Walking in Seattle is profiling some of Seattle’s deadly roadways that could be candidates for a lane rechannelization, or road diet.
A road diet involves restriping the roadway, often to add a center turn lane and bike lanes. The effect is that vehicles slow down and the roadway is safer for all users. SDOT considers a roadway a good candidate for a road diet if people often speed on the roadway, if there is a history of collisions, and if a road diet wouldn’t significantly impact traffic volumes.
Jackson St at 5th Ave
From 2001 to 2009 there have been three pedestrian fatalities along Jackson. At 5th and Jackson a 74-year-old woman was killed at 11:30 on a Friday in February. Later that year, an 81-year-old man was killed at Jackson & 10th on a Wednesday morning in June. In 2002, a 69-year-old woman was killed as well.
The roadway currently has four lanes of traffic, with parking lanes on each side, yet only carries 10,200-13,600 vehicles daily, far below SDOT’s maximum limit of 25,000 vehicles for implementing a road diet. While a road diet may not have prevented these fatalities, road diets have been proven to improve safety. Automobile speeds are lower and less variable, and bicycle lanes help make the roads safer for more users. By lowering vehicle speeds, pedestrians are safer as well – a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 40mph is 85% likely to die, however if the vehicle is only going 30 mph, the pedestrian has a 50-60% chance of survival.
Jackson St, like 23rd Ave and 35th Ave SW, is a street that should be made safer and should be considered for a road diet.
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