Program aims to make Rainier corridor safer

Why did the chicken cross the road Wednesday?

To make careless drivers eat crow.

About 25 people, including one dressed as a chicken, walked across the intersection of Seattle's Rainier Avenue South and South Alaska Street to highlight what the pro-pedestrian group Feet First called "poor driver behavior" in the busy Rainier corridor.

Meanwhile, at a nearby park, the city launched its new Rainier Traffic Safety Project that will include police crackdowns on speeding, drunken driving and jaywalking.

From 2002 to 2004, there were 74 auto collisions with pedestrians in which eight people were killed or suffered disabling injuries along the eight-mile avenue.

There were 1,743 vehicle collisions in all, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Rainier likely is the most treacherous of the city's major neighborhood streets, and there's even more traffic now as cars bypass light-rail construction on nearby Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, said Grace Crunican, director of the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Liz and Rickey Richards might agree. Their heads whipped back and forth, eyeing the cars as they crossed the intersection at South Alaska on their bicycles. "We take the sidewalk because, as far as bicyclists, you would definitely get hit," said Liz Richards.

Mike Leitner, holding hands with his 4-year-old daughter, Shannan, on the way home from day care, agreed it's a dangerous crossing. Drivers often turn right from Alaska to southbound Rainier without looking. "Most people are pretty courteous, but sometimes, they'll have to slam on their brakes" to avoid hitting pedestrians crossing Rainier, he said.

The man in the chicken suit, David Levinger, said foot traffic will increase here.

On one corner is Rainier Playfield, another the Seattle Public Library's Columbia Branch and a short distance away Orca Elementary School.

A trendy business district sits uphill, while to the west, the Rainier Vista housing project is being rebuilt to handle a larger population. "It's one of the most beautiful areas in the city," Levinger said.

The growth makes pedestrian-safety improvements urgent, he said.

"I am chicken very often when I cross the street," said Levinger, executive director of Feet First.

Crunican said the city has received $100,000 in state aid to start its work in the area.

Besides police patrols, a pair of permanent speed-measuring signs will be installed to encourage slower driving.

Three pedestrian-triggered signals will be added at crosswalks, and countdown signs for pedestrians will be added at five intersections.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletime