Traffic cameras planned for Ballard

Geeky Swedes Ballard

Construction crews are working at the intersection of 15th Ave. and Emerson this week to install a traffic camera, and we’ve learned it’s one of many new cameras planned the 15th Ave. corridor.

Although the city has more than 50 cameras working right now — note these are traffic cameras, not red light cameras — none has been installed in the northwest Seattle area. Peg Neilsen with the Seattle Department of Transportation tells us that traffic cameras are coming soon to these intersections:

-Elliott Ave W & W Mercer St
-15th W & W Dravus
-15th Ave NW & NW Leary Way
-15th NW & NW Market St
-15th NW & NW 65th St
-15th NW & NW 85th St

Neilsen says that although several of the cameras may already be installed, the system isn’t scheduled to go online until March 2010. “At that time the entire system, in this federally funded Intelligent Transportation System project, is expected to be up and running throughout the city,” she says. As the city builds this system to help commuters on their way, SDOT welcomes any feedback you may have.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

11 thoughts to “Traffic cameras planned for Ballard”

  1. “Although the city already has more than 50 cameras working right now, there aren’t any in northwest Seattle. “

    Incorrect – there are already cameras at the intersections of 15th Ave NW and NW Market Street, and 15th Ave NW and NW 80th Street.

  3. Really? I can see the cameras “flashing” as people run red lights.

    Thanks for the correction – now people reading this will know they can still run the red lights at those intersections and not get caught.

  4. The cameras mentioned in this article are SDOT traffic cameras so you can go to the website and see what's going on with the traffic, NOT red light cameras operated by SPD that capture images of cars running the red light. I believe you are confusing the two.

  6. Understood…I wasn't thinking about traffic cameras. But Geeky Swedes' comments indicate that SDOT said the specific red light cameras I mentioned are offline.

    I actually can't imagine the city would go through the expense of installing red light cameras and signs and then wait months to put them online, considering the revenue stream they would generate.

  7. SDOT has nothing to do with the red light cameras.

    There are two different intersection cameras in the City of Seattle.

    One set of cameras is operated by Seattle Department of Transportation. The images are viewable online at http://www.seattle.gov/trafficcams/ so you can see what’s going on at that intersection at any time. These are the cameras relevant to this article.

    The other set of cameras (different cameras than SDOT) is operated by the Seattle Police Department, which is not available online. These cameras only capture pictures of cars and license plates that run the red lights. The pics are then sent to the registered owner of that car through the mail. I know, I’ve gotten one!

    Hope that clears it up.

  9. actually their comments don't indicate that at all… you've assumed that and muddied the discussion by not reading the orginial article carefully. No one was talking about red light cameras. Now poor jburgh is confused too.

  10. you are correct…i didn't read/interpret the article correctly. but my comments were specifically about the red light cameras to which geeky swedes responded, and then apologized about for the confusion it created.

    you can lambast me for “muddying” the discussion, but the fact is many people don't necessarily understand the difference between traffic cameras and red light cameras, and who exactly controls which ones.

    thank you to Geeky Swedes and KMill for providing more details and clarification

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