White Cane Day: the official walking tour text

RantWoman heartily congratulates the Seattle Lighthouse for the Blind and Seattle Department of Transportation including the Accessible Mt. Baker staff for excellent collaboration to improve accessibility on pedestrian routes between the Lighthouse and nearby bus stops and business areas. RantWoman here reprints verbatim, without RantWoman editorializing the text for the walking tour provided by a member of the Lighthouse Action Team.



Don't worry: if you need a visual map or if you crave RantWoman editorializing, there will be another opportunity.

 #whitecaneday #accessibility #pedestrian #seattle

Review the map for your self-guided tour for our walking route through the neighborhood from the Lighthouse to the Mount Baker Station and Artspace Building. The specially flagged points along the route indicate completed projects done in cooperation with the Action Team – a small group of Lighthouse employees workin to improve pedestrian safety in our area – and the City of Seattle.

1. 25th & Plum Street – Neighborhood Parks & Street Fund:

• Reduced the size of the south leg crossing by constructing a bulb-out.

• Moved the STOP sign into a position more visible to motorists, with repainting of STOP line.
• Expanded the pedestrian sidewalk on the south side of Plum
• Upgraded ramps at the corners with alignment curbing for three of six crossing locations.

2. 25th and Hill Street – Neighborhood Parks & Street Fund: Much improved T intersection that most Lighthouse employees use walking to and from bus connections on Rainier Avenue. 

• Installed ADA quality wheelchair ramps with yellow truncated dome tiles at all crossings.
• Raised bed added to clean up the soft shoulder at the top of the T and adding structure as way finding.
• Specially designed ramp with parallel curbing for cane users and truncated dome tile to delineate the start of the street at the SE crossing.

3. 24th and Hill Street – Neighborhood Parks & Street Fund:

• Much improved intersection including the resurfacing of the sidewalk on the west side of 24th south of Hill Street leading to Walker Street with parking bumpers to reinforce street parking and define the sidewalk. 
• Improved ADA ramps with yellow truncated dome tiles on three of four corners. 

4. Rainier Avenue southbound bus stop and sidewalk improvements:  Project designed to our specifications intended to better define the sidewalk and improve the parkway strip along this principle pedestrian walkway used by MANY employees and Center Park residents. 

• Repaved the sidewalk previously blacktop.
• Introduced parking bumpers to separate sidewalk space from parking space for the Fruit Stand.
• Curbing extended to the end of the block leading to the bus shelter providing structural guidance for cane users.
• Clarified the bus zone and introduced a textural feature to the parkway strip (space between the street and sidewalk) as a red brick colored surface.
• Introduced the high visibility yellow “trailing strip” detectible with a cane and used as cane users walk the sidewalk between bus stop and accessible crossing at Hill Street.

5. Rainier and Walker east side crossing (City of Seattle funding):

• Build-out of the SE of the southeast corner reducing the crossing length and improving the geometry and alignment options with new ADA ramps.
• Sidewalk improvements include new property side curbing and wider pedestrian sidewalk on the north and south side of the intersection. Work here simplified the pedestrian space making it easier to navigate for blind individuals and wheel chair users living at Center Park and working at the Lighthouse who use the northbound bus stop at Walker and Rainier and patronizing retail south of Walker.

6. Walker & Martin Luther King Way (Seattle City funding):

• Much improved intersection including the relocation of tactile APS (Audible-tactile Pedestrian Signals) used by blind and Deaf-blind employees everyday to access the #8 northbound bus stop. 
• Includes curbing and new ADA ramps with yellow truncated dome tiles.  The positioning of tactile APS and ramp alignment makes this intersection much easier to use with better alignment for both directions of the north leg of the intersection.

7. Bayview and Rainier Avenue:

• Added tactile Audible Pedestrian Signal for all legs of the crossing as a “retrofit” to the intersection.

**Other improvements could be made here with improved ramps and alignment curbs.

8. Rainier & Stevens:

• Relocated Metro bus (previously at the north side of Forest) stop allowing much easier access to the LINK Light Rail Plaza and direct approach to the light rail station.