SHORELINE – Dave Townsend is still struggling to get the city of Shoreline to install a pedestrian-active stoplight at 170th and 15th NE in Shoreline.
Even though a grant has been approved, Townsend says city officials will not take advantage of it. Townsend’s daughter, Tia, was killed at the intersection less than two years ago.
“It frustrates me to say this, but I don’t know where the logic is,” Townsend said. “Engineers claim that this is a dangerous school crosswalk.”
Townsend has obtained reports from two engineers, one from a private firm and one from a firm the city of Shoreline hired to study the crosswalk. In studies conducted by both, Townsend was informed that there should be 120 gaps every two hours for pedestrians to cross the road, or one gap for every minute. This is based on road size and speed of vehicles. Townsend said there are currently only seven gaps for every two hours, which makes crossing the street not only difficult, but also very unsafe.
Instead of installing a pedestrian active stoplight, Townsend learned that the city plans on shrinking the road down to three lanes, from four. Rather than remedying the problem, Townsend feels this will aggravate the existing situation.
“If they shrink the road down, it will cause cars to be in one lane more, versus two lanes,” Townsend said. “It will stack cars up even more and decrease the gap.”
According to Deputy City Manager Robert Olander, the city of Shoreline is already preparing the road for a lane reduction at the intersection of 170th and 15th NE. However, this project will not be completed before school starts. Olander said the lane reduction would improve both traffic flow and safety along the corridor, especially since there are already overhead pedestrian signs. He also said the city was addressing the bigger picture, which is why they chose not to install a pedestrian active stoplight.
“Our traffic safety specialists said it will be safer. It is common sense,” Olander said. “You see a lot of four lane roads, where one lane stops and another doesn’t. There is a blind spot.”
Although city officials in Shoreline are addressing safety problems at this intersection, Townsend nevertheless says he will continue to push for a pedestrian active stoplight. However, Townsend said that if Shoreline does not use the funding by November of this year, it will be lost.
“I truly believe in it so much in my heart,” Townsend said. “There is so much evidence that warrants a stoplight, that I am going to continue fighting.”
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