Study says Seattle’s deadliest street is Aurora Avenue North

A study released last week shows that 17% of all traffic fatalities across Seattle happen on Aurora Avenue North.

The study by the Seattle Department of Transportation included five years of data from Jan. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2019.

It says pedestrians were only involved in 5% of all collisions but were half of all fatalities.

Since the end of the study period in 2019, SDOT says eight more people have died on Aurora, six of whom were pedestrians.

Other takeaways from the study:

• 88 people were seriously hurt in 45 collisions.
• People biking and walking were more likely to be seriously hurt.
• 55% of collisions happened at intersections.
• 45% occur between intersections.
• 88% of pedestrian fatalities occur between intersections.
• Some sections of Aurora do not have sidewalks.
• Problems along Aurora include long blocks, gaps between crosswalks with traffic signals and not enough pedestrian connections to transit facilities.

SDOT is conducting a long-range planning study “to define future vision and cross sections for 7.6-mile Aurora corridor.” The main focus of the project is pedestrian and bicycle access safety upgrades and transit improvements.

The budget for the planning project is $2 million, including a $1.5 million Washington State Department of Transportation pedestrian and bike program planning grant. The focus of the grant is upgrades to non-motorized transportation.

To see more results from the study and Seattle’s plan to improve safety, follow this link.

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