Pedestrian Refuge?

Pedestrian Refuge at the new Brooklyn Avenue Sound Transit station, by way of University village.

RantWoman did not go to University Village today. RantWoman has gone there a number of times recently on errands on the way to RantMom’s new abode. RantWoman will miss the sense of family joy and gentle crowds.

Um, right. RantWoman loves the sense of joy and people bustling on Sunday afternoons, but the crowds are a little tiring for cane travel. Worse, RantWoman is really not crazy about the curbless design. RantWoman travels along buildings just fine, but sooner or later RantWoman needs to cross from one side of the roadways to the other. RantWoman navigates well enough visually not to have anything very coherent to say about the kind of landmarks people with less vision than RantWoman has use to find things like intended crosswalks. RantWoman does find the intended crosswalks, but RantWoman does not enjoy the sense of unease figuring out whether vehicles will actually stop and stop short of the intended crosswalk.

RantWoman thinks she is not alone. RantWoman asked a small number of blind people she knows who has been to University Village and do they find it easy to navigate. Among people who have been there, the answer was almost unanimous: no. RantWoman, will, though, be sending some other blind people to check out University Village, and not only for the charms of all the shopping opportunities but also because of conversations about design for pedestrians and buses at the new Sound Transit station opening in 2021 at 43^rd and Brooklyn in the U district.

Transit planners learned their lesson from the Husky Stadium station: there are lots of buses that stop "near" the Husky Stadium station, if by "near" one means two blocks away with various other pedestrian challenges. Only a few routes stop right at the station. Transit planners promise to do better for the station at 43^rd and Brooklyn. Plans currently call for westbound buses to run along NE 43^rd with a stop directly in front of the station entrance. Eastbound buses will have equivalent direct access on NE 45^th.

One question: could there be bus stops on Brooklyn instead of along 43^rd so that 43^rd could be completely pedestrianized? RantWoman thinks this is probably a long shot, but mentions the option anyway.

The bigger question: curbs or curbless on 43^rd with a wide pedestrian refuge separated from the busway buy planters, yellow dome strips and other tactile cues. Here is why planners recommend curbless.

Pedestrian volumes are expected to be very high. Tens of thousands of people per day is the number that sticks in RantWoman’s mind without looking things up. From RantWoman’s perspective it is certainly desirable to have as much space as possible for that many pedestrians to move around in.

Suppose curbs are included, an idea which sounded better to multiple blind people in a conversation..The fire code says there has to be a minimum distance which RantWoman does not remember between curbs to allow fire truck access. But meeting that minimum distance means less width for all the anticipated pedestrian flows.

Where can blind people go to experience an example of curbless design. RantWoman suggested University Village.

Also on RantWoman’s mind: what will be happening on the South side of NE 43^rd? RantWoman is wondering about retail. RantWoman will not be excited about crossing a street in front of or between buses to visit retail. If retail is supposed to be there, RantWoman would think again just to pedestrianize the whole street. But where oh where do buses go?

Readers who have strong opinions are invited to leave a comment or to check soundtransit.org for meeting schedules and options to comment further.