Highland Park Way SW and SW Holden St Safety Improvements

Updated November 20, 2023

What's Happening Now?

New sidewalks, curb ramps, and public art in Highland Park

Sculpture of a Steller's jay sitting on a branch in Highland Park

On November 9, this 17-foot-tall Steller’s jay landed on southwest corner of Highland Park Way SW and SW Holden St, welcoming all to the neighborhood. This new public artwork was created by Matthew Mazzotta and is titled Where’s the Party: Elevating Nature and Resilience. It was chosen by a community selection panel and administered by Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate on November 14!

This fall, we also finished pouring concrete and asphalt, seeded grass in the planting strips, and painted new road markings. There are now new sidewalks, curb bulbs, and ADA accessible ramps along Highland Park Way SW between SW Holden St and SW Portland St, making this intersection safer and more accessible for people living, working, and traveling through the area.

Person walking with their dog on the new sidewalk along Highland Park Way Southwest

What's Next?

In early 2024, we will install permanent metal traffic signals and poles at the Highland Park Way SW and SW Holden St intersection. You may notice there are orange barrels at the four corners of the intersection. These are protecting the exposed anchor bolts for the future poles.

Thank you for your patience as we create a safer and more accessible intersection for all. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at: HighlandHolden@seattle.gov or leave us a voicemail at: (206) 900-8741.

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Project Overview & Design

Highland Park Way SW is a major north-south route in West Seattle, providing access to SR 99, SR 509, I-5, and the Duwamish Trail. It has been the site of several crashes and safety issues due to poor sight distances, high speeds, travel lane confusion, and a lack of pedestrian facilities like crosswalks. The Highland Park community asked for changes at this busy intersection and this project includes:

A more durable traffic signal with metal poles that have signal lights instead of lights connected to wooden poles.
Traffic cameras to monitor and adjust the signal in real-time, as well as vehicle detection in the pavement so the signal can recognize when a person driving is waiting at the light.
Upgraded ADA accessible concrete curb ramps and curb bulbs at all four corners of the intersection.
Permanent crosswalks at each crossing.

Map of Highland Park Way SW and SW Holden Street intersection that shows new crosswalks at all four crossings, an upgraded 4-way permanent traffic signal, and upgraded curb ramps and curb bulbs at all four corners of the intersection.

Project History & Additional Traffic Calming

The closure of the West Seattle Bridge on March 23, 2020 brought significant traffic to the Highland Park neighborhood and to the already-strained intersection of Highland Park Way SW and SW Holden St. One of the first projects we built shortly after the bridge closed was a temporary signal at the intersection. This temporary signal will be replaced by a permanent signal as part of the Highland Park Way SW and SW Holden St Safety Improvements project.

In June and July 2020, we also built speed humps and cushions in nine locations near the intersection to support safety around the new traffic signal. These locations are shown below. The speed humps and cushions help slow down vehicles as they approach the intersection and discourage neighborhood cut-through traffic. Speed humps are a solid hump across the road and speed cushions leave spaces between for emergency vehicles and people biking to easily pass through.

Separate from this project, the Reconnect West Seattle project team added traffic calming in the Highland Park neighborhood to address detour traffic from the West Seattle Bridge closure, through a Home Zone. A Home Zone involves the entire neighborhood working together to prioritize improvements that calm traffic on residential streets and improve pedestrian mobility and neighborhood livability.

Locations of speed humps and cushions in Highland Park neighborhood

Materials

Construction Notices & Project Announcements
- Public Art Announcement & Meet-the-Artist Invitation (November 2023)
- Construction Notice: Night Work for Restriping (October 2023)
- Construction Notice: Especially Noisy Work (September 2023)
- Construction Notice: Driveway Demolition (September 2023)
- Construction Notice: Hedge Trimming and Sidewalk Demolition (September 2023)
- Construction Notice: Driveway Closure (September 2023)
- Construction Notice: Alley Entrance Closure (August 2023)
- Construction Notice: Weekend Work (July 2023)
- Construction Notice: Construction Overview Mailer (June 2023)
SDOT Blog: Construction after the West Seattle Bridge reopens
Highland Park Action Coalition Meeting (October 28, 2020)
30% design intersection graphic (Fall 2020)
Design outreach (Spring-Summer 2020)
Speed humps and cushions postcard (June 2020)
Highland Park Action Coalition Meeting (May 27, 2020)
Project mailer (May 2020)
Early design plans for public input (May 2020)

Funding

This project is funded by the 9-year Levy to Move Seattle, approved by voters in 2015. The public artwork was built into the construction budget as a 1% for Art project.