Results tagged “pedestrians”

A few hotheads (and fists) connected over yesterday's accident in Ballard, involving a car hitting a pedestrian crossing the street at 8th Avenue NW and NW 49th Street. MyBallard has a few eyewitness reports saying the scuffle happened when the driver's keys were snatched as he tried to flee before the police showed. Another said it was a brawl between the victim and the driver. So far we know the police have detained the driver (and his innocent dog), but once the SPD gets around to updating their fancy new toy blotter, we can hopefully get a play-by-play of who exactly was throwing the punches.

You won't be able to gaze wistfully seaward from the Fremont Bridge this Wednesday, Thursday, and half of Friday. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is closing the west sidewalk of the Fremont Bridge (from Nickerson Street to N 34th Street) beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 10, and reopening it at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, June 12. They're replacing concrete panels in the bridge sidewalk. You will be able to cross on the eastern sidewalk, and we encourage you to bring a camera for photos of spandex-clad cyclists colliding at high speed because that would warm our little peach pit of a heart. Freaking maniacs. It's a sidewalk. Slow down.

Any of you chickens who have been trying to cross the street will be glad to know the City of Seattle released its Pedestrian Master Plan, which answers the timeless question of how you will cross the street. The answer will involve spending $60 million over the next six years for Segways for all fancy crosswalks, raised sidewalks, warning signs, traffic lights, and police to provide $46 jaywalking citations (don't get us started). Crossing the street is one thing, but playing a mean game of Frogger by dodging cars in order to safely cross the streets, that's a whole other issue--we're not squawking that something's being done.

• The winds, they are coming! West Seattle Blog has our area's official wind advisory re-published on their site, and the advisory includes a mention of possible local power outages.Time to charge up your computer batteries and boil a few eggs to last you for the duration.
• Pedestrians and cyclists, remember to wear bright-colored clothing or reflective gear when you're trekking through the dark and rainy city. And drivers, you're in charge of heavy machines barreling at potentially dangerous speeds, so watch where you're going. A woman was hit by a car last night at 23rd & Cherry and a cyclist was the victim of a hit-and-run by someone driving a blue Olds Cutlass or Chevy, reports Central District News.
• The Sable Verity goes into detail in her analysis of the final school closure list released yesterday. While she's upset about some of the closures, there's no love lost on the African American Academy: "I say tread lightly and don't wear yourself out for a lost cause."

The word at work is there’s like a $250 fine for not shoveling the snow in front of your business but for the purpose of motivating employees the fine has now been exaggerated to $700 a day.

The other day on a walk up 40th in Wallingford, we noticed that the crossing flags at 40th and Sunnyside were in search of an adopter. There was a little sign up next to the flag bucket that we took a picture of, but, you know, cameraphone at night...it's not that visible. It said something like, "Adopt this intersection--email CrossingFlags@gmail.com." We emailed to determine what, exactly, adopting crossing flags entailed--because the flags in Wallingford are starting to mature and we're not prepared for the teen years--and it turns out you just buy new flags ($1.62 a pop) every once in a while to replace the flags lost to attrition (or attempt to get the city to put flags there, although that way madness lies).

We were delighted to read in the P-I this morning that Seattle's traffic management white hats have plans for the Pine Street zigzag. As anyone who's walked down Pine to downtown knows, the north side of the street east of Boren Avenue doesn't have a sidewalk; it has a ledge. People still walk it, single file, even though there's a sign that says not to. Part of the problem is that there's a sidewalk that just peters out (about where those two cars are, above), leaving you stranded mid-block. Either you walk the ledge, or you retrace your steps back to the crosswalk, or you jaywalk. But just like in Obama's policy statements, some kind of change is on the way. Says the P-I:

Wayne Wentz, Seattle's traffic management director, says the city is considering finally doing something about the Pine Street Zigzag. Officials do not know what changes are coming, but construction is expected to begin in 2009. In the meantime, he says the city will put up "Do Not Cross Here" signs on the north side of Pine at Boren.

Old guy: "I'm sick of this shit!"