(Image: CHS)
Three years after somebody painted a guerrilla crosswalk at Harvard and E Olive Way — and the city promptly removed it — the Seattle Department of Transportation has installed the real deal.
CHS reported this summer on the construction notice for the project to add the new crosswalk and pedestrian crossing signs and signals, expanded sidewalks at the east corners of the intersection, street markings and flexible posts.
CHS reported here in November 2022 after a guerrilla crosswalk was installed at the intersection and quickly wiped away by the city. “We have heard the message loudly and clearly that the public wants more crossing and safety improvements,” SDOT said at the time. “We appreciate the passion which has driven someone to paint their own crosswalk, however this is not the right way to voice your desire for change.”
In 2024, CHS reported on the continued delays as funding for the crossing was tied to a federal transportation grant. Matt Baume, a neighborhood writer, has been documenting crashes at the intersection just west of Broadway for a decade and wrote to D3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth to share his concerns after yet another crash, that time involving three cars and several passengers including a family with a small child.
While the federal cash came through in early 2023, city leaders and SDOT didn’t get around to the project until this fall.
The SDOT project could be one of the last for Adiam Emery who stepped into leading the department on an interim basis this spring. Mayor-elect Katie Wilson who has started the Transit Riders Union organization in 2011 will be naming her City Hall team as she prepares to take office in January.
Capitol Hill rogue street and transit projects, meanwhile, continue to mark areas of the neighborhood in need.
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