Who’s to Blame for Yesterday’s Massive Traffic Backup?
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under General | 2 Comments
I received an interesting email from a reader regarding the delightful power outage we experienced here in Kenmore.
Yesterday around 6:30pm as I was driving from Bothell back to Seattle I was caught in a huge traffic backup on Bothell way that started in Bothell and ended at the 61st Avenue light. It was a flashing red with two other flashing reds northwest of it [that would be at 68th and 73rd]. Because people drive so slowly through them traffic was backed up for miles in both directions—up to Bothell and down to Lake City.
I’ve been trying to understand two things and hope that perhaps you might know about. Why were there no traffic police to move traffic along? Also, if the lights were flashing red, why did the city not come out to reset them?
Personally it was an inconvenience. But I can’t imagine the people stuck in cars with children, old folks, people needing to pick up their children. It was not as awful as a freeway backup with nowhere to go, but still.
Might you have any ideas? A complaint dept. I can call for the city?
I also witnessed this nasty backup as I drove out of Kenmore toward Woodinville. It stretched from Kenmore all the way to about 180th St in Bothell when I drove by a little after 6:00.
It is surprising that no one thought to send a few officers out to direct traffic at the three broken intersections in Kenmore. However, I’m not certain that it is the City of Kenmore’s responsibility to deploy police to direct traffic on Bothell Way. Since it is technically a state highway (SR 522), I would think that the job would fall first on the Washington State Patrol and secondly on the Kenmore Police Department (which is really the King County Sheriff).
Here are a few numbers you can call if you would like to comment to any of these agencies about yesterday’s traffic mess:
- WA State Patrol: (425) 401-7788
- Kenmore Police: (206) 205-7656
- City of Kenmore: (425) 398-8900
Tags: 522, Kenmore-police, power-outage, traffic, WASP
Ch-ch-ch-Changes Around Kenmore
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Photo/Video | 2 Comments
All kinds of changes happening around Kenmore in the past week or so…
The new unnecessary traffic signals at both ends of NE 181st St behind Safeway have been activated.
Grocery Outlet has moved, opening in their new location in Kenmore Square yesterday.
The new store looks great, and has much better visibility than their old location in Kenmore Village. They were smart to jump on this space as soon as it became available, considering the public statements from Urban Partners, the supposed eventual developer of Kenmore Village, that they basically aren’t welcome to stay in the fancy-schmancy new upscale downtown when it finally gets built (whenever that will be).
Speaking of Kenmore Village, the grand future downtown of Kenmore is looking more and more like a ghost town with each passing month. Here’s an update of our map.
Meanwhile, across the street, new foliage is being planted at the new “green” city hall:
It’s spring time in the city of Kenmore, I suppose.
Tags: Business, central-kenmore, city hall, Grocery Outlet, photo, traffic
An Impending Traffic and Parking Nightmare Brewing “Downtown”
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Business | 5 Comments
On Saturday I noticed an interesting issue that I haven’t really heard anyone talking about in Kenmore, that is a bit of a problem right now and seems to be guaranteed to be a serious problem sometime in the future.
I’m reffering to the issue of parking for the James G. Murphy Co. auction house located on 68th Ave NE, just north of NE 182nd St.
Roughly once every three months or so James G. Murphy puts on a big auction at their Kenmore headquarters, complete with a major advertising push across the Seattle area. These auctions seem to usually primarily feature lots of cars, trucks, utility vehicles, boats, etc, which take up their entire fenced lot. Their advertising push always seems to be a success, with these quarterly auction events generating a large amount of interest from the deal-hungry buying public and drawing in hundreds of people from all across the Seattle area.
At around 11:00 in the morning yesterday I happened to pass down 68th avenue and 182nd street, and the scene was pretty chaotic. Cars and trucks stuffed into every possible spot (and then some) up and down both streets, lining the entirety of 182nd street and 68th avenue at least up to The Timbers apartment complex a quarter mile up the hill.
The following photos were taken at around 3:00, when—if you can believe it—much of the heavy traffic and parking overflow had actually died down.
Note that this overflow lining the streets is in addition to the completely packed former park & ride parking lot southwest of 68th and 182nd, which had the above-pictured sign indicating that it was the official parking area.
Already today the “downtown” Kenmore region is turned into a bit of a mess when James G. Murphy Co. has one of these big heavily-advertised auction events. But here’s a question that I can’t help wondering…
Where are all these James G. Murphy Co. auction attendees going to park once the Kenmore Village project finally gets off the ground and the ~350-spot former park & ride lot is no longer available?
I have a hard time imagining how the blocks surrounding James G. Murphy Co. will avoid degrading to complete mayhem once this occurs. Picture a traffic backup extending out onto SR-522 in both directions for the better part of the day and parked cars lining every street within a mile radius, crammed right up against residential and business entrances to the streets such that motorist visibility entering the road is virtually destroyed.
Does James G. Murphy Co. have a plan for this eventuality? Is the city working with James G. Murphy Co. to develop a workable plan for this situation before it completely cripples the city some Saturday in the future?
It seems like this is something more people should be talking about now, before the inevitable day of reckoning arrives.
Tags: central-kenmore, Kenmore Village, Murphy-Auction, parking, traffic
New Unnecessary Traffic Signal Coming to 73rd & 181st
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Construction | No Comments Yet!
Looks like work has started on a new and completely unnecessary traffic signal at 73rd Ave & 181st St:
I pass through this intersection quite a bit—from both 73rd and 181st, and I have never found myself thinking “golly, I really wish there were a traffic signal here.”
On a similar subject, has anyone else noticed how smoothly traffic seems to flow at the other end of the block through 68th and 181st now that it’s just a 4-way stop? Once they get the second southbound lane on 68th opened up between 181st and Bothell Way, that intersection should be completed. Of course, we all know they’re going to put a traffic signal back in there anyway.
But hey, a crow can dream, right?
Tags: central-kenmore, Construction, photo, roads, traffic
