Exit133

June 20, 2014 · Exit133

Next Steps for Pedestrian Crossing Improvements

The City of Tacoma is ready to share what it learned at the first round of "Talk the Walk" conversations on pedestrian improvements in Tacoma.

Those first public comment opportunities earlier this year asked citizens to identify where in their neighborhoods they thought pedestrian improvements are most needed. The projects identified as top priorities will get a share of the $2.5 million in pedestrian improvement funds identified by the City for the work. That $2.5 million will be distributed with each of the five council districts getting $300,000, and an additional $1 million going to improve pedestrian crossings in the downtown core.

At this next round of meetings (June 30 and July 9) staff will share what they learned from the community, including which projects are rising to the top of the list, as well as a tentative project schedule.

The improvements will be focused specifically on crossing improvements - markings, beacons, ADA upgrades, curbs, ramps, striping, bulb-outs, crossing islands, etc. Projects that don't make the cut in this round may get added to Tacoma's Transportation Master Plan for future consideration.

Did you participate in the first round of meetings? What's your vote more most needed pedestrian crossing improvement?

Full press release here.

Filed under: Transportation, Walkable Tacoma, City Projects, Transportation Planning

21 comments

  • JDHasty June 20, 2014

    "and an additional $1 million going to improve pedestrian crossings in the downtown core' Let the damnable freelaoders pay for their own improvements. They are not paying for parks they use, they are not paying to support garbage collection... basically they are not paying for a thing that the rest of us are paying for. I am fed up with money being sucked out of the community at large to subsidize the wants of a bunch of spoiled brats. We can no longer afford to placate deadbeats and no loads.

    • Morgan June 20, 2014

      I spy with my little eye, a TROLL.

    • Kim June 21, 2014

      What exactly do you think you are paying dude?

      • JDHasty June 22, 2014

        Property taxes that support government functions, unlike the freeloaders living in tax abateded condos in the downtown " redevelopment zone." That is what I know I am paying dude.

      • Morgan June 22, 2014

        Kim don't waste your time with him. No story is too mundane for him to turn into a angry tirade. If you look at his comment history he never has an idea of his own to put forward, he just whines and complains about things and attacks people who disagree with him. I've even seen him accused of using multiple fake profiles so he can create the illusion of support. He's a troll, plain and simple.

    • Xeno June 21, 2014

      The downtown is the moneymaker. If anything the City is subsidizing the outer fringes of the city with these improvements. They pay more for parks since most bond issues like last are connected to property taxes, they pay a collective fee for large dumpster pickup for multifamily housing. Let's not forget where the guerrilla crosswalks were going up either. The downtown needs these improvements as it is the most walk-able pedestrian focused section of our city.

      • JDHasty June 22, 2014

        The downtown is a money pit that does not generate enough revenue to pay back the money poured into it in the last two decades. Money, by the way, that was raided from every City maintenance budget.

        • Xeno June 23, 2014

          Property values are in downtown. What do you think the property tax is for a 40,000 sq ft building vs. a 1600 sq ft house in the urban fringe? It costs more to support low level density development by moving utilities and services than where there is more density. But if you want to argue that up is down and the world is flat by all means continue.

          • JDHasty June 23, 2014

            So why are we property owners in the rest of the city subsidizing your glorious downtown. As I heard it almost two decades ago, "before long new residents and businesses will come flocking and herding into the revitalized downtown, and the surplus taxes generated will be enough to make up for any increased deterioration of our city streets and other infrastructure that is caused by deferring maintenance for a short period and investing that money in revitalizing downtown Tacoma." So I asked the question: "How long is the short period you are talking about before the revitalized downtown begins paying back the investment we have made? Are we talking ten years? And the answer came back: Perhaps, not ten years, but the pay off will come soon. So I pressed the issue by asking: "Are we talking twenty years before the downtown is not only solvent, but paying back the investment? Oh no not twenty years, but there does need to be some flexibility. My response was that I personally didn't believe that this "investment" was an investment at all and that there would not only never be any dividend, but once budgets for maintaining the rest of the city were raided and turned over to these charlatans that the practice would become a policy that has no end in sight. History has proven my 1992 era prognostications to be spot on with regard to any payback, eternal subsidization of downtown residents in the form of tax abatement, crumbling infrastructure that has a definite possibility of bankrupting the City and on and on. Not one damnable claim made by the "experts" the City trotted out came to fruition and as of today all the City can point to is a payoff sometime in the nebulous future if we stay the course and continue to sacrifice in the name of downtown revitalization and trails and bla, bla, bla and yak, yak, yak and Jimmie cracked corn and I don't care that you think I am being mean and what a diaper load tis whole stinking Visualize Tacoma nonsense has been from start to finish.

