[ad_1]
A photo Matt Baume sent to city officials showing yet another crash at Harvard and Olive
Even with a new representative on the city council more dedicated to public safety, transparency, and access, “One Seattle” slogans from City Hall, and leaders paying lip service to the importance of pedestrian and bike rider safety as they shape the city’s next billion dollar transportation levy, it still takes a hell of a lot of work and a few squeaky wheels for the Seattle Department of Transportation to add a needed crosswalk at a dangerous intersection on Capitol Hill.
Matt Baume, a neighborhood writer, has been documenting the crashes at E Olive Way and Harvard Ave E for about ten years, all the while trying to get safety improvements put in place. With new leadership in the district, Baume wrote to D3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth in January to share his concerns after yet another crash, this time involving three cars and several passengers including a family with a small child.
Baume thinks much of the danger on E Olive Way and Harvard Ave is due to cars blocking the “no turns” signs, which makes it challenging to spot crossing pedestrians.
“I understand that city crews are all overworked, and that there are a lot of other unsafe intersections all over Seattle that need attention. But taking a YEAR to just put some paint on the curb is bonkers!,” Baume told CHS. “Hollingsworth’s staffer said that there’s nothing they can do to escalate the issue with SDOT, and I find that hard to believe. What’s the point of having council members at all if they can’t direct city departments?”
Baume has asked if the city can paint the curbs red to discourage illegal parking, which blocks visibility at the intersection.
Somebody else went farther. CHS reported here in 2022 after a guerrilla crosswalk was installed at the intersection — and quickly wiped away by the city. “We have heard the message loudly and clearly that the public wants more crossing and safety improvements,” SDOT said at the time. “We appreciate the passion which has driven someone to paint their own crosswalk, however this is not the right way to voice your desire for change.”
These community efforts come as SDOT has had plans for years to improve the crossing. Earlier in 2022, the city included pedestrian improvements including new markings and new access ramps at E Olive Way and Harvard in a roster of projects to be part of $50 million in new federal grants to improve street safety. Belmont at Pike, Harvard at Seneca, and 10th and Pike were other area crossings on that list.
That federal cash came through early last year. A year later, Baume was still writing emails and taking pictures of banged up cars.
Officials say changes are finally coming.
“We are planning to paint a new crosswalk at E Olive Way and Harvard Ave E,” Ethan Bergerson, press secretary for SDOT, told CHS. “We will design more robust safety features than just paint to alert people driving to stop, including flashing lights to indicate when a pedestrian is crossing the street.”
City workers washing away the rogue crosswalk in 2022 (Image: @c_chrisafis)
SDOT’s upcoming pedestrian improvement plans in Capitol Hill and the Central District include updates to traffic signals and redesigning the intersection at E Olive Way and E John St to address a crash pattern of left-turning drivers, Bergerson said.
Hollingsworth, who included stories of her neighborhood lobbying efforts for improvements at the dangerous 23rd and John intersection as part of her campaign, is engaged and her office anticipates SDO “beginning a project at this intersection sometime in the next year,” Anthony Derrick, Hollingsworth’s chief of staff said.
“As part of the improvements at this intersection, Councilmember Hollingsworth has also advocated for re-marking the no-turn arrows and emphasizing the no-parking restriction,” Derrick added.
Derrick said Hollingsworth is also actively reviewing the Seattle Transportation Plan, which will guide the work SDOT does in coming years. Mayor Bruce Harrell released his proposal for the plan earlier this year, which outlines the 20-year vision for the city’s sidewalks, streets, and public areas.
Hollingsworth’s office says it has identified a handful of issues around pedestrian safety in D3 that she hopes to see incorporated into the Seattle Transportation Plan, like improving the safety of Lake Washington Boulevard, introducing traffic-calming measures near public schools and areas with high levels of drive-by gun violence, and increasing and updating sidewalks and pedestrian lighting options throughout the district, Derrick said.
Hollingsworth’s office is also assessing the proposed $1.35 billion transportation levy. The levy proposal includes $107 million in Vision Zero and School Safety funding over the next eight years to lower the rates of traffic collisions—including severe injuries and fatalities—via targeted improvements to intersections, sidewalks, streets, paths and crossings.
A larger and possible even more dangerous nearby intersection got a SDOT overhaul late last year. CHS reported here on the protected-lefts, and a “BUS ONLY” lane joining the busy mix of transit, bikes, pedestrians, and cars outside Capitol Hill Station at Broadway and John.
In the meantime, Hollingsworth’s office is trying to do what it can to connect other city resources like parking enforcement to help make the area safer.
“Our office has also been engaged with the community on this specific intersection at Harvard and E Olive Way. We have escalated this intersection to the parking enforcement team in an attempt to reduce the number of people parking in the no-parking zone on the east side of the street corner,” Derrick said.
Baume says he has seen more tickets on cars that are parking in unsafe areas. But he still questions why the work to make the crossing safer hasn’t been completed.
“At the end of the day, it just seems really clear that the city isn’t allocating enough resources to making streets safer for the most vulnerable users,” Baume said.
PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.