As we begin developing Market east of 15th, we need to set high standards for pedestrian infrastructure on sites likely to be redeveloped so that the experience of the highly-walkable core of old Ballard is continued into the areas where it currently lacks. Key to this will be effective integration of a string of sites on the west side of 15th Street (where Walgreens, Wendy’s, the building that was formerly Ballard Brothers Seafood and the shipping container Starbucks), the Safeway on the opposite side as well as the buildings to the South, and the Pep Boys building north of Market.
The experience of crossing 15th at the current crosswalks on Market or 53rd, or the soon-to-be-built crosswalk on 51st, should feel less like crossing a freeway and more like an extension of a leisurely neighborhood stroll so that we can unite the neighborhoods that are divided by the car traffic on 15th.
Wider Sidewalks
Sidewalks in this area are too narrow, especially considering how fast adjacent car traffic is moving.
The NW corner of 15th and Market jams a RapidRide bus stop and storefronts on a 6-foot wide sidewalk that narrows to about 3 feet of walkable space in some areas. You can’t even see the storefronts from the corner which means they receive less business. If they are able to draw in customers, those people have to navigate around bus passengers, litter, and often homeless people laying on the sidewalk. And this is while near freeway-level car traffic is zooming by 5 feet away.
This makes for a crappy pedestrian experience and so reduces foot traffic. The sidewalk should have been at least 3x wider than it is now – more if we put an elevated bus stop there for true Rapid Transit. Not only does this affect the storefronts on this corner, but it makes it so very few people are walking to anything else North of here from Market Ave.
Smaller Block Size/Building Length (aka we should have had 16th Street)
The building(s) on the 1500 block of Market that houses Bartells, Key Bank, Urbana Apartments etc. is too long. The street would be better if we had put another North/South street through halfway between 15th & 17th. This also applies to the block just North of this across 56th. Adding a pedestrian-only street in the middle would make the buildings less imposing, add more space for storefronts, and create an area removed from the stressful buzz of constant car traffic and give people a place to sit, relax, and enjoy the milieu of human life.
Moving commercial/pedestrian areas into an alley like this and away from the street makes them significantly more enjoyable. Nobody wants to sit on a sidewalk where constant car traffic moving 40 miles an hour is tearing by. Big metal machines flying by at high speeds trigger stressful physiological reactions. Trying to make sitting near them enjoyable is a fool’s errand. We just need to move these spots off of the road to make them exponentially more enjoyable.
Lessons Learned
- Separate spaces for people from car traffic, and add barriers/vegetation to mitigate the negative effects. Add streets and make them pedestrian-only.
- Buildings should have smaller ground level footprint to . Allow them to build taller to compensate for the lost square footage.
Seattle Streets 