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Committee chair urges expedited SDOT action after pedestrian death in South Park
Summary
Council Transportation Committee Chair Rob Sacca said SDOT has committed to expedite safety improvements after a pedestrian was killed May 15 at Fourteenth Avenue South and Henderson Street in the South Park neighborhood; Sacca said SDOT will finalize timetables for new and existing measures by the end of the week.
Chair Rob Sacca opened the Transportation Committee meeting on May 20, 2025, by urging immediate city action after a pedestrian was struck and killed on May 15 at the intersection of Fourteenth Avenue South and Henderson Street in South Park.
Sacca said the May 15 death was the second fatality at that intersection in about five months and noted that residents have reported frequent near-miss collisions there. He told the committee he convened a meeting with Deputy Mayor Farrow, SDOT Director Emery and SDOT’s chief safety officer, Naimani, and said officials "committed to expediting some safety improvements in the area that were already in the works" and would finalize timetables for those and any new actions "by the end of this week." The committee did not take a formal vote; the commitment was presented as department action and a direction to SDOT to accelerate mitigation.
Sacca also referenced an earlier crash in December and expressed condolences to that victim’s family, saying, "We express our condolences to Natalia's friends, family, and husband, Isidro." He also recalled a separate incident several years earlier when a child was struck in a crosswalk while getting off a bus.
Committee members and nominees discussed safety approaches during the hearing. Alex Hudson, executive director of Commute Seattle, reminded the committee that the city adopted Vision Zero (the city’s goal to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities on roadways) more than a decade ago and said Seattle is not on track to meet that goal. He said safety can be improved by designing streets to reduce speeds and by targeting investments to the highest-injury corridors.
Other speakers