The community group working to create a safer 12th Ave for bikers, walkers and, yes, drivers, too, is meeting to begin planning the opportunity created by a $17,000 Department of Neighborhoods project grant. The project’s goal is make 12th Ave E between E Madison and Prospect a safe stretch of street:

The initial steering committee meeting for the 12th Avenue Transportation Safety project will be Wednesday, May 25, at 6pm in the upstairs meeting room at the Capitol Hill Branch of the Seattle Public Library (425 Harvard Avenue East).  Our first objective will be to develop a set of community priorities to inform our selection of a transportation planning consultant and our advocacy for particular safety improvements.  12th Avenue has been identified by our community and by the City as a street in need of safety improvements, and the purpose of our project will be to identify ways to make 12th Avenue safer for all modes of transportation and to work with the City to implement them.  Community participation is key to the success of this project, and we invite all neighbors to attend and to play a positive, proactive role in making our neighborhood safer.

The effort is being headed up by Mike Kent of the Capitol Hill Community Council who lead the effort to secure the City of Seattle grant. The dollars must be matched by community volunteer hours. The group is working to get more people and more hours pledged to potentially unlock a more substantial grant that would allow it to both complete a study of 12th to determine what elements could help the street the most — and, perhaps, fund those elements.

This stretch of 12th Ave has been dangerous for pedestrians. Though there were no fatal collisions with pedestrians on 12th Ave E in the last five years, there were many collisions that resulted in injuries. The street is noted as a high priority in the Pedestrian Master Plan.