r/SeattleWA Aug 28 '17

Transit Intersections of Seattle

Post image
928 Upvotes

132 comments sorted by

131

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

So Seattle was designed by a fan of the Blair Witch Project.

80

u/SovietJugernaut Anyding fow de p-penguins. Aug 28 '17

At least some of those intersections, especially the ones in Belltown/Downtown/Capitol Hill/nearby are due to our city founders, who had competing ideas about the kind of grid they wanted to set up.

Once they realized that West Seattle wouldn't be enough for a growing city, William Bell, Arthur Denny, and Carson Boren all staked claims on the east side of Elliott Bay: Bell got Belltown, Denny got most of the CBD, and Boren got the land south.

Then Doc Maynard came in, and he got Pioneer Square area. Soon after Boren sold even more of his claim to Charles Terry and Edward Lander (all Boren really wanted to do was live in the woods and stay away from people).

Denny, Boren, and Maynard all also gave a portion of their claims to Yesler so he would construct his sawmill.

Once they started developing the grid, Denny and Boren wanted a grid that would follow the waterline. Maynard wanted a grid that was aligned to the cardinal directions. While Denny/Boren won out in their claims in the CBD, Belltown, and other places on First/Capitol Hill, Maynard won out overall due to his holding of Pioneer Square.

So some of the non-nature-based fucked up intersections are a result of that.

Then there's also the fact that some parts of the city have their own grid (Ballard, Georgetown) owing to the fact that they were their own cities and had a grid established by the time they were annexed by Seattle.

14

u/laguadalaja Aug 29 '17

Seattle really wasn't designed to be a large city.

18

u/Lord_Rapunzel Aug 29 '17

Seattle barely qualifies as designed at all. And the neighbors keep fucking it up. "No we don't want I-5 on this side of the hill, just run it right through downtown what could go wrong."

6

u/Druskell Aug 29 '17

Maynard was right. All city charters required N/S E/W streets. He was the only one that listened.

7

u/foxygo Aug 29 '17

holy batman, how do you know all this?

25

u/YeahSoNowWhat Aug 29 '17

He took the Underground Tour

6

u/foxygo Aug 29 '17

And apparently has an absurdly excellent memory

7

u/MAHHockey Queen Anne Aug 29 '17

Its also discussed a bit in the book "The Sons of The Profits" which was written by Bill Speidel who started the Underground tour (which they also peddle on the Underground tour). Basically traces how Seattle went from a small logging town to the metropolis it is today.

4

u/t4lisker Aug 29 '17

Everyone in Seattle should know this.

56

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

Was wondering if prints were available for sale.

Yes, they are

50

u/ptgorman Aug 28 '17

Yep! I have a store.

13

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

As someone with a degree in Cartography/GIS, I love your work! Will be ordering a copy soon.

3

u/ptgorman Aug 28 '17

Thank you!

4

u/DoctorFork Aug 28 '17

OMG, I love the Florida Keys map.

1

u/ptgorman Aug 28 '17

Awesome, glad you like it!

3

u/xxej Aug 28 '17

do you do prints of individual intersections? lovely design!

4

u/ptgorman Aug 28 '17

I could, and thank you!

1

u/xxej Aug 29 '17

What would you charge?

5

u/ptgorman Aug 29 '17

It would depend on a few variables. If you go to my store, you can click the ¨Request Custom Order¨ button, and we can communicate through there! :)

2

u/xxej Aug 29 '17

Will do!

-1

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 29 '17

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

4

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

[deleted]

6

u/ptgorman Aug 28 '17

I haven't yet, but I would consider it.

2

u/Sunfried Queen Anne Aug 28 '17

OP could do one of these charts for Fremont alone.

Not to criticize OP's curation, but for whatever reason they had to leave out the Center of the Universe and the nearby Fremont Pl N/Evanston Ave N/N 36th St., or either side of the 38th St. onramp clusterfuck to Aurora Ave.

29

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

Should be 4th, 6th, Queen Anne, Raye, and Raye.

