It’s well past time to make NE 65th Street safer for everyone. A community walk Thursday plans to call for exactly that.
The #Fix65th Safety Walk starts 8 a.m. Thursday at 12th Ave NE and NE 65th St. Councilmember Rob Johnson (District 4), who has been leading efforts within City Hall to improve safety on the street, will also be there. You can also sign this petition calling for changes.
We wrote pretty extensively about this street back in 2013 when there was a significant backlash against the Bike Master Plan’s vision for protected bike lanes on the entirety of NE 65th from Magnuson Park to Green Lake.
There has been a ton of difficult community building and neighborhood debating about this street. It hasn’t always been pleasant, but that’s sometimes what change looks like. It’s hard, and not everyone agrees.
Then Lucas McQuinn chose to drive drunk and killed Andy Hulslander at NE 65th Street and 15th Ave NE in July of last year. A protected bike lane on NE 65th would likely have placed Andy out of McQuinn’s path. A ghost bike stands on the corner as a harsh reminder of what happens when we see a known danger like NE 65th and choose to do nothing about it.
Since then many people have been seriously injured on the street, including a man critically injured in May in a collision with someone driving a Metro VanPool. NE Seattle Greenways put together this image showing just the number of serious injuries on the street in the past three years: (more…)