If you moved to the north end of Seattle after the summer of 2011, you may have no idea that there was an epic debate over city plans for a road safety project on NE 125th Street. That’s because the project, once completed, was a slam dunk. The street became safer for all users, easier to walk across and more comfortable to bike along. Traffic volumes and travel times hardly changed at all.

But the fight was truly awful. Few media outlets have taken the chance to point out what a success the project has been, but they were sure happy to rail against Mayor McGinn and other supporters of the project before the city completed the work.

But the project did catch the eye of Smart Growth America, which highlighted it as a success story in its walking-focused 2014 Dangerous By Design report:

The city repainted some lines on a dangerous street and dramatically decreased speeding and collisions. It also increased comfort and access for residents walking and biking. The results are so promising, it’s shocking the city is not doing the same to every single street with similar characteristics.

The report crunches the data further and finds that, between 2003 and 2012, 375 people were killed in traffic while walking in the Seattle-Tacoma region:

As horrible as these deaths are, you might be shocked to learn that the Seattle-Tacoma region ranks 3rd safest out 51 regions included in the plan (the Pittburgh and Boston areas were deemed safer). This, of course, is no reason to start patting ourselves on the back. The number of people seriously injured or killed on our streets is completely unacceptable.

But it is evidence that we know how to make our streets safer. Seattle has a record of success when the city chooses to act. As the bitter fight over NE 125th (and today’s fight over the Westlake bikeway) shows, there will be resistance to needed safety changes in many areas of the city. But it is the duty of our elected officials to do the right thing and protect the lives of Seattle residents.

If Mayor McGinn had chosen to cave to intense pressure from angry opponents of the NE 125th Street changes, data suggests that several more Seattle residents would be fighting to recover from serious, potentially lifelong injuries right now. One of us might even be dead, and the table above would have one more number added to its death tally.

SGA also updated their map of people who have died while walking on America’s streets. The Seattle section reinforces the need for a safer downtown, the need for safe street projects in every Seattle neighborhood, and the need for dramatic action on Rainier Avenue, Aurora and Lake City Way are (2003-2012):

If you are Native American in Washington State, you are almost four times more likely to die in a traffic collision than the general population. If you are black, people driving are half as likely to stop for you in a crosswalk.

These disturbing facts come from two reports this week that shine some light on the racial imbalance among victims of traffic violence in the Pacific Northwest, especially people who are killed while walking.

KPLU reported on a remarkable fact in the State of Washington: Native American residents are much more likely to be hit by a car while walking:

Credit: Rae Ellen Bichell/KPLU

Native Americans make up 8.4 percent of all Washington walking deaths, despite making up less than 2 percent of the total population. This might even be a low estimate, since many tribes do not report traffic statistics that happen on their sovereign land.

And the traffic violence gap is getting worse, KPLU reports:

“The gap, unfortunately, is widening,” said MJ Haught, a program manager and tribal liaison for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Over the course of the past few decades, Haught said, the rate of Native American fatalities went from about 2.4 times that of the general population to 3.3. And in 2013, she said, “the data told us that Native American fatalities are 3.9 times higher than the general population. This is obviously not the way we want to go.”

It’s difficult to determine exactly why the rate is so much higher. KPLU reports that it is probably some combination of rural roads without a safe space to walk and the disproportionate poverty rate among state Native American populations. Low income people are much more likely to depend on walking than people in any other income bracket.

Many tribes are taking steps to try to address the problem. For example, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation launched a traffic safety campaign that includes education and safer road design efforts. Watch a video about the campaign here.

People driving are less likely to yield to a black person in a crosswalk

A study out of Portland has revealed another disturbing racial element to traffic violence in the Pacific Northwest: People driving are half as likely to stop for a black person waiting to cross in a crosswalk compared to a white person.

Not only is this an example of clear social injustice, but as a result black people have to wait a third longer to cross the street. People of any race delayed for long periods of time while walking in a city are more likely to take risks to get across the street. While the study is from Portland, it’s probably safe to assume that Seattle has a similar problem.

More on the study from OTREC:

The study – the first examining the effects of race on pedestrian crossing experiences – found that black pedestrians were passed by twice as many cars and waited nearly a third longer to cross than white pedestrians.

Minorities are disproportionately represented among pedestrian fatalities in the United States. The Center for Disease Control reported in 2013 that in the first decade of this century, the fatality rates for black and Hispanic men were twice as high as they were for white men.

Researchers Kimberly Barsamian Kahn and Tara Goddard of Portland State University, and Arlie Adkins, of the University of Arizona, hypothesized that if minority pedestrians experience more delay at crosswalks, they might take greater risks when crossing – risks that could contribute to the disparate fatality rates.

A man biking was struck at the east end of the lower West Seattle Bridge Thursday night.

The person driving fled the scene.

Police are seeking more information to help catch the suspect and learn what happened. And obviously, the person who was driving should do the right thing and turn themselves in.

Details from SPD:

Police are searching for a motorist who struck a cyclist on Harbor Island on Thursday night and sped away.