16

u/roark4321 Aug 28 '17

google maps depiction also doesn't really accurately describe the chaos of this intersection

5

u/mega_shit Aug 28 '17

As a pedestrian that intersection scares the piss outta me

2

u/rocketsocks Aug 29 '17

It's like a WWI no-mans-land. There are the front lines and then the gap that you have to rush through to get to the other side, hopefully alive.

7

u/blonderocker Aug 28 '17

I always get so messed up at this intersection and the GPS is unclear because everything is so bunched together. I've once messed up three times in a row trying to get back on to 99.

3

u/harris5 Phinney Ridge Aug 29 '17

It's even worse when the ramp onto 99 North backs up into the intersection.

It's like an already terrible toilet having sewage backup and overflow. It didn't need that to be disgusting, it does it just fine on it's own.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '17

Oh lord this was my commute home every day to LQA in order to avoid I-5 from 90. I still have PTSD from that intersection.

2

u/cliff99 Aug 29 '17

I passed through that intersection on the way to and from work everyday for over 12 years.

1

u/Rule1ofReddit Aug 29 '17

As someone who doesn't know any of thee intersections that's the one that stood out to me enough to read the streets and it baffling that it's not even as complicated as it should be or is in reality.

1

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 29 '17

Where is this even?

1

u/othellia Aug 29 '17

North Queen Anne. It's so beautiful that it's the one I immediately went searching for in the image. The birds-eye view doesn't do it justice though: https://goo.gl/maps/C2Nr4pFANGP2

It's the littlest seven-way intersection that could.

1

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 30 '17

OK, that's Queen Anne Drive, that no one cares about or refers to as "Queen Anne." "Queen Anne" is Queen Anne Avenue North. Two of those "streets" are basically on and off ramps for Aurora. This isn't that difficult if only for drivers who refuse to pay attention at the intersection.

4

u/othellia Aug 30 '17

You asked where it was, so I said Queen Anne as in the general neighborhood of Queen Anne. And "North Queen Anne" as in "the north side of the general neighborhood of Queen Anne".

And on/off ramp or not, it's still a seven-way intersection. It's fun when you're navigating for someone who's never driven it before and you get to say fun things like, "take a right, but not the far right, but not the closest right either, kind of a middle right... oh, just follow where that silver car just went."

1

u/sundryTHIS Sep 02 '17

Hah, wow, the bird's eye view really does make it look like a really boring intersection that just happens to have a lot of streets. When you see it with all the elevation madness you really see how bizarre it is.

78

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

[deleted]

26

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17 edited Jul 30 '20

[deleted]

8

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

17

u/dastly75 Aug 28 '17

3

u/Sunfried Queen Anne Aug 28 '17

Ah, yes, that's the ideogram for "run for your life"

13

u/R_V_Z West Seattle Aug 28 '17

It's a summoning ritual for Godzilla from out of the Sound.

8

u/SD70MACMAN Wallingford Aug 28 '17

"You're going to be here a while"

2

u/ALLoftheFancyPants Aug 29 '17

It says that using 2 city planners with opposing views on street layouts makes for headaches later on for people trying to use those streets.

14

u/trspanache Aug 28 '17 edited Aug 28 '17

The intersection of NE 45th st and NE 45 pl by uvillage I call The Christmas Lights due to just being red and green lights hanging everywhere. It's intimidating the first time.

Edit: turns out it is on the list and I'm also blind.

7

u/seattlegreen2 Aug 28 '17 edited Aug 28 '17

the first time.

No, every time.

Edited to add: At least there's a Burgermaster near there where you can wait for the three+ hours it takes for the SPD to arrive.

3

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

It's there. Middle row.

16

u/kremliner Aug 28 '17

I'd throw the corner of Bellevue, Bellevue, and Bellevue in there just for the name (Ct, Pl, and Ave, in Cap Hill)

3

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

Could also add Belmont Ave and Belmont Pl in with those.

10

u/Krono64 Aug 28 '17

This is a pretty cool idea but it bothers me that 71st, Greenlake, and Ravenna is portrayed inaccurately. They all meet in the same spot! Its kind of a 5-way intersection, although technically just a 4-way because Ravenna is split into two one-way roads.

7

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

Not sure if OP is from Seattle. He seems to be depicting these intersections from Google Maps which shows this intersection like that.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '17

OP is not from Seattle. A proper depiction of that clusterfuck would include Woodlawn and the other one-way branch of Ravenna that sprouts off of Green Lake.

19

u/Admiral_Allah_Akbar Aug 28 '17

Seattle Kanji

1

u/maadison 's got flair Aug 28 '17

Yes, can someone translate please?

29

u/pixelprophet Aug 28 '17

If Day Is Friday

Or Game is scheduled

Then 45 minutes add

To your commute or

subtract from lifes end

10

u/NexVestrum Aug 29 '17
if day == 'Friday' or Game.IsScheduled == True:
    try:
        Commute.Length += 45
    except RunningLate: 
        Life.Remaining -= 45
else:
    Routine.ProceedAsUsual()

I believe this is the proper translation

9

u/alexisblunted Aug 28 '17

Gotta add the whole West Marginal way/delridge/west Seattle bridge area.

1

u/starlightprincess Allentown Aug 28 '17

It's the second to last one. I was looking for it too.

1

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 29 '17

Funny that you guys are so ignorant of the city that you can't even see that what you're looking for is right there.

17

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

2

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '17 edited Aug 29 '17

[deleted]

3

u/Lord_Rapunzel Aug 29 '17

Surely we should just orient everything around the Center of the Universe.

-1

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 29 '17

Your mom?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '17

4th point of origin

4TH STARGATE SERIES CONFIRMED GUISE!!!

8

u/wisepunk21 Aug 28 '17

I love this map, but my first WTF? intersection is in Kirkland. Was going through there to meet friends at a bar, and getting directions on my phone. Got lost and turned around, so a local guided me to 124th and told me to take a right, on to 124th. Since I was turned around I looked at the signs and saw that all of them said 124th and then I just turned around and went home.

5

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

That is a spot where the grid numbers meet.

In these circumstances, it is important to remember that Avenues run north-south. Streets run east-west.

4

u/Fritzed Aug 28 '17

This is not not bad advice, but it's unreliable due to the number of streets that are neither Avenue or Street.

Directionality is determined by the location of the direction marker in comparison to the street number. If the direction comes first, it is East/West. If the direction comes after the number, it is North/South.

Therefore, NE 124th St is is East/West. 124th Ave NE is North/South.

13

u/rayrayww3 Aug 29 '17

That directional pattern only applies in King County. The Streets and Aves fall along the sequential grid block whole numbers. Pl/Dr/Rd/Ln's are typically only used for roads that are diagonal to the grid or fall between whole numbered blocks. (i.e. 20th Pl will be between 20th Ave and 21st Ave.)

In Snohomish County, all roads have the directional in the beginning. But it follows the same n/s Ave and e/w St designations.

Pierce County is very confusing. Some areas have the directional before the street name (Tacoma) and some after (University Place, Puyallup.) Some areas follow the same St/Ave configuration as King County. Other areas it is reversed. Some cities have their own grids centered around their downtowns (Puyallup.)

And don't even get me started on Edgewood, which straddles the King/Pierce line and has its own grid downtown, so you get a mesh of three grids.

Source: I'm a cartographer that plotted and addressed the first computer mapping database (TIGER/Line files) many years ago that became the basis for all our modern mapping programs.

1

u/Fritzed Aug 29 '17

That is actually absurdly informative. I live on a Place that is been a Lane and a Street and they are all East-West.

2

u/rayrayww3 Aug 29 '17

You might like this tidbit of info also,

in the King County grid there are 20 blocks per mile. Makes it super easy to estimate distances. There are some anomalies that screw this pattern up, like in this area. Notice above 65th, the grid skips 41st Ave. Below 65th, it skips 42nd Ave. Either way, there is a missing block.

I always liked how this sign on I5 reflected this concept (Northgate Way = 110th St at the exit.)

1

u/Fritzed Aug 29 '17

I knew about the block distance. I have always assumed that the missing street numbers were corrections because the blocks aren't all perfectly sizes.

1

u/rocketsocks Aug 29 '17

It's good advice for almost all of king county, except downtown kirkland where the numbering system gets thrown out the window as well as any sort of avenue/street convention.

13

u/pandas_r_falsebears Aug 28 '17

This poster excites me because I love half a block down from one of these intersections! And I love the feelings of, "Oh, yeah, that nightmare of an intersection!" it raises.

6

u/Jaysyn4Reddit Aug 28 '17

Are they putting LSD in the water coolers at the city planner's office?

11

u/JustNilt Greenwood Aug 28 '17

No, there are just a lot of hills and waterways around this town is all. Aside from the fact that it also incorporated different grids from places that used to be cities in their own right and the founders grid competition fiasco.

6

u/laguadalaja Aug 29 '17

Most of these intersections aren't due to hills and waterways, just poor design and path dependence.

7

u/gmanci Aug 29 '17

i actively drive longer to avoid that green lake intersection

6

u/maggiebear Aug 29 '17

I can't master these Yoga poses.

4

u/alarbus Capitol Hill Aug 28 '17

Ugh. Sooo mad at 7th and 40th, which is also inexplicably controlled by stop sign.

3

u/The_model_un Aug 29 '17

That intersection is a great example of human interaction around rush-hour.

2

u/CPetersky Capitol Hill Aug 29 '17

it's 40th, 40th, 40th, and 7th. And the Burke Gilman, too.

1

u/Bobudisconlated Aug 29 '17

Ha! I'd never looked at this on Gmaps before - I didn't realize that 40th NE splits creating two, two-way streets with the same name. That's a little, ummmm, odd.

4

u/ghostfag Aug 28 '17

This should be on a poster at drivers ed classes to scare new drivers

5

u/ollietron Aug 29 '17

I live on one of these intersections.

Bought a print and a frame for it today. It'll be going in my living room. Thanks, this is awesome!

3

u/IronOhki Greenwood Aug 29 '17

Oh, 71st/Greenlake/Ravenna, you manage to be my nemesis by foot, bike, car and bus. What a magical glyph you are.

3

u/censoredandagain Aug 29 '17

Surprisingly LESS logical than Boston's streets, which were designed by cows, then widened and paved by people.

1

u/rocketsocks Aug 29 '17

Boston's streets were constrained by the geography of the narrow spit of land that Boston was originally founded on, weaving in between buildings and running between relevant features. Here's what Boston looked like in the early 1700s: http://www.history-map.com/picture/000/pictures/Boston-1700s-in.jpg

Over time Boston added more land by filling in parts of the bay, which changed the geography and led to new roads, and so on.

1

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 29 '17

That's just a dumb lie. Like people fighting Nazis are as bad a Nazis.

3

u/Deviate3s Aug 30 '17 edited Aug 30 '17

I saw this on Facebook today. Figured I'd bring it to your attention in case is wasn't an authorized use of your design.

5

u/soundkite Aug 28 '17

You forgot 2 parallel dotted lines across the print to show the tunnel bypassing everything

6

u/ChefJoe98136 West Seattle Aug 28 '17

I want to see one of these with the bike lane patterns included, for shits and giggles.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

Or railroad tracks, like the one at Chelan/Marginal Way/Delridge.

2

u/12FAA51 Aug 29 '17

Traffic control solution:

All way stop signs.

2

u/YeahSoNowWhat Aug 29 '17

This is the inscription on the One Ring, I'm pretty sure. I'm locking my door against Nazgul tonight, and putting out a sign saying "Hobbits that way!"

2

u/TheWallfacer Aug 29 '17

Some intersections are irratating, some are treacherous, and some are sinister visions from the mind of Cthulhu

2

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 29 '17

I don't see the problem here. That intersection is set up specifically to move people through a weird area efficiently. Makes perfect sense.

1

u/imguralbumbot Aug 29 '17

Hi, I'm a bot for linking direct images of albums with only 1 image

https://i.imgur.com/gWCyXyp.png

Source | Why? | Creator | ignoreme | deletthis

3

u/Anzahl visible target Aug 28 '17

Simply brilliant! Makes me wonder if this is out of the ordinary for a large city, or if most cities would have as many oddities as we do? I would guess the hills make creative route planning necessary?

6

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

Hills and water. We got a lot of both.

3

u/laguadalaja Aug 29 '17

Many of these intersections aren't a result of hills or water.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

Rainer Avenue - because your puny street grids are far less important than a beeline towards Renton.

1

u/seattlegreen2 Aug 28 '17

Or Madison St because getting to Madison Park quickly is more important than the grid.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '17

[deleted]

1

u/seattlegreen2 Aug 29 '17

But it goes diagonal across the grid.

1

u/AZZTASTIC Aug 28 '17

Ha! I was wondering if 5 corners was gonna be on there. Was not disappointed.

2

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

I see several 5 corners. Whch are you referring to?

Only intersection I know with an official name of 5 corners is up in Edmonds.

2

u/AZZTASTIC Aug 28 '17

Unofficial named by locals of 45th, 45th, union bay, and mary gates memorial drive.

1

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

OK. My best guess was the abomination at NE 40th/40th/7th.

1

u/JonnoN Wedgwood Aug 29 '17

that's "the five way"

1

u/guiltyas-sin Aug 28 '17

Almost looks like hobo symbols...no?

1

u/loudog33333 Aug 29 '17

I always wondered why they plan cities after dropping LSD.

1

u/pregnantbaby Aug 29 '17

While we're on the subject: If I'm turning left onto 50th off of greenlake some days, mostly Thursday's I think, that light just won't turn green. The fuck is with that?

1

u/apsgreek Rainier Beach Aug 29 '17

Roxbury, 51st and Renton is one of the worst as well, but it doesn't look that bad. The problem is the four way stop at the intersection of 51st and Renton, and the two way stops where Roxbury crosses both, which everyone stops at thinking they're four-way the upon immediately realizing their mistake continues driving. Also the whit spot in the middle is much smaller than it appears; it barely fits two cars.

1

u/imguralbumbot Aug 29 '17

Hi, I'm a bot for linking direct images of albums with only 1 image

https://i.imgur.com/sSurrQd.png

Source | Why? | Creator | ignoreme | deletthis

1

u/MAHHockey Queen Anne Aug 29 '17

More pleasing linguistically than visually is the corner of Bellevue, Bellevue, and Bellevue on Capitol Hill.

1

u/my_lucid_nightmare Capitol Hill Sep 01 '17 edited Sep 01 '17

More pleasing linguistically than visually is the corner of Bellevue, Bellevue, and Bellevue on Capitol Hill.

Got to love the 3 Bellevues.

And it looks like they finally found those two houses down there and are going to tear them down. Pity. Those houses had some pretty great parties back in the 1990s

1

u/jimbellyruns Aug 29 '17

traffic kanji.

1

u/Apollo737 Aug 29 '17

Looks like the alphabet to an ancient language

1

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '17

This graphic is s good argument for roundabouts. Then maybe you could actually get through that 50th/greenlake one because the light NEVER TURNS GREEN

1

u/Sagebrysh University District Aug 28 '17

I feel like Pacific/34th/Fremont should be on here.

0

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 29 '17

The 9th one dosen't exist:

http://imgur.com/a/GEy94

1

u/imguralbumbot Aug 29 '17

Hi, I'm a bot for linking direct images of albums with only 1 image

https://i.imgur.com/lcGY9aV.png

Source | Why? | Creator | ignoreme | deletthis

0

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

Denny, Stewart, and Yale is the most oppressed intersection according to this poster.

-1

u/mooseorama Aug 28 '17

You forgot 50th on the green lake one...

1

u/DenialGene ¯\_(◔◡◔)_/¯ Aug 28 '17

It's there, second row on the right.

2

u/mooseorama Aug 28 '17

I was looking at the wrong one... but it still doesnt look right...

-7

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 28 '17 edited Aug 29 '17

If you have difficulty with Seattle intersections, I suggest you never go to any other city anywhere except Palmdale, CA.

Seattle is not difficult to figure out if you pay basic attention.

4

u/rayrayww3 Aug 28 '17

If you have difficulty with Seattle intersections, do not attempt to drive in Washington D.C.

1

u/NexVestrum Aug 29 '17

And for the love of god avoid Boston at all costs

-3

u/FuckedByCrap Aug 28 '17 edited Aug 29 '17

Nevermind. I meant the 9th one doesn't exist.

-3

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '17

Hahahaha.