Tag Archives: streets

Seattle mayor signs executive order to speed up Vision Zero including work where cyclist was hit and killed at 12th and Yesler

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(Image: City of Seattle)

Mayor Katie Wilson signed her executive order to accelerate Seattle’s Vision Zero initiative in an event Friday near an underway pedestrian safety construction project outside South Seattle’s Cleveland High School.

“Seattle should be a city where families can feel safe getting where they need to go — whether they’re walking their kids to school, biking to the park, or taking transit,” Wilson said in an announcement of the order. “We’ve made important progress, but every serious injury or death on our streets is one too many. We know what makes our streets safer. This Executive Order is about turning our commitment into action — getting proven safety improvements on the ground and bringing the full City together to prevent serious injuries and deaths.”

The executive order directs the Seattle Department of Transportation to fast-track high-priority safety improvements across high-crash corridors. Key measures include completing the SW Wildwood Place protected bike lane by late 2026, advancing Phase 2 of the 12th Ave S Safety Project, increasing intersection visibility through daylighting, and upgrading 19 high-collision locations along major routes like Aurora Ave N and Rainier Ave S. Continue reading →

Wilson’s executive order, Seattle SAFER Streets Act hoped to speed up Vision Zero, slow down drivers

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Faced with lagging progress on its 2030 road safety goals, Seattle is launching a new effort to make its streets safer, pairing a powerful mayoral order with new traffic legislation.

Mayor Katie Wilson is issuing an Executive Order directing the Seattle Department of Transportation to immediately accelerate priority street safety projects and curb dangerous speeding ahead of the upcoming school year. To be unveiled Friday near an active pedestrian safety construction project outside Cleveland High School, the order fast-tracks interventions to protect vulnerable road users walking, biking, and rolling.

Thursday, the Seattle City Council began moving forward with the Seattle SAFER Streets Act, a comprehensive legislative package introduced to the Transportation Committee. The proposed ordinances amend the Seattle Municipal Code to formally adopt SDOT’s Vision Zero Action Plan as the city’s official guide, requiring the Safe System Approach to guide arterial speed limits, infrastructure planning, and intersection reviews. Continue reading →

Pedestrian hit by driver while crossing Boren dies of injuries

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There has been another death on the roadways around Seattle’s busy Yesler corridor. CHS has learned that the 72-year-old struck by a driver while crossing the street in a morning June 13th collision at Boren and Main has died of his injuries.

The Medical Examiner’s office has identified the victim as Raphael Shelton. Shelton died earlier this week after suffering “blunt force injuries” nine days earlier in the Saturday morning crash. Continue reading →

Seattle considers emergency ordinance allowing problem streets to be closed over crime and gun violence

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The Seattle City Council’s public safety committee Tuesday will consider a proposed emergency ordinance that would allow officials to indefinitely shut down a Seattle street to traffic to address public safety concerns and gun violence.

The proposal comes as Mayor Katie Wilson has included street closures in her plan to address crime and gun violence along Aurora Ave.

Under the proposal championed by North Seattle Councilmember Debora Juarez, the city’s municipal code would be expanded to include streets in law that already allows officials to shut down alleys in problem areas. It is being pursued as an emergency ordinance meaning the council must achieve a 3/4 vote in support of the proposal including an agreed on start date. Continue reading →

SPD releases report on deadly 12th and Yesler collision

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The preliminary police report on the deadly collision with a recycling truck that took the life of a bicyclist at 12th and Yesler reveals new details about what led to the tragedy and raises new questions about the city’s street and safety design in the area.

The report released to CHS by the Seattle Police Department this week reflects only the preliminary investigation including details from three people who witnessed the Monday, June 1st crash that took the life of Christian Salyer.

A larger SPD Traffic Collision Investigation Squad investigation was being conducted to determine any fault in the incident.

The Recology recycling truck driver was evaluated for impairment at the scene. No citations were issued.

According to the just released report, the driver told police he was turning the large truck right onto Yesler from 12th Ave when he “heard people shouting.” Continue reading →

‘Ghost bike’ placed at 12th and Yesler as community awaits answers in deadly collision

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Riders, walkers, loved ones, and community members gathered at 12th and Yesler Saturday to remember Christian Salyer and mark the Seattle street where he died.

