The roster includes a proposal to make E Olive Way safer through street and sidewalk improvements — this Northwest Urbanist essay makes the case (Image: The Northwest Urbanist)
The East District Neighborhood Council, whose role these days pretty much boils down to figuring out which grant proposals should make it out of the local rounds and into the priority list at City Hall, will choose five of these to join 60 other proposals from around the city moving forward to SDOT’s “high level design & cost estimate” vetting process. It can be a long and winding road from the council selection to an actual funded construction project. One recent plan that finally became reality can be found along 12th Ave.
| February 23, 2016 | Neighborhood Street Fund (NSF) call for applications |
| March 2016 | Briefings for Neighborhood District Councils on NSF Program |
| April 17, 2016 | Deadline for submitting NSF Proposals to SDOT |
| May 2016 | Screening of proposals by SDOT and selection of 5 projects by each of the 13 Neighborhood District Councils for further evaluation |
| June – August 2016 | SDOT conducts a high level design & cost estimate of the 65 projects selected by the neighborhood District Councils. |
| September 2016 | Each Neighborhood District Council prioritizes its own list of projects. |
| September – October 2016 | The Move Seattle Citizen Oversight Committee evaluates all proposed projects and makes funding recommendations to the Mayor & City Council. |
| November 2016 | 2017 Budget adopted |
| 2017 | SDOT designs projects |
| 2018 | SDOT builds projects |
Details on the proposals under considerations are below:
- Melrose Promenade – Bellevue Place Park
- Melrose Promenade – Overlook Area
- Melrose Promenade – Olive Way & Interstate 5 area
- Melrose Promenade – Pike to Pine Improvements
- Staircase sidewalk improvements
- Terry Avenue Festival Street and Design and Construction of First Hill’s 9th Avenue Pavement Park
- Bellevue Avenue Safety Improvement Project
- John & Thomas Streets Crossing & Safety Improvements
- Olive Way Safety Improvement Project — You can review the full proposal here. Applicant wrote about the safety issues and opportunities on Olive Way and E Olive Way here: Let’s Make Olive Way a Better Street for Everyone
- 15th Ave E sidewalk
- Freeway Park Entrance Improvements
- 12th & Main signal
- Safe Walk to Montlake School
- 15th Avenue Pedestrian Improvements
- E Madison St and McGilvra Blvd E intersection
I’d rather see the money spent to paint crosswalk markings at every city crosswalk, to be honest. It’d increase driver awareness, and perhaps persuade more of our pedestrian public to actually cross in a crosswalk instead of illegally mid-block, etc.
(1) Engage in a massive campaign to ensure that every Seattle driver knows the unmarked crosswalk rule.
(2) Put out patrols ticketing drivers who fail to obey the unmarked crosswalk rule. Be vigorous about it, not half-assed, and repeat it ad infinitum, just like speeding and red-light patrols.
(3) Use the money from (2) to continue (1) and to (3) progressively mark more and more crosswalks.
But of course this won’t happen, because fining drivers for breaking the law and making pedestrian life difficult and unsafe would be perceived as part of the so-called “war on cars”.
I’d rather see officers enforce more pressing matters rather than relocate them to enforcing unmarked cross walk violators or hiring additional staff to do so. In that case you don’t have extra revenue to pay for 1 and 3 as they are covering the added costs of 2.
If we had a surplus of officers, great. Unfortunately we don’t.
Then figure out a clever way to use cameras, the way we do with red lights.
Pedestrian safety may seem like it’s low priority, but as the city gets denser, anything we can do to make walking easier, safer and more pleasant has huge payoffs, in multiple dimensions. The fact that people currently have to either be willing to play chicken or walk blocks out of their way to cross safely when legally they shouldn’t have to is a big impediment. It may not seem like a big deal if you live near Pike/Pine, where every crosswalk already is painted, but if you’re over near 23rd or other similar arterial, and you’re trying to help our traffic problems by walking everywhere, it matters. A lot.
Steve: Yes. Even better if they could cite cyclists too, would probably make more money for #3.
Timmy73: I am certain they have divisions or squads other than patrol that can handle that so as not to take a patrol unit out of service for that.
Or maybe if Department of Licensing actually did their job of checking whether drivers actually know the rules of the road before handing out drivers licenses like its Halloween candy. Getting a license in this state is a complete joke, its nothing more than filling out paperwork, they don’t care whether you know how to operate a motor vehicle or what a stop sign is. As a result our streets are infested with reckless and clueless drivers who literally get away with murder, oh, it was an “accident.”
Awesome! I really hope Bellevue Ave gets some love. The area between Lakeview and Denny is heavily abused by speeders because there are no crosswalks, speed bumps, islands, stop signs, nor stop lights. Worse yet, visibility is always limited because it’s one of the few remaining areas with free public parking on both sides of the street.
Completely agree! I live just north of Denny and feel like I’m taking my life in my hands when I cross, especially during rush hour.
Glad to see a formal proposal for a traffic signal of some kind at Olive Way and Harvard Ave. Crossing Olive there is nearly impossible most of the day, either in a vehicle or on foot. This seems to be due in about equal measure to traffic volume and lack of visibility both east and west. It always feels dangerous.