Safe Walks to Broadview-Thomson School
Sidewalks in front of school only
Friends,
We, Gloria Butts, Member of the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee for Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake; Kate Martin, Candidate for District 2 of the Seattle Public Schools Board; Kelly Crimmins, Parent of a child at Broadview-Thomson; Carol Mendoza, Assistant Principal at Broadview-Thomson; and I met with Brian Dougherty, Associate Transportation Planner for the Seattle Department of Transportation.
We met at 8:30 on the morning of Wednesday, September 7, 2011.
While I was waiting I counted occupants in 200 vehicles. 189 were single occupant driven. I saw 2 cycles and 1 motorbike. All of this within 15 minutes.
Our goal was to plan out the safest way for students to walk to Broadview-Thomson along the Greenwood Avenue Corridor above North 130th Street.
The first phase was to plan to strengthen the safe passages of students across Greenwood at the Signal Activated lights in the Crosswalk nearest North 132nd Street. The walkway and the car stops have not been painted as requested. We discussed additional signage on both sides of Greenwood in advance of the crossing.
We checked the timing of the light. How long after the buttons pushed to the change. How much time to get across six lanes.
Both sides of the Broadview- Thomson School the sidewalks end.
Kate and I walked with Brian on the east side of Greenwood. Kate had to go to work, like the other folks, so Brian and I continued north from 137th to North 145th Street
Kate Martin is a candidate for School Board in District 2, just south of us.
We could not recommend the west side of Greenwood for safe walking for humans nor for my little dog Pippa, the Poodle.
The right of way, on both sides of Greenwood, has been encroached, by improper use, a number of places. The walkway is uneven and even the concrete sidewalks are sometimes oddly placed. Like no planting strip, or parking between the walkway and the traffic, and so on.
Brian will make a report later on.
Warmest Regards,
Richard
Richard L. Dyksterhuis Happy Safe Walks! improvenorth@msn.com 206-363-0224
Thanks Sue George for the pictures and the posting!
Richard
Thank you Sue, Richard and everyone involved in the walk! Greenwood is a heavily used arterial and frankly not a safe route for walking. Please do not hesitate to report illegally parked vehicles in the right of way by calling Seattle Police at 625 5011.
I totally agree with this post. Seattle NEEDS to make Greenwood safe, not only for Broadview Thompson, but for all residents who use the bus stops on this road….which is a lot. There is a lot of pedestrian traffic and most of Greenwood is unsafe to walk on. Would you want your middle school student walking to the city bus stop by themselves on Greenwood? I know I wouldn’t.