Vision Zero

A "Safe Systems" motion from King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci would prompt county government to harness the power of every department to help reduce deadly and serious-injury traffic crashes.

Safety-focused changes to busy Bel-Red Road, an unavoidable corridor for many Bellevue residents, were taken off the table by a 3-2 vote of the Bellevue Transportation Commission last week.

With Bellevue backsliding on many of its prior commitments to improve safety and multimodal connectivity, a coalition of advocates are trying to get things back on track. The group is seeking bigger investments in the city's next biennial budget.

It's official: Voters this fall will get to weigh in on whether Seattle should invest $1.55 billion over eight years to improve transportation infrastructure, with most funding allocated to road and bridge maintenance.

The transportation levy on Seattle ballots this fall won't grow beyond $1.55 billion, despite a push by transportation advocacy groups to go bigger. A Morales-backed amendment to increase the levy's size failed Tuesday.

Since Ann Davison took over as Seattle City Attorney, the office has been much slower in prosecuting drunk drivers. While her office blames the state toxicology lab, it appears her office is not making DUI cases a priority.

WSDOT is scrapping the planned SR 520 bike and pedestrian tunnel, forcing people who travel outside cars into dangerous territory. It's not too late to push back and contact policymakers.

Councilmember Tammy Morales offered a new proposal Thursday for a $1.7 billion transportation levy that increases spending across a broad array of programs. None of her colleagues have yet backed the proposal.