 Worst Intersection In Seattle: Green Lake / 50th / Stone [Urbanist]
· Which Of These Is Seattle’s Worst Intersection In 2016? [Urbanist]
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