We, the signatories of this open letter, are writing to urge you to improve the safety of Seward Park Avenue South between the Rainier Beach, Brighton, and Seward Park neighborhoods. Traffic calming and safety measures have been neglected on this part of the minor arterial/street that has residential use, and are long overdue. Please take action to ensure that residents and travelers of this arterial are safe.

Seward Park Avenue South is a two-lane, 3.5 mile arterial from North to South with zero stoplights. Starting at Rainier & Seward Park Ave S in Rainier Beach, the minor arterial turns into Wilson Ave, then 50th Ave S. continues onto Genesee, and reconnects with the principle arterial Rainier Ave S. It is a highly-trafficked thoroughfare for cars and bikes through the South end from Rainier Beach to the central Rainier Valley. The arterial passes near or splits up the attendance boundary of six schools, including Rainier Beach High School, Graham Hill Elementary School, Orca K-8,Hawthorn Elementary, South Shore K-8, and Emerson Elementary; parks including Genessee Park, Lakewood Park, Martha Washington Park, and Be’er Sheva Park; and more community spaces than can easily be listed including prominent synagogues that families walk to. It is a well-known, speedier driving alternative to Rainier Ave. S that serves as a barrier for access to all of the above.

Our concerns are as follows:

1. Children must cross this dangerous street to walk to Graham Hill Elementary from the neighborhood, and they are not protected.

2. It is unsafe to cross the street even in marked crosswalks. Most cars do not actually stop at the 4-way stops located at Henderson, Cloverdale, Othello, Orcas, Angeline, or Genesee. Rather, they slow down to about 10 miles per hour and roll through the intersections, not noticing that people need to cross the street.

3. There are no traffic calming measures between Kenyon & Morgan. While safety improvements such as speed humps and flashing crosswalks have been made to other sections of Seward Park Ave/Wilson, as well as Rainier and Orcas, the stretch of Seward Park Ave. S. between Kenyon to Morgan has been neglected.

4. Speeding and unsafe passing is rampant. Since there are few traffic calming measures and the street is 30 to 40 feet wide, drivers typically speed 40 miles per hour or more. People that drive the speed limit are often passed by impatient drivers at high speeds. Furthermore, the necessary safety improvements made on neighboring arterials have exacerbated overflow traffic coming onto Seward Park Ave. S., where there is now more traffic with fewer safety measures.

5. Bike lanes are missing/incomplete. There are no bike lanes between Kenyon & Morgan (about 1 mile long). This is an official part of the Lake Washington Loop bike route, and is extremely unsafe for bicyclists. Bicyclists report that this is the worst portion of this entire 60 mile bike route. They have experienced all sorts of harassment, dangerous passing, intimidation, rude gestures, and verbal abuse from drivers on Seward Park Ave. S. There is no alternative to Seward Park Ave S for people biking due to the hills between Rainier Ave and Lake Washington.

We ask that you take the following steps to protect the safety of South Seattle residents. As we know through work addressing similar safety problems on other arterials, traffic calming works. It slows cars down. We appreciate your work to address this problem on other Minor Arterials including Alki Ave. SW, Beacon Ave. S, Othello St. S., and Henderson Ave. S (partially a principal arterial). We ask that you address the serious safety concerns on Seward Park Ave. S. in a similar manner, bringing it to the same standard.

1. Add speed humps on Seward Park Ave. S. between Kenyon and Morgan. This should include speed humps before and after the hill between Willow and Myrtle, which cars speed down and is near a crosswalk.

2. Add pedestrian crossing bulbs at the intersections with 4-way stops. This would narrow the dangerous 15-foot lanes at intersections where people cross the street most.
Upgrade current painted crosswalks to more prominently marked crosswalks with colored paint. This should include the crosswalk at Myrtle, which is at the bottom of the hill that cars speed down.

3. Add a prominently painted crosswalk near Klein Galland Home. There are currently no crosswalks across Seward Park Ave S. between Kenyon and Othello, and walkers need to be able to safely cross the street.

4. Add more 4-way stops along Seward Park Ave. S. (including where Seward Park Ave meets Wilson, at Willow St., and at Myrtle St.) to slow traffic and alleviate bottlenecks at Othello & Seward Park Ave.