After the recent passage of an eight-year, $1.55 billion transportation levy in Seattle, the first signs of change are beginning to surface on the streets.
Small-scale upgrades, such as repainted crosswalks, repaired sidewalks, and newly planted trees, are among the initial improvements citizens can expect.
However, despite the increase in the total size of the new levy compared to previous ones, the workplan emphasizes small-scale upgrades and strategic improvements rather than the big-ticket projects seen in the past.
Amid these modest changes, significant corridor overhauls are on the horizon, with Rainier Avenue S standing out as a focal point.
For over a decade, this corridor has attracted attention from various projects by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), yet it still ranks among the most dangerous streets in the city.
Recently, traffic safety advocates gathered at the intersection of Rainier Avenue S and S Charles Street to demand immediate action from the city to enhance safety on this notoriously hazardous corridor.
Statistics paint a grim picture, with 1,522 traffic crashes resulting in injuries or fatalities documented along Rainier Avenue in the past decade.
The northern segment of the street has become particularly alarming, with heavy traffic volumes and numerous housing units either completed or under development.
In the heart of this area lies Sound Transit’s Judkins Park Station, which is set to open next year, expected to significantly increase foot and bike traffic.
During the gathering, advocates carried a white coffin filled with flowers across the street, a haunting symbol of the potential consequences of inaction.
In that same moment, they mounted a small mirror to reflect on the reality that any Rainier Avenue traveler could become another statistic.
Kyle Jacobson, a volunteer with Central Seattle Greenways and one of the event’s organizers, highlighted the somber nature of their demonstration.
“When a community gathers around individuals with shovels, they are usually witnessing either a funeral or a groundbreaking ceremony,” said Jacobson.
He continued, “With our event today, we remind you of the grim truth that still more Seattle families will be digging to mourn loved ones who could have been spared from death on our streets.”
Jacobson urged city leaders to take decisive action on a major safety initiative centered around Rainier Avenue S.
The new levy outlines several ambitious plans for this corridor, including a corridor-wide safety project, a major maintenance project between S Walden St and S Jackson St, as well as the introduction of the R Line, the only planned RapidRide bus corridor upgrade in the next eight years.
According to the 2025 levy delivery plan, SDOT has begun outlining plans for these projects while also considering smaller-scale enhancements for the road, particularly in the southern stretch of Rainier Avenue.
Despite these commitments made under the current levy, the unsuccessful follow-through of previous promises made under the Move Seattle Levy approved in 2015 still looms large.
Although that levy led to significant improvements citywide, the lack of effective actions on Rainier Valley’s key street continued to tarnish the city’s reputation for prioritizing safety.
Failure to make meaningful strides this time around would highlight a persistent perception that the needs of the Rainier Valley are being sidelined by policymakers.
As Seattle seeks to address issues of racial equity, the Rainier Valley, which is the city’s most racially diverse area, suffers disproportionately from traffic violence, illustrating a dire need for redesigning a street with a deadly and crash-prone layout.
“We would like to see the city go really big and bold with it,” said Clara Cantor, a Community Organizer with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.
The political landscape seems to be supportive of significant changes, with three out of four candidates vying for District 2 attendance at the recent press event.
Adonis Ducksworth, the remaining candidate, has also prioritized traffic safety in his campaign, emphasizing his experience working on the issue in Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office.
“I think that there’s a really high opportunity there,” said Cantor.
She expressed concerns regarding the tendency of the city to compromise projects into minimal changes, stating, “There’s also a tendency for the city to water down projects to make do with a little bit of paint, a little bit of spot fixes here and there, and call that done, and check the box off because they say we accomplished what we promised in the levy.”
Cantor emphasized this approach would not suffice, as the consequences are severe—people are injured or killed.
With various projects converging along Rainier, the city stands at a critical juncture where it can make immediate safety investments while conceptualizing a street conducive for pedestrians and cyclists.
The future RapidRide R Line has the potential to play a pivotal role in this transformation, aiming for a broader redesign similar to the changes made along Madison Street’s RapidRide G Line.
When funding for the R Line was put on hold back in 2020, preliminary plans mainly aimed to preserve the existing design of Rainier with minor upgrades aimed solely at enhancing transit accessibility.
However, there may be a silver lining to this pause, allowing SDOT and Metro the opportunity to rethink and implement bolder strategies combining new levy funding with other sources.
The stakes are exceedingly high in a city that has aspired to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries for a decade.
“On average, a member of our community has been injured or killed in a car crash on Rainier Avenue South every two and a half days for the last 10 years,” Jacobson stated.
Without decisive action from Seattle’s leaders, the pattern of injuries and fatalities on Rainier is bound to persist.
If the city fails to utilize the $1.55 billion levy, which has garnered robust backing from traffic safety advocates and was resoundingly approved by voters last fall, to create a safer Rainier Avenue, it could call the legitimacy of the entire package into question.
“This is our community, and it needs to be done better than that,” Cantor concluded.
“We deserve better than that.”
image source from：theurbanist
