Guests:
- Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin
- King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson
- Liz Gotterer and Gary Prince, Metro King County to discuss Route 41, Northgate Park and Ride changes and other topics of interest to the Pinehurst community
- Cascade Bicycle Club
- We will also have updates on: Jackson Park Trail, sidewalks/crosswalks, Safeway, safety issues, Gibraltar and the Pinehurst Summer Social Event.
Monday, June 2nd
7-9 PM
St. Matthew’s Gym Conference Room
(the smaller meeting space in the gym building)
1240 NE 127th St
Seattle, WA 98125
Pinehurst Planning and Development Group is a group open to all. The mission of the group is to help to make Pinehurst an even more vibrant and walkable community.
N.E. 115th St is the first cut-through street between 5th Avenue Northeast and Roosevelt Way Northeast north of Northgate Way and is heavily used by traffic trying to bypass Northgate Way. The city has already established that this stretch of RESIDENTIAL street sees as much traffic and as many speeders as an arterial road. By the time Summer comes to an end there will be no fewer than 10 children living on this stretch of road (four under the age of 4), not including the dozen or so who live on 7th, 8th, and 9th Aves NE, along with a deaf man. There are also numerous pedestrians, both adults and children, who walk along this street to get to and from bus stops.
The fact that there are no sidewalks in the area or any devices to slow down the traffic creates a situation that is ripe for a disastrous accident, especially around the holidays when drivers speed in the dark, on sometimes icey streets, to and from the post office on 8th Ave NE. One city official told me several years ago that the city would be more inclined to install sidewalks if a pedestrian got injured in an accident with a car. Luckly, no one has been injured yet.
This stretch of road is used by the fire department and would be a great candidate for street cushions to slow traffic. A sidewalk, even on just one side, would make the road safe for pedestrians. The slope of the roadside is especially dangerous to walk on in the winter when it is covered in ice and is the only place to walk when the rain has turned the shoulders to mud.
With the construction taking place around the Northgate Mall, there will only be a greater demand for cars to use NE 115th Street to bypass traffic on Northgate Way. This will further increase the potential for an injury or death due to unchecked traffic since there is no way to ensure that pedestrians are kept safe from the speeders.
I know that the city has provided money for sidewalks on virtual dead-end streets east of 15th Ave NE. If the city is at all interested in maintaining a tax base by having live, able-bodied taxpayers and decent property values maintained by safe roads, then this problem must be addressed. Considering the dire need for safety improvement in this area I can only strongly implore (I would beg if I thought anyone cared)the city to do something about NE 115th St between 5th Ave NE and Roosevelt Way NE.
I will not be able to attend the meeting on June 2 due to work. I hope this message gets through to someone.
-Dan Stearn
712 NE 115th St
Dan –
Thank you so much for your comments. It is very helpful to have such articulate and concerned statements as yours. It will be passed on to those who can make a difference in helping us to make a sidewalk on 115th a reality.