The crowd temporarily closed the intersection to traffic to place a white “Ghost Bike” and lay flowers in the young school teacher’s honor. Family members were in attendance for the ceremony and expressed their appreciation for the large turnout.

A community fundraiser has raised thousands to help his family and commemorate his life.

Salyer, 30, was killed when he was hit by a recycling truck driver during a late afternoon Monday bike commute on E Yesler. Continue reading →

Despite U District cancellation, efforts around car-free space on Capitol Hill rolling forward with Seattle Streets Alliance party

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E Barbara Bailey Way will host the Seattle Street Alliance’s 15-year anniversary party Saturday

A University District block party seen as inspiration for a new wave of efforts to pedestrianize key areas of the city — including a stretch of Capitol Hill — was supposed to shut down The Ave to car traffic this weekend but was denied permits and canceled.

UW’s The Daily reported on the city’s Special Events Committee denial. “Because this event is happening in the heart of a business district with complex and unique business needs, mitigating anticipated event impacts will be critical for this activity in the public right-of-way,” officials wrote.

The Seattle Times reported here on business pushback on the event including a petition effort led by the owners of Shultzy’s and the Sweet Alchemy ice cream shop which also has a location on Capitol Hill inside Chophouse Row. In the Times report, the business owners make it pretty clear they weren’t opposed to the event as much as the broader effort it represented around eventual permanent pedestrianization.

So far, the new efforts around car-free space on Capitol Hill are still rolling forward. Continue reading →

As The Ave prepares to close one block this summer, Capitol Hill organizers set sights on Barbara Bailey Way

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E Barbara Bailey is already closed to traffic every Sunday for the farmers market

By Anna Hull, UW News Lab

As the U District experiments with closing one block of The Ave to cars, Capitol Hill organizers say their neighborhood could be next if the city can balance business concerns, programming costs and climate goals.

It might feel like a blast from the past.

More than a decade ago, organizers closed a stretch of E Pike to vehicles for three Saturday nights in 2015. The Seattle Department of Transportation’s Pilot Report listed four goals in the experiment: traffic management, safety, economic vitality and activating the public space.

While many community members celebrated the pilot and other small tests of the concept in those years, some business owners voiced concerns about vehicle-carried consumers losing access to retail and restaurants. And according to SDOT’s Pilot Report, 2015’s closures only saw a 9% increase in pedestrian activity.

“I thought it was successful, but it felt like it wasn’t ready for prime time,” Brie Gyncild, the co-chair of Central Seattle Streets for All, said. “When you do a pilot like that, and I’m really curious to see what happens with The Ave, because one of the things that I think happens when you open a street to people is that it needs to be something that becomes part of daily life.” Continue reading →

Seattle City Council to pick $2M in District 3 street and sidewalk projects

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(Image: SDOT)

A new annual funding process with $7 million available for district-by-district street and sidewalk projects across Seattle could be short-lived but first the Seattle City Council must finalize what projects made the cut in 2026.

Each district is eligible for $2 million in projects under the process.

District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth’s office submitted 10 proposals in this possible final year of the program, according to a presentation updating the councils transportation committee on the process last week. Continue reading →

Seattle getting ready to step off on new Shared Streets program

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If you can do it in New York City, you can do it anywhere (Image: NYC DOT Shared Street Design Manual)

A new state law allowing “shared streets” designed, engineered, and constructed to emphasize pedestrian and bicyclist safety — including 10 MPH speed limits and the ability for those walking and rolling to safely cross a street anywhere they want — is about to get off on the right foot in Seattle.

The Seattle City Council’s transportation committee is taking up legislation Thursday to change the city’s municipal code to line up with “first-in-the-nation” shared streets law passed in Washington last year.

The city isn’t ready to start identifying which streets could be in line for the overhauls but the bill, once passed, will update the muni code to allow the city to designate streets where pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicle traffic share a portion — or all — of the same street.

“CB 121176 does not designate specific locations as Shared Streets,” the central staff presentation (PDF) on the bill for Thursday’s session emphatically emphasize.

But it would establish new rules for the new designation including an important shift in priorities.

“Under the state provisions for shared streets, pedestrians have right-of-way over bicyclists, bicyclists have right-of-way over vehicle traffic, and the maximum speed limit is 10 miles per hour,” the council’s summary on the bill reads.

The change will open up a new era of pavement markings and paint, bike resources, planters, and bollards in Seattle. Continue reading →