Picture This!
What's
new this week in transportation
Traffic and pedestrian safety for neighborhoods
 
More crosswalks, better lighting, and enclosure of
drainage ditches are issues at 19 key locations identified at last
month's meeting of the West Hill Community Advisory Group at Dimmitt Middle
School in the Skyway/Bryn Mawr area. Listening (above right) is
Community Relations Supervisor Betty Gulledge-Bennett. [see
group
photo: 39KB]
This week's photo is simply of people talking, but
that is exactly the point. It's at neighborhood meetings like
this that the King County Transportation Department is hearing from
grass-roots advisors on which improvements should be funded to protect local
pedestrians and drivers.
The King County Executive and County
Council have made significant
commitments over the past few years to address the needs of neighborhoods, with money
to build sidewalks, school pathways, and such traffic safety improvements
as guardrails, medians and covering of exposed ditches. Among the county's programs are:
NEIGHBORHOOD ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM
Several King County neighborhoods are former rural areas that are now
urban, with facilities
built years before current road standards were put in place. These neighborhoods
often have more pedestrians
walking to stores and bus stops and more children on bicycles, all navigating
narrow streets that are often without sidewalks. Many children walking to school
often have to walk part way in the street because there are no
proper sidewalks for them.
The Neighborhood Enhancement Program works with these older communities to form a
Community Advisory Group, or CAG, to identify and
prioritize transportation and pedestrian needs within the community. Projects are then funded and implemented by the Road Services Division. The budget for 2001 is $1.3 million. Communities benefiting from this
program include White Center, Boulevard Park, Preston, Fall City,
Eastgate, Juanita-Kingsgate, North Highline and West Hill.
By encouraging communities and neighborhoods to become proactive in
identifying traffic and pedestrian safety projects, the Neighborhood
Enhancement Program has been able to enhance livability and target
specific needs of our communities. Local residents are experiencing
upgrades in roadway and pedestrian facilities to current standards within
their older urban neighborhoods, and King County is particularly grateful to the many residents who have invested their time to make this program such a success.
See the list of 10 Neighborhood Enhancement Projects
scheduled for this year in Eastgate, Preston, Fall City, Boulevard Park
and West Hill.
PEDESTRIAN SAFETY AND MOBILITY PROGRAM
This program fills in "missing links" in sidewalks, curbs and
gutters at spots throughout the county identified by the Traffic
Engineering Section. Improvements include innovative
crosswalk treatments, pedestrian flashers, and in-pavement crosswalk
flashers within unincorporated neighborhoods. Its budget for 2001 is
$730,000.
See the list of nine Pedestrian Safety and Mobility
Projects scheduled for this year in White Center, West Hill, Avondale,
Boulevard Park, Fairwood, Star Lake and east of Federal Way.
SCHOOL PATHWAY PROJECT
The School Pathway Program implements safe walkway routes for students
by working with 16 school districts and about 130 public schools
to construct pathways, eliminate missing
links and improve existing school walkway routes along unincorporated
county roadways. The project has a 2001 budget of about $1.1
million.
See the list of 24 School Pathway Projects scheduled
for this year throughout the county.
NEIGHBORHOOD TRAFFIC SAFETY PROGRAM (NTSP)
The Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program works with neighborhoods and
the King County Sheriff to address traffic and pedestrian
safety issues. Small neighborhood improvement projects, such as pedestrian
facilities and traffic calming measures receiving the consensus of
neighborhood residents, are identified, developed and implemented.
SELECTIVE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT PLAN (STEP)
STEP expands traffic safety to the regional arterial roadways in
unincorporated King County, in collaboration with the King County
Sheriff. STEP places uniformed motorcycle police officers on selected arterials
to promote traffic safety by
raising drivers' awareness of safe driving habits. One of the officers'
primary objectives is to change the behavior of drivers who don't obey
speed limits. STEP also uses Radar/Readerboard speed
displays.
Related links
King County Roads Neighborhood
Traffic Safety tips
King County Roads Radar/Readerboard
Project
"King County
programs to reduce pedestrian accidents," news release, March 7, 2000
"Sims proposes pedestrian and traffic improvements in North Highline and West Hill,"
news release, April 20, 1999
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