Where is next signal really needed?

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Damage to the car was such that you couldn’t easily determine the make or model.

That was the unfortunate result of its being struck broadside by another vehicle coming down the highway, the car’s journey through the air and over a guardrail 30 feet away, and its tumble to the bottom of a ravine next to Hidden Cove Road. Debris littered the roadway amid skid marks and gouged pavement; traffic was rerouted for hours while police took measurements to sort out physics and motives and misjudgments; the driver was in intensive care at Harborview.

Another day, another wreck on State Route 305 at the island’s north end.

Thankfully, the 20-year-old woman who was behind the wheel in last Friday evening’s frightful collision appears to be recovering. You wouldn’t have guessed it after seeing her car. But after the latest in a long string of traffic mishaps along that stretch of highway, we’re wondering whether it ought to get some attention from the state.

Nor are we alone; we’ve had calls from north-end residents as recently as a month ago, folks whose concern was piqued after a rollover accident near Agatewood Road. (That accident didn’t generate much press. The official verdict: “It looked worse than it was.”)

The ongoing safety problem through the north-end corridor appears to have less to do with the volume or speed of traffic, than the conflicts posed as motorists try to get onto the

highway from any of several side roads – Hidden Cove, West Port Madison, Seabold, Agatewood. Most hours of the day, and certainly during commuter rushes, trying to turn across the traffic lanes is madness. We know folks who refuse to enter the highway into southbound traffic from the east side of the road; they find it safer to turn right, head up to the casino and turn around there. It takes more time to reach Winslow, but it avoids brushes with one’s mortality.

One reader suggested that we track down north-end

highway statistics, and we may yet do so. But having reported on wrecks on 305 for more than a decade, we can offer two general observations:

1) Numbers-wise, there appear to be more wrecks around the signalized intersections of High School, Sportsman Club and Day roads than on other stretches. But because speeds there are lower – the lights have an obvious metering effect on volume and speed – those collisions tend to be more fender-bender-ish, less the sort that result in airlifts.

2) Conversely, while there are probably fewer accidents at the north end of the island, the higher speeds there exacerbate the severity of collisions. Traffic on the limited-access highway runs unimpeded from the Day Road signal, fully two and a half miles up to the bridge; when something goes sideways, as often as not some poor driver or passenger will be flown off.

The Washington State Department of Transportation says the island will get its next traffic signal in 2005, at the 305/Madison Avenue intersection near the fire hall. We can’t help but think there are areas of more pressing need, like Hidden Cove Road. In the meantime, WSDOT tells us they would

gladly work with the community on a “Safety Corridor Program” to evaluate signage, striping and other conditions there at the north end. All we have to do is ask.

There’s a mangled vehicle over at the tow yard that suggests it’s time someone does so.