Witnesses found the bloodied and seriously injured cyclist lying in the street at 11 Ave. S.W. and S.W. Spokane St around 8:20 PM and called 911.

Seattle Fire Department Medics responded and transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Traffic Collision Investigation detectives also responded to the scene and are investigating the case. Detectives believe the victim was struck while riding westbound along Spokane Street.

Detectives are asking anyone with information to please call them at (206) 684-8923 or 911.

Here’s the approximate location of the collision, from Google Maps:

A rash of awful traffic collisions

Maybe it has something to do with the Memorial Day weekend or a rainy day after a long spell of nice weather, but there have been an outrageous number of serious traffic collisions in Seattle and around Washington State in the past day. Here’s just a sample:

• Serious two-car collision just south of the Junction in West Seattle
• Two people on foot hit and seriously injured in South Park
• Man in his 40s seriously injured while crossing dangerous Capitol Hill intersection
• Wrong-way driver killed in crash new Port Orchard
• 3 dead, 2 injured in horrific head-on crash on Hwy 20

Everyone needs to chill out and slow down. But even more importantly, we need to stop accepting this level of death and injury. Without taking serious action and making bold investments in safety, there is no reason why days like this will stop happening.

UPDATE: After originally publishing this story, Friday’s terrible day of traffic violence kept getting worse. A mother pushing a stroller was struck on a neighborhood street in north Seattle. The person responsible fled the scene. Details from SPD:

Seattle police are searching for the driver of a dark-colored sedan, who fled the scene after striking a woman pushing a stroller Friday afternoon in the Olympic Hills neighborhood in North Seattle.

Around 1:20 PM, the 32-year-old woman and young child, who was in the stroller, were walking in the 140th Avenue NE and NE 19th Street when the driver of a sedan struck the woman and then sped away.

Witnesses provided different descriptions of the suspect’s vehicle—either a maroon Acura or a dark brown Mercedes—but all said it had a cracked windshield. Witnesses also described the driver as an Asian male with spiked black hair.

The woman sustained a lower leg injury in the incident. The child in the stroller was not injured.

Traffic Collision investigators responded to the scene and are handling the case.

The Oso landslide devastated a community, took many lives and destroyed many homes. Some of what was lost can we rebuilt and recovered, but a lot cannot.

FEMA has stepped in to help with much of the cost of recovering from the disaster. Snohomish County announced earlier this month that restoring the Whitehorse Trail is one of many projects that will receive federal assistance.

The walking, biking and horseback riding trail runs along a former railroad line and connects Arlington and Darrington. Work could begin in late summer.

More details from Snohomish County:

The Whitehorse Trail between Arlington and Darrington is one step closer to being repaired after the 530 slide thanks to recently announced FEMA funding. The added financial assistance allows Snohomish County to be reimbursed for work to restore public facilities and infrastructure.

“Partnering with WSDOT to reopen SR 530 is our first priority, but we’re anxious to start work on the Whitehorse Trail, too,” said Snohomish County Executive John Lovick. “We know how important the trail will be once it’s developed, and that the community is eager to see it restored.”

The March 22 slide covered roughly one mile of the trail near Oso. The county hopes to begin work later this summer to restore the trail. Engineers are in the very early stages of deciding how to remove the slide material and complete the restoration work.

“The funding that we can get for the Whitehorse Trail only covers 75 percent of the cost to bring the trail back to its original condition,” said Parks Director Tom Teigen. “We eventually want to improve it to the standard of a bike and horse trail, but at this point we just need to restore it.”

The Whitehorse Trail is a 462.7-acre, 27-mile-long corridor that stretches between Arlington and Darrington along the former Burlington Northern Railroad grade. It features several fishing access points and river bridge crossings. Find more information about the Whitehorse Trail on the Snohomish County website.

The Whitehorse Trail ran just north of the road and was wiped out in the landslide. Image from Google.

Google Maps does not always give the greatest bike route suggestions, but it is a powerful tool for planning a ride to an unfamiliar place. The Street View and satellite image features are incredible ways to answer the questions: How busy is that street? Does it have a shoulder? Can someone biking get through that dead end?

Now it can help answer another question that is a big deal for people biking in Seattle: Which route has fewer hills?

The company quietly launched a new feature to the desktop version of its maps website that gives an elevation profile for bike routes. It’s a handy way to get more detailed topographical details than the existing “terrain” layer.

Hills are an often-cited barrier to cycling in Seattle, but they are also a source of immense rewards. The city is full of breath-taking vistas and wooded hilly back roads that add to the draw of using a bike to get around. And you have to go uphill to go downhill.

But even Seattle’s most formidable hills usually have routes that are less steep and, perhaps, less obvious. So the new Google feature is one more tool to help you find them.

The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board is a volunteer group of everyday folks who help guide the city’s decisions that relate to bicycling. Members do not need to be experts in urban planning or a “hardcore” cyclist. All you need is a strong interest in seeing more and safer cycling in Seattle and a desire to listen, learn and give feedback.

The board has been increasing its membership diversity in recent years, and I hope this member selection process continues that trend.

More details from SDOT:

The Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board (SBAB) is accepting applications for new members to advise the City on the concerns and needs of the growing bicycling community. The volunteer board, which was created by Seattle City Council in 1977, plays an influential role in implementing the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan. The board advises the Mayor and City Council, participates in planning and project development, evaluates policies and makes recommendations to all city departments including the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Board members serve a two-year term, with an opportunity to serve a second term. Current members represent all types of cyclists and skill levels, from casual weekend riders to year-round commuters. Members must be Seattle residents and may not be city employees. The board meets the first Wednesday of each month from 6 to 8 p.m. at Seattle City Hall.

Mayor Murray and the City Council are committed to promoting diversity in the city’s boards and commissions. Women, youths, seniors, persons with disabilities, sexual minorities, and persons of color are encouraged to apply. Interested persons should submit a resume and cover letter explaining their interest via email by June 6 to walkandbike@seattle.gov with “SBAB” in the subject line. Interested persons without internet access may call 206.684.7583.

To learn more about the board or join the mailing list for agendas and other board updates, please visit http://www.seattle.gov/sbab/default.htm.

The city’s plans for a safe and comfortable bikeway on Westlake are at a pivotal point, and they gathered feedback during a packed open house Wednesday.

As we reported in April, planners are gathering feedback to inform and develop the plan for the bikeway, which will be built in the super-sized publicly-owned parking area to the east of the roadway. Planners presented two basic ideas in April, both of which would be vast improvements over the dangerous and confusing status quo:

Concept A would travel along the west side of the area between the parking and the road. It would have more potential conflicts with cars turning in and out of the parking area, and it would also cause a larger reduction in the number of parking spaces.

Concept B (pictured above) would travel along the east side of the area between the parking and the storefronts. It would be closer to the waterfront and have fewer conflicts with cars. It would also have a lower impact on the number of parking stalls, a concern of some neighboring businesses and residents. However, designers would have to make sure interactions with people on foot are safe, since people walking from the parking lot would cross the bikeway to get to homes, workplaces and businesses. The existing raised crosswalks in the parking lot are a great start, but other design elements can make sure people biking can see and yield to anyone crossing on foot.

Both bikeway concepts will make Westlake a less stressful place for people driving and people on foot, since everyone will know where to expect each other to be traveling. The end result will likely incorporate elements of each concept, plus some other variations to make sure the bikeway works well and fits well within the existing business and residential uses.

Today, huge numbers of people bike their own paths through the puzzle of parked cars and driveways, since no clear good path exists. This increases stress for all users and creates dangerous situations for people on bikes, as this tweet from Sunday illustrates:

My friend was just hit by a car backing out on Westlake. Appears to be minor injuries. #SEAbikes

— Dan Diiulio (@checkereddan) May 18, 2014

Meanwhile, the number of people biking through the area is increasing dramatically. A bike counter on the Fremont Bridge, located just north of the project area, has been showing a 20 percent increase in the number of bike trips compared to last year. In the past two weeks, riders on the bridge broke the 2013 record seven times.

An exhaustive traffic study of the area shows that during peak hours, significantly more people bike through the Westlake parking area than drive. Yet other than a couple sidewalks, nearly the entire 150-feet of city-owned right-of-way width (that’s wide enough to land a 737) is dedicated to driving and parking cars. There are 1,712 spaces to park a car, but zero bike lanes.

Very extensive parking use studies (see second part of this post) suggest that planners can minimize the number of parking stalls removed by the bikeway project by redesigning the parking area to make it more efficient. But even more importantly, the city can adjust the parking rules to make sure the parking spaces are used for business and residential access. Car and truck access is important to many of the businesses along Westlake, and the city should make sure that the parking spaces it provides are designed to support the economic development and success of the area.

However this is often not the case today. Most of the parking areas that do fill up are free and have no time limit. This allows people to use the lot as a free park-and-ride to avoid paying for a parking spot at their downtown or South Lake Union workplace (AKA “hide-and-ride”). Providing a free park-and-ride close to the city center is not good public policy, and this kind of use does not help Westlake businesses or residents. It can be avoided by implementing concepts, such as 2-hour limits or expanding the number of metered spaces.

With smart design, the city can make a more efficient parking area that meets (and perhaps even improves on) the needs of Westlake businesses and residents. The city can also improve safety for the great many people who bike through the area today. But even these benefits miss the biggest point:

A Westlake bikeway that is safe and comfortable for people of all ages and abilities will open new possibilities for people to travel between north Seattle and the center city neighborhoods on their bikes. The bikeway is for people who are not yet biking as much as it is for all the people who already do. The bikeway will open up amazing new access to Westlake businesses to people who would never consider biking there today. It will also connect Lake Union Park and Gas Works Park, providing an almost-entirely-separated bike route between the two major public spaces.

The so-called Westlake Stakeholders Group, which has opposed the bikeway plans, is selling t-shirts that say “Save Westlake’s Working Waterfront” to support their continued work to preserve the status quo of a dangerous, inefficient and confusing parking area. Project planners need to hear support for a safe and important bikeway that will make Westlake better for everyone, including Westlake businesses.

You can comment on the project online here.