I live a street over from an arterial road that is renowned for both it speeders and the accidents that they cause. There have been individual demands and requests for YEARS to have the city do something about the collisions and deaths along “I-35.” As this is my neighborhood, I need to be involved if I expect things to get better. I recently sent different versians of the letter below to my city council and our mayor:
Councilman _______________;
As this May is bike to work month, I would like to invite you to either join me for my daily commute along 35th Ave SW in West Seattle or for a stroll and discussion along that same stretch of road.
There have been repeated community pleas asking city officials to do something the speed of the traffic on that road for years (see links below), there are multiple speed-related accidents a week, and at least one pedestrian or cyclist death a year since 2006. According to SDOT’s own findings six of the top 15 most frequent accident prone intersections for the past five years are along 35th (at Morgan, #4; at Webster, #7; at Barton, #8; at Juneau, #12; at Thistle, #15).
I would like for you to join me for both a first-hand look at the issue and a discussion of possible rational solutions.
Thank you and regards,
Hiram Crookshank
Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8
No reply yet, but I will wait a week or so and see. If I don’t hear anything, then I am going to turn it up a notch – the squeaky wheel gets the oil and all.