Last June, CHS reported on pedestrian improvements being planned near the Capitol Hill light rail station construction area to make the area safer for walkers as truck traffic in the area increased. Because of the increased truck traffic in certain areas, SDOT said they had plans to install a crosswalk and warning signs on the east leg of Summit Ave. and E. Denny Way, a curb bulb on the SW corner of E. Denny Way and Boylston Ave. E. and find further ways to improve that area.
According to SDOT spokesperson Mary Beth Turner, her department will begin making pedestrian improvements to the E. Olive Way corridor in anticipation of the Capitol Hill Sound Transit soil hauling project in late February. Weather permitting, construction will end the first or second week of March and the changes will remain after the hauling project is complete.
SDOT will also be constructing a pedestrian median crossing island with marked crosswalks and curb ramps at the intersection of E Olive Way and the east leg of Boylston Ave E. The median island will provide safe crossing in the center of the street to shorten the crossing time of E. Olive Way, also breaking ground in late February.
Due to funding concerns, SDOT is reevaluating the curb bulb proposed for the SW corner of E. Denny Way and Boylston Ave. They will also not install a marked crosswalk on the east crossing of Denny Way at Summit St., due to its close proximity to the signal and crosswalks at E. Olive Way and E. Denny Way. (By policy, Turner said, the department doesn’t mark crosswalks within 200 feet of an existing signal and crossing.)
We’ll learn more about the status of light rail construction and the pedestrian improvements at Thursday’s Sound Transit community meeting. 
(By policy, Turner said, the department doesn’t mark crosswalks within 200 feet of an existing signal and crossing.)
That may be all well in good, but how often do you have a neighborhood that is expecting 6 years of heavy truck traffic do to subway construction? It happened downtown, and that’s about it in Seattle’s history. Let’s not be so wedded to our policies that we are unreasonable to our ELECTORATE!!!!
I look forward to that crossing assistance at Olive and Boylston. My lady friend and I used to live on opposite sides of that intersection and crossing back and forth every day was no fun!