Other than CM Jack Walsh's comment that natural selection is the fix to unsafe pedestrian crossings, the Land Use and Transportation Committee (LUTC) on May 4 discussed a full agenda of potential pedestrian and other infrastructure projects during its last meeting, including safety improvements to 19th Ave SW / SW Campus Dr.
Here is a recap of the agenda and what the council needs to hear before their next meeting on May 19th.
Most of the evening was spent discussing an authorization to apply for a $1.6 million Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant for "demonstration" projects.
Demonstration activities are temporary safety improvements that inform comprehensive safety action plans (referred to as “Action Plans”) by testing proposed project and strategy approaches to determine future benefits and future scope.
This grant is the next step in the city's Traffic Safety Action Plan. Since the grant is competitive, the city may not receive the requested funding in full and may have to make modifications to the planned projects.
It includes a $400,000 matching funds commitment from the city totaling $2 million in planned infrastructure upgrades and future road safety audits.
ACTION ALERT
The council votes May 19 on these items. Email them before then, and tell them you support this grant application and want to see pedestrian safety funded at scale in the next city budget.
Not listed on the map above are V2X Emergency Vehicle Preemption upgrades to intersection signals along SW Campus from 21st Ave SW to S 348th St. This is a more modern version of the current preemption beacons that interrupt and cycle the light to green for incoming emergency vehicles reducing response times and collision conflicts. Helpful as quicker response times benefit everyone, but not exactly an improvement project residents and pedestrians will routinely experience.
I am most excited about the signal improvements and crosswalk daylighting enhancements.
There are two signal improvements specifically that likely would've helped with pedestrian collisions at 19th Ave SW and SW Campus Dr.:
The signal changes are something the city can choose to do now based on conversations I've had with them, but this grant funding will undoubtedly result in more intersections getting the improvements.
Another intersection slated to receive this upgrade is 23rd Ave S and S 320th St, a major intersection on corner of the transit center. Why was something like this not already in place or part of the plans when the transit center was rebuilt and the Link station opened?
Crosswalk daylighting is a proven safety improvement increasing visibility of pedestrians at crosswalks.
As an example, there is only one marked crosswalk across 26th Ave SW at the corner of Olympic View K-8, and it is a popular illegal parking spot for school pick-up. Vehicles parked here make it impossible to see anyone, especially kids, crossing until they are in the street, and there is no stop sign NB & SB here.
Someone illegally parked outside of Olympic View K-8 & the NB view approaching the crosswalk at Olympic View K-8.
When I mentioned this to the city traffic department, they said it was an enforcement issue as it's illegal to park there.
As is often my experience, deferring to police is a go-to for challenging traffic issues that have the most potential for causing injury or worse to pedestrians. If I call non-emergency, the response time will be too slow to address what is a ~10 minute violation during dismissal and by then dozens of kids will have crossed the street.
Daylighting in this example would have physical deterrents in the space where the vehicle is to prevent parking. That could include flexible posts or a bump out of the concrete curb itself. Challenging crosswalks like this are common outside of every school.
The city's implementation design will impact cost greatly, and they didn't detail how hardened they plan to make the daylighting measures.
Five schools will get these improvements, and this type of crossing safety should be standard at all schools in our city. When Federal Way Public Schools goes to rebuild the last remaining aging schools presumably over the next few years, this must be on their list of improvements.
Additional Road Safety Audits are planned where stakeholders from various city departments, fire and police departments, the community, and the school district physically walk, cycle, or use mobility aids such as wheelchairs along the street to identify challenging and other areas for improvement for pedestrian and other road user safety. These are good to do and really put decision makers where pedestrians experience unsafe streets to develop recommendations.
Advance signal and curve warning systems are also planned, and these primarily will help with driver safety in the areas identified.
Transportation Improvement Program: The city set a public hearing date for its next Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for June 16, 2026. The last TIP is below, and the city did not mention any changes or new projects that will be included.
Citywide Pedestrian Safety Improvement Takeover: If you've driven around Federal Way and seen depressing crosswalks with black trash bags covering the signs for years now, these are unfinished rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFB) that have sat incomplete due to an incompetent contractor.
The city is moving to have a bonding company take over contracting and paying for a new vendor to complete the work. These expensive new crosswalks ($1.7m) sitting unused for so long have been frustrating to say the least.
Overview of Safe Routes to School: The city also gave a briefing on its Safe Routes to School program. The city mentioned the district "rarely" consults with the city on determining walking routes.
The city's side of the program included taking in feedback from users on challenges, develops projects, solicits feedback from the district, and then pursues funding from various programs. Most of the projects and funding prioritizes high speed and volume streets without sidewalks.
One question from Council President Susan Honda: "What schools do you hear the most about?"
Answer: "Most recently, TAF@Saghalie and Olympic View K-8."
Those concerns were from me. I am "loud" but not that loud, which tells me the city needs to do more to solicit and engage the public on safe walking route concerns, and there is also a place for the school district to better partner with families and the city on collecting and addressing these concerns many in the community share.
These items will be on the May 19, 2026, full city council agenda for approval in the consent agenda. The full council often doesn't discuss consent agenda items unless a council member motions to pull it for separate discussion, but often grant approvals like this silently pass while discussions around parking and traffic flow dominate the conversation.
Make sure they hear from you and what you'd like to see in our city.
ACTION ALERT
The council votes May 19 on these items. Email them before then, and tell them you support this grant application and want to see pedestrian safety funded at scale in the next city budget.
At this month’s Land Use and Transportation Committee Meeting (LUTC) during a discussion on pedestrians crossing the street not at a marked crosswalk, Federal Way Council Member and current LUTC Chair Jack Walsh interjected to quip, "It's frustrating. If you follow Darwinian theory, it may take
I attended this meeting to make a plea that the city act now after hearing about another kid being hit in the intersection of 19th Ave SW and SW Campus Dr. I only heard through scanner reports, but this would be the fourth child struck in that intersection since October
I started Federal Way Streets Alliance because it is going to take all of us to make Federal Way streets more people-centered.
