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Health & Fitness

Dangerous Intersection: Renton Ave. S. and S.W. Victoria

Have you ever had a close call at Renton Ave. S. and S.W. Victoria going towards Renton with cars turning left from S.W. Victoria to Renton Ave. S.?

There are multiple problems with this intersection:

  1. Drivers turning left from S.W. Victoria going west up Renton Ave. S. towards Skyway often fail to yield to oncoming traffic coming down Renton Ave. S. going towards Renton.  There have been many near misses.
  2. Drivers use S.W. Victoria to avoid turning left towards Skyway at the traffic light at Rainier and Renton Ave. S. Extension.  This means that vehicles accessing S.W. Victoria make sudden stops, blocking a lane of traffic on Rainier Ave. S., and create likelihood for rear end accidents.  This could be avoided by forcing drivers to use the intersection with stoplights, rather than shortcutting to an intersection with only a stop sign.
  3. Pedestrians moving downhill towards Renton on Renton Ave. S. have an unusually wide, unmarked crossing with backs to traffic, and no pedestrian safety island, such as exists on S. 128th, S. 130th, and S. 132nd, which also intersect Renton Ave. S., and none of these crossings are as wide as the one at S.W. Victoria.
  4. Pedestrians traveling west on Renton Ave. S. need to move unusually quickly uphill to get across the excessively wide crossing, while watching for fast moving traffic coming down the hill, which often turns without signaling.

 

Have you had any bad experiences at Renton Ave. S. and S.W. Victoria, either as a pedestrian or a driver?  Would it be helpful to have a safety island for pedestrians, and would it also help to make Victoria a one-way street going towards Renton Center?

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