Pedestrian safety

Eastlake is not only a vital community of residents and businesses, public parks, a public school, and an official pedestrian and bicycle shoreline loop around Lake Union. Eastlake is also a corridor which tens of thousands of motorists daily pass through, many on their way to or from I-5 or SR-520, the University District, South Lake Union, or downtown. There are pedestrian safety problems on all of Eastlake’s streets. Below are some ways that pedestrian safety can be improved in our neighborhood.

Traffic light needed for safe crossing of Eastlake Avenue at Howe Street The heavy, fast traffic on Eastlake Avenue (a designated primary arterial) makes it dangerous for pedestrians to try to cross at the E. Howe Street intersection which currently lacks a traffic signal (stop light). The Harborview Injury Prevention Program found in a 1994 study of unsignalized crossings of Eastlake Avenue that when pedestrians steped into the street, where state law requires motorists to stop to allow them to cross, 99 out of 100 motorists did not do so. No other street in Seattle had a worse record than Eastlake Avenue in driver non-compliance with allowing pedestrians to cross at unsignalized crosswalks.

Pedestrians and bicyclists find it especially difficult to cross Eastlake Ave. safely at E. Howe St. Many motor vehicles on this sloped segment of Eastlake Avenue move at or above 30 mph, well above the speed limit of 25 mph. Collisions at this intersection have injured many pedestrians, some of them very seriously. At least two formerly able-bodied pedestrians have become permanently disabled from being hit by a motor vehicle while trying to cross at this location.

While the existing median island gives some refuge, a traffic signal (stop light with a pedestrian-actuated button) is needed to protect pedestrians and bicyclists seeking to cross Eastlake Avenue at E. Howe Street in the face of motor vehicles that are speeding up and down the hill at this location.

The E. Howe Street crossing of Eastlake Avenue is an important link to the Parks Department/WSDOT public stairway that crosses under Interstate 5 in the I-5 Colonnade Open Space in line with Howe Street; and further uphill to SDOT’s Howe Street stairs that climb Capitol Hill from Lakeview Blvd. to 10th Avenue East. The new E. Howe Street right-of-way stairway/walkway between Eastlake Avenue and Fairview Avenue E. has made the Howe Street alignment by far the City’s longest stairway/sidewalk climb, with its greatest elevation gain.

The current lack of a traffic signal for crossing Eastlake Avenue at E. Howe Street poses a particular danger for people with disabilities, as some have a slower pace that makes them more vulnerable to being hit by the cars that rarely stop for any pedestrian who has begun to step into the roadway.

The proposed traffic signal would directly address safety needs by reducing the current danger to pedestrians and bicyclists who attempt to cross the sloped Eastlake Avenue at E. Howe Street amidst heavy and fast-moving traffic. A traffic light at this location was identified as a safety priority in the 1998 Eastlake Neighborhood Plan and the 1999 Approval and Adoption Matrix that the Mayor and City Council adopted in response to the neighborhood plan.

Please help by obtaining signatures on the petition (click here for a blank petition) and return it to the Eastlake Community Council c/o Lake Union Mail, 117 E. Louisa St. #1, Seattle, WA 98102. For questions or to volunteer further in this effort, contact EastlakeInfo at info@eastlakeinfo.net.

Traffic lights needed for other safe crossings of Eastlake Avenue

It is a priority of the 1998 Eastlake Neighborhood Plan (adopted by the Mayor and City Council in 1999) to improve pedestrian safety, especially by adding traffic signals (stoplights) on Eastlake Avenue where they are missing. Through the efforts of the Eastlake Community Council in past years, pedestrian countdown signals have been added for pedestrians crossing Eastlake Avenue at Louisa St., Boston Street, and Allison Street. Without consultation with the neighborhood, the Seattle Department of Transportaiton installed a pedestrian-actuated beacon for crossing Eastlake Avenue is at E. Blaine Street.

In 2015, the Eastlake Community was unsuccessful in convincing SDOT to fund a pedestrian countdown signal (stop light with walk/wait light) or flashing yellow beacon (without a walk/wait light) for a safer pedestrian crossing of Eastlake Avenue at E. Newton Street. To see the detailed application (including a photo and map), click here. Contributing to the safety problem is that at Newton St., Eastlake Avenue is wide and sloping, with many vehicles in both directions (but especially in the downhill, southbound direction) seriously exceeding the speed limit.

Because of the importance of Newton Street as a pedestrian corridor, SDOT, the Department of Neighborhoods, and the Eastlake Community Council through the Neighborhood Matching Fund built sidewalks on the block of E. Newton St. east from Eastlake Avenue to Franklin Avenue East. East Newton Street is the closest wheelchair-accessible and stroller-accessible route for pedestrians east-west between the Capitol Hill/Lakeview Blvd./Colonnade area and the Eastlake/Lake Union area. Wheelchairs and strollers and others who have trouble with stairs cannot use the Howe St. steps that go under I-5. To go in the east-west direction these “wheeled pedestrians” use a pathway that heads through the I-5 Colonnade Open Space (a City park) onto E. Newton Street.

Petition signatures are needed to show City funders that there is community support for installing a stop light or flashing beacon for pedestrians to cross Eastlake Avenue at E. Newton Street. Click here for a copy of the petition, which states: “We the undersigned urge the City of Seattle to make it safer to cross Eastlake Avenue at E. Newton Street by installing either a pedestrian countdown signal (stoplight and walk/wait light) or a pedestrian-actuated flashing beacon (without walk/wait light).” The petition allows each signatory, if they wish, to state a preference between these two options.

Please help enable a safer pedestrian crossing by signing the petition and encouraging others to do so. A petition with even just one signature can help! Please send signed petitions or drop them by to the Eastlake Community Council at 117 E. Louisa St. #1, Seattle, WA 98102. Petitions must have original signatures and contact information for each. For questions or more information, contact EastlakeInfo at info@eastlakeinfo.net.

Openings on the Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee EastlakeInfo encourages neighborhood residents to apply for a position on the Seattle Department of Transportation’s School Traffic Safety Committee, http://www.seattle.gov/school-traffic-safety-committee. The volunteer board, which was created by the Seattle City Council in 1975 to improve traffic safety for all of Seattle’s school children, advises the Mayor and City Council with respect to school traffic safety, including adult crossing guard locations, school traffic signs and signals, school safety patrols, bicycle facilities, sidewalks and student traffic safety education. Board members serve a three-year term, with an opportunity to serve a second term. Members must be Seattle residents and may not be City employees. The board meets the fourth Friday of each month from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. typically at Seattle Public Schools headquarters with occasional field meetings at school sites or school crossings. Ideal committee members may include parents of school children, frequent walkers and bikers, people interested in pedestrian or bicycle encouragement and those with expertise in public health or child injury prevention. Submit a resume and cover letter explaining your interest via email to Serena Lehman (206-684-7577) at serena.lehman@seattle.gov. And please let us know if you applied.

Need for a sidewalk on the south side of E. Allison Street between Eastlake and Fairview avenues The block of E. Allison St. between Eastlake and Fairview avenues is among the steepest that lacks sidewalks in Eastlake or indeed in any urban village. Those with wheelchair or stroller and many others walk up or down E. Allison St. with difficulty. So do bicyclists, many of whom (because it’s steep to ride up) must walk their bike. Drivers also have difficulty walking to and from parked cars, which are not safely parked, being without curbs.

The Seattle Department of Transportation has committed to install a full sidewalk/curb/gutter on the block’s north side. But there’s no sidewalk/curb/gutter on the south side. Rainwater gushes down the south side of Allison St., eroding and undermining the edge of the pavement.

Completion of sidewalks on both sides of this block of Allison Street was called for in the 1998 Eastlake Neighborhood Plan (p. XI-10). The Mayor- and City Council-adopted 1999 Approval and Adoption Matrix (p. 41) singled out a sidewalk on the south side of Allison St. between Eastlake and Fairview avenues as being “high priority for the community.” The Matrix listed the project as being “in progress” and stated: “Recommendation will be implemented, pending approval of funding.” Seventeen years later, the south side sidewalk/curb/gutter is not yet in progress and has not yet been funded.

A letter to the Eastlake Community Council from a wheelchair user describes the difficulty of safely going up and down the parts of E. Allison St. that lack sidewalks: “When the street is slick from rain, ice, or snow, the lack of a continuous sidewalk on that block of Allison makes it extremely difficult for pedestrians to get down the hill safely.” A sidewalk would “increase access for all residents whose mobility is limited to services in our neighborhood and to public transportation.”

Pedestrians who attempt to walk up and down the portions of E. Allison Street that lack sidewalks are at risk of falling, and face the further risk of being hit by motor vehicles. Completed sidewalks on both sides of Allison St. would reduce the risk of falling and also the risk of being hit by a motor vehicle. Completed curbs would make it safer to park cars, which otherwise lack a firm wheel stop. Completed gutters would prevent runoff from undermining the pavement.

If you would like to help with this issue, please contact EastlakeInfo at info@eastlakeinfo.net.

Lakeview Blvd.’s missing sidewalk — a hazard and barrier to pedestrians Please click here for an adjoining web page regarding an important opportunity to improve pedestrian safety and convenience along Lakeview Blvd.

Bring back the sidewalk on west side of Harvard Ave. E. that was swallowed up by I-5 Please click here for an adjoining web page regarding an important opportunity to improve pedestrian safety and convenience along Harvard Avenue E.