Seattle Transportation Committee Meeting: April 16, 2026 – Street Renaming, Vision Zero Audit, and Traffic Safety Update
Seattle Transportation Committee Meeting: April 16, 2026 – Street Renaming, Vision Zero Audit, and Traffic Safety Update
The Transportation, Waterfront, and Seattle Center Committee of the Seattle City Council met on April 16, 2026, from 9:37 AM to 11:14 AM. Chair Rob Saka presided with Vice Chair Alexis Mercedes Rinck and Councilmember Dionne Foster present; Councilmember Eddie Lin was excused, and Councilmember Robert Kettle was absent. The meeting included an honorary street renaming resolution, a traffic safety briefing with 2025 data and 2026 Vision Zero projects, and announcement of an external audit of the Vision Zero program. The third agenda item, an overview of Waterfront Park, was tabled due to loss of quorum.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Denise Gaffney (Hill Climb Court resident) raised safety and security concerns about the Pike Street Hill Climb stairs, citing drug transactions, camping, vandalism, and lack of maintenance. She urged the city to treat the stairs as an extension of Waterfront Park.
- Robin Manoway (daughter of Dr. RL Manaway, Sr.) expressed gratitude for the proposed honorary street renaming and highlighted her father's 43 years of community service as pastor of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church.
- Gordon Paddleford (Executive Director, Seattle Streets Alliance) argued that the Vision Zero audit's findings are already known: 80% of pedestrian fatalities occur on multi-lane arterials like Rainier, Aurora, and MLK. He called for political will to implement difficult changes and noted that last fall the council did not invest camera funding back into Vision Zero.
- Brandon DeBlatter criticized the city's lack of political will, citing examples of compromised safety infrastructure (Union Street bus lane, Lake Washington Boulevard speed cushions, Airport Way bike lane, Delridge/22nd Ave). He urged prioritizing pedestrians and bikes over cars and called for immediate infrastructure changes after each fatality.
- Carlo Alcantaro (D5 resident, Aurora Reimagine Coalition) urged the city to establish a rapid response to Vision Zero, similar to the 72-hour pothole SLA, to install semi-permanent safety improvements within 72 hours of a fatality or serious injury.
- Irene Wall objected to a new utility pole in Victor Steinbrueck Park that she said blocks a protected view, asking the city to remove the "black monolith" and ensure compliance with view protection policies.
Discussion Items
- Resolution 32195 – Honorary Street Designation: Amanda Allen (Council Central Staff) presented the resolution to rename South Jackson Street between 28th Ave S and 29th Ave S as "Dr. RL Manaway, Sr. Way." The honorary designation does not change the legal street name; the requesting group pays for signs (~$2,000). Council President Joy Hollingsworth spoke in support, noting Dr. Manaway's 43 years as senior pastor at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, his civic leadership, and the church's enduring presence in the Central District. The committee voted 3-0 to recommend adoption by the full council.
- Traffic Safety Update (2025 Data & 2026 Vision Zero Projects): Venu Nemani (Chief Transportation Safety Officer and City Traffic Engineer, SDOT) presented the briefing. Key data: 27 lives lost on Seattle streets in 2025 (revised upward from 25), including a sharp increase in pedestrian deaths. Serious injuries were similar to 2024, with a slight increase for bicycles/e-scooters (57 total, at least 16 involving e-scooters). Over 80% of fatal/serious injury crashes occur on the High Injury Network, with more than half on the highest priority segments (e.g., Rainier Ave, Aurora Ave, 4th Ave S). The 2024 voter-approved levy provides $890 million in traffic safety investments over eight years, including $160.5 million for Vision Zero. 2025 completed projects: N 130th St safety corridor, 8 high collision location investments, 3 arterial traffic calming corridors, 45 pedestrian head start signals, and 100 no-turn-on-red restrictions. 2026 planned projects: construction on South Henderson, Renton Ave, and Spring St corridors; 18 arterial traffic calming corridors (including MLK, Rainier, Airport Way); 27 additional high collision locations; 108 more no-turn-on-red intersections; 30–80 pedestrian head start signals; and design work on Rainier Ave, Highland Pkwy, 12th Ave, and S Othello St. A roundabout is under consideration at Rainier Ave and Cornell Ave S. The department also received a $25 million federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant. Discussion included:
- Chair Saka asked about the role of enforcement and daylighting. Nemani stated that automated enforcement is a tool but SDOT focuses on engineering; daylighting is being expanded to 200 intersections this year.
- Vice Chair Rinck asked about the department's response to fatalities. Nemani described the current process (site visit, data review, maintenance) and noted ongoing work to develop a faster, more proactive response framework.
- Councilmember Foster asked about data gaps and interdepartmental collaboration. Nemani noted that e-scooter crashes are underreported; SDOT is exploring SFD data. Collaboration with SPD, SFD, Seattle City Light, and WSDOT is ongoing. Foster also asked about frontloading major Vision Zero projects; Nemani said conversations are needed to expedite corridor projects like Aurora.
- Announcement of External Vision Zero Audit: Chair Saka announced that the City Auditor’s Office will conduct an independent performance audit of the Vision Zero program, expected to commence in fall 2026. The audit aims to assess data accuracy, regulatory compliance, and effectiveness; findings will be presented at a future committee meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 32195 (honorary street renaming) was recommended for adoption by the full City Council on a 3-0 vote (Saka, Rinck, Foster in favor).
- The Traffic Safety Update was heard as an information item; no vote was taken.
- The Waterfront Park Overview (Inf 2877) was not heard due to loss of quorum and will be rescheduled.
- Chair Saka committed to following up on public comment suggestions, including exploring a rapid response protocol for fatal crashes and continuing collaboration with SDOT on levy implementation and safety improvements.
Meeting Transcript
They ran the thing, so I think we're good. I think we're good. Good. They ran their confirmed. Good. Is Seattle Channel ready? Hello. Okay. Good. All right. Good morning. The April 16th, 2026 meeting of the Safety Transportation Engineering Project Sports and Experiences Committee will come to order. It is 9:38 a.m. I am Rob Saka, Chair of the Committee. Will the committee clerk please call the roll? Councilmember Foster. Here. Councilmember Kettle. Councilmember Lynn. Vice Chair Rank. Present. Chair Saka. Here. Chair, there are three members present. Thank you. Let the record reflect that Councilmember Lynn has been excused, and I note that it must be a Seattle Public Schools spring break week with a slim quorum here. So all good. Well, if there's no objection, colleagues, the agenda will be adopted. Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is hereby adopted. And good morning, members of the public, colleagues. Thank you for joining us at today's meeting. Today is actually a really important day in the history of transportation on April 16th, 1867. Wilbur Wright was born in Millville, Indiana. Wilbur was an American aviation pioneer who, alongside his brother Orville, invented the very first successful airplane. So happy 159th birthday, Wilbur. Uh we don't generally when we talk about transportation policy, uh aviation in aerospace is is something that is generally within the domain of the federal government in terms of regulation. Um maybe exclusively, but it is still an important mode. It's still an important mode that supports uh our travel. It's it's an important mode that supports our local economy with Boeing and Blue Origin and the like. So this is from a fellow Air Force veteran. All right. Now on a much more serious matter, on Sunday evening, a few days ago, two drivers were tragically killed in a wrong way head-on collision on State Route 509 between South Cloverdale Street and South 112th Street. The victims have been identified in the media as Jadon Parnell, age 21, and Kevin J. Ward, age 71. The incident occurred on a state highway within the limits of the City of Seattle. And although it occurred on a washed dot asset, State Route 509, and therefore doesn't count against our vision zero data. Washdot owns that. Now our city has made historic investments in traffic safety through the recent voter-approved levy. And as chair of our former transportation committee at the time that oversaw that process, I'm proud that this council was able to provide a record 160.5 million dollars in dedicated funding for Vision Zero alone over the course of the eight-year levy. And when we look more broadly at related safety investments in the levy, such as the 193 million dollars for pedestrian safety, 133.3 or 0.5 million dollars for bicycle safety, and 403 million dollars for road safety and monetization.
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