Hah!
Remember RantWoman's angst about construction at the UW Medical Center
Adventures of RantWoman: A wholesome alternative to World Events anxiety: CONSTRUCTION at UW Montlake.
RantWoman is VERY happy to report things turned out to be much simpler than RantWoman was fussing about.
RantWoman arrived on her usual Northbound bus on NE Pacific. Lo, there were both stairs and an elevator. RantWoman is a wimp about stairs, especially poorly lit ones but a friendly human helped RantWoman find the elevator.
Friendly Help told RantWoman to go down and there would be a walkway right from the elevator.
RantWoman did find the walkway on her second try.
First RantWoman just automatically pressed the button for the lowest floor.
Oh fabulous. Parking garage. Hot. smelly, dimly lit. RantWoman foggeed around a little bit. No walkway.
So RantWoman decided to get back on the elevator and see what was what. This time the elevator stopped on the level that went straight to the walkway. Phew.
The walk to RantWoman's appointment was a bit of a maze, but especially after the procedure the walk was especially helpful in shaking out back spasms. And the exit through the Surgery center toook RantWoman straight to the stop for her bus home.
As an aside,Tips for mapmakers:
make it easy to print just the map on a whole sheet of paper, perhaps automatically landscape mode if possible.
consider using graphics instead of lines for paths. Maybe little round circles for wheelchair friendly and, say, triangles for the pedestrian route. And where they overlap alternate the little icons. Make the graphics different colors but realize that the routes still need to be identifiable if printed in black and white.
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| Map of the Montlake UW Medical Center |
Oh FUN! The reminder text came with info about construction in the main entrance, closed street crossings and who knows what all.
UW Medical Center – Montlake Entrance Upgrade and Waterproofing | UW Medicine
RantWoman first attempted to interact with the map on her phone. Bad idea. RantWoman has a couple options for enlargement but it's too easy to lose context and full orientation clues.
RantWoman appreciates that there are directions aimed at pedestrians. RantWoman however is baffled by some of the text and the map doesn't help. For one thing RantWoman is confused by the appearance of bus stops. The cute little bus icon seems to be pointing perpendicular to the direction buses travel and RantWoman is completely confused by how to get from the bus stop to pedestrian-friendly paths, with or without traffic signals.
Well, one suggested routing suggests to RantWoman crossing Pacific St somewhere Montlake. RantWoman has used that street crossing. RantWoman does not like it nearly as much as the simple straightforward one near a bus stop. RantWoman hopes between signage and the "Ask a human algorithm that she can find the underground tunnel referenced in the directions.
RantWoman appreciates that the text prints out in large print. RantWoman wishes she could say the same thing about the map shown above. RantWoman's first effort to print the whole webpage yielded lovely readable text but the map took up about 1/4 of the 11" side of regular 8.5 x 11 inch paper.
Black and white printing also obliterated several of the lightly colored lines in the map.
But lo RantWoman is resourceful. RantWoman decided just to download the map image and print that. That is more steps than lots of people will want to try and RantWoman had to fight off several AI-based offers of "help." RantWoman now has an almost workable map.
HOWEVER, RantWoman how the miniscule map works for drivers, especially drivers unfamiliar with the area. Surely not only RantWoman but also at least some drivers would really appreciate an easily printable map, a page with only the map, with the text on another page.
There. Enough rant for now. RantWoman will now get to bed so she can pop out of bed and interact with the built environment well-rested.
PS. After whining and grumbling about all the travel disruptions over the weekend, RantWoman's travel experience was tolerable.
Leg 1
7+5 downtown busier than usual and a helpful police officer directing at what is a pretty simple street crossing anyway. The 5 did fill up with people who all debarked at stops near the Fremont fair.
Event with a guest working on Accessmap.app who is going to get an email with suggestions about something to indicate whether streets are arterials, minor arterials or residential streets.
After event, a walk from Greenwood to Aurora along the N side of N85th street, to save a couple street crossings.
E line to another stop.
(Ordinarily RantWoman would just take the E line downtown and transfer to the 8 at Denny. Separate whine about that not being viable right now.)
Walk to catch the Eastbound 40 to Northgate station, followed by 1 line to Capitol Hill and the 8 home from there. Train crowded and platform way more crowded than average. Train was terminated at Capitol Hill, single tracking and there were humans to guide people to the shuttles (or bus lines) downtown. RantWoman found this tolerable even with having to add an extra transit segment and the Juneuary temps and bluster.
On these days, shuttle buses will serve each 1 Line station between Capitol Hill and SODO. The bus stop locations are listed later in this message. Passengers should consider taking a local bus line to travel faster through the area. A visual chart on the Navigating service disruptions web page displays alternative service options. Please call Passenger Care at 1-888-889-6368 (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.) for trip planning assistance.
The 1 Line will operate approximately every 15 minutes between Lynnwood and Capitol Hill and between SODO and Angle Lake. At Capitol Hill and SODO stations, trains will operate in both directions on the same platform, to be determined based on operational needs. Passengers who need assistance navigating the station can request help from Sound Transit personnel on the platform or by calling or texting Security at (206) 398-5268.
Planned 1 Line Shuttle bus stops served during this 1 Line disruption:
Visit soundtransit.org/disruption for online information about currently planned 1 Line disruptions. Please note the work schedule is subject to change. Visit the Service alerts web page for current information on service disruptions and to sign up to receive alerts by text or email.
We apologize for the inconvenience of this disruption. Thank you for your patience.
