(The Center Square) – Just days after two people died crossing the street, the Spokane City Council unanimously approved $2.8 million in traffic-calming projects.
Spokane Police Sgt. Teresa Fuller told The Center Square that the city recorded 17 fatal traffic incidents last year, attributed to 18 deaths. Seven were pedestrians, with one additional person killed while riding an electric scooter. Four more people have died so far this year.
Two of the recent deaths were pedestrians. One died on Feb. 21 after being struck in a marked crosswalk, with the other dying on Feb. 24 attempting to cross another street.
“Apparently, a pedestrian hybrid beacon is slated to be installed at that intersection, but it comes too late for Ms. Chen,” traffic safety advocate Eric Lowe testified. “Too little too late should be the motto for Spokane’s Public Works Department.”
Last summer, Mayor Lisa Brown signed an executive order implementing the council’s “Safe Streets Now” resolution, which asked her to reallocate street space amid recent deaths.
The resolution itself followed the death of Janet Mann, who was killed while biking in Spokane. Councilmember Zach Zappone proposed the measure calling for adaptive design strategies, a temporary and more cost-effective approach to traffic-calming projects.
On Monday, the council approved a list of projects that the city plans to implement through 2026.
“Last fall, I sat in the mayor’s office and told her directly that Spokane was moving too slowly in implementing the directives,” Lowe continued. “I stand here tonight, a week after two pedestrian fatalities, looking at a total of seven adaptive projects for the entirety of 2025.”
At that rate, Lowe said Spokane would never achieve Vision Zero, the council’s goal in 2022 to eliminate traffic deaths. He drafted his own resolution to direct Public Works to install adaptive design strategies within 48 hours of most traffic fatalities.
The list approved Monday lacked many details about the projects but included sites for constructing at least seven in 2025 and another 10 the following year. The council also requested and approved $150,000 in various bicycle enhancements.
According to Monday’s agenda, the council capped the total costs of all the projects at $2.87 million. Zappone thanked Brown for her support last year but agreed with Lowe in noting that he advocated for “a lot more” than seven projects.
Other residents also testified in favor of the projects, as critics called on the city to tackle more pressing issues and spoke out against existing projects, such as rainbow crosswalks around town.
“Focus on your money on other things,” resident Will Hulings testified, “like fixing our roads.”