            • atenhaus June 24, 2014

              You write for paragraphs, but don't provide any sources to substantiate your claims. Until you do, screw off.

              • JDHasty June 25, 2014

                I attended the public outreach events that were part of the implementation of "Visualize Tacoma," as did many others and they and I remember the City's response to the issues I bring up now and to other pointed questions. People who asked questions were belittled, mocked and marginalized by City staff and proponents. All of our objections were dismissed and the City moved forward over the cliff. If you were not there, and you were a Tacoma resident at the time, then you have only yourself to blame for not participating. So screw off yourself.

  • Garrett June 20, 2014

    ?? anyway... An intersection that really needs attention is westbound Scott Pierson Trail at Union; a pedestrian or biker is surely going to get hit there soon enough. Near misses have already occurred.

    • RHTCCComedyfan June 22, 2014

      I am commuter cyclist on a specific route so personally I've never riden yet on the Scott Pierson trail.Is that where they just have a crosswalk between the trail parts in that busy area? If so maybe they could put up a narrow elevated bridge? It might be costly yet how much are lives,injuries worth?

      • Matt June 24, 2014

        I dream of such a thing...however I think it is woefully unlikely. I have had a number of near misses crossing union on bike on the scott pierson. I think a nice inbetween would be some visible "watch for bikes/peds" signs running N and S and eventually adding a green box across the intersection.

  • Sid June 21, 2014

    The entire Lincoln District.

  • Tracy Marander June 21, 2014

    Something needs to be done at the intersection of 6th & Sprague & Division. When I leave Jason Lee at 3 or 5:30, as my light turns green, 2-4 cars will cross through the intersection, going west-bound on 6th through the red light. A week ago, students were halfway through the crosswalk on the far side of the intersection when a car barreled through on the red light.

  • Alinda Harrison June 21, 2014

    The pedestrian crossing at the corner of Steele Street and Tacoma Mall Blvd. easily wins an award for the most dangerous "What were they thinking?!" pedestrian crossing. It requires a complete redesign. Pedestrians must go across a lane of traffic BEFORE reaching the controls for the walk signal. That control takes you across to an exposed spot out in the middle of the intersection from which pedestrians have a choice between pushing the button to cross the rest of the street one direction or cross two lanes of traffic without a walk signal the other direction. There is a bus stop on either side of the road, but no safe way to cross to the return bus on the other side without walking at least a quarter mile out of the way to another intersection.

  • JDHasty June 22, 2014

    If ADA intersection upgrade costs on average from $60-$120K in Tacoma then Tacoma Public Works is being grossly mismanaged and needs to replace its Public Worls Director. I just pulled some recent bid tabs from a selection of local agencies and the cost to install curb ramps at intersections averaged under $20K for four legged intersections. Or perhaps not mismanaged, perhaps there is something more nefarious going on.

  • Sid June 23, 2014

    Something to think about: http://isil.org/the-town-that-privatized-everything/

  • thackerspeed June 23, 2014

    This story, this fiction that Tacoma is inadequate without crosswalks and mid-block traffic signals and assorted concrete barriers to restrict the free flow of mechanized transportation--at what point did the alliance of lobbyists and government convince the general public that such a view is worthy of justified belief? What is seen, and what is not seen in the eight photo's posted at the head of this article?

  • Aram West June 29, 2014

    I just moved here from that big city to the north. Please avoid repeating the mistakes of Seattle. Complicated crosswalks and over-signage result in a more difficult and less navigable traffic system for ALL. The bicycle green boxs are terrible, terrible, terrible and rediculously overpriced that only serves an extreme minority at the cost of the majority. Every-time I witnessed an interesection "improved" for safety it just caused more and more dangerous situations. Lights, ADA ramps, walk signs, clear white stripes possibly with diagonal hashings within the stripes are SIMPLE and CONSISTANT. Consistancy in infrastructure design is the safest. I am a huge proponent of intersection murals, simple cheap and allows neighborhood identity and ownership as well as instigates drivers to ease up a bit. There are many ways other ways to change an intersection rather then spending large amounts of money and changing the infrastructure microcosmically. It is also necessary to expect that everybody take a small amount of personal responsibility for their own safety. Take a trip to the north - witness for yourselves the endless variety of confusing traffic "solutions", and the gridlock which is everywhere, and the dangerous conditions for everybody and then ask yourself very seriously "Is that what I want to live in?"