When studying the street, we realized that the driveways located along Rainier Avenue do not provide adequate sight lines for people currently exiting the driveways. We plan to correct that by painting the curbs red for 20 feet on each side of the driveways. Regardless of how we decide to move forward with the repaving and repainting project, we would paint the curbs to meet safety standards.
Under existing conditions motorists maneuvering out of their driveways to Rainier Avenue immediately have to focus on yielding to pedestrians. Then their focus switches to avoiding cyclists and vehicles all from a location with limited sight distance due to parking being allowed all the way up to their driveways.
Under the proposed conditions, sight lines will be improved by adding 20-25-feet of red curb paint recommended by NACTO and the FHWA at driveways, giving motorists coming out of their driveways better sight lines and more time to react to oncoming vehicular traffic. Additionally, moving the bike lanes towards the curb allows drivers to first focus on pedestrians and bikes safely. They can then pull out of their driveway and focus on oncoming traffic, which will be afforded with improved sight lines. With the parking setbacks motorists entering Rainier Avenue will improve safety conditions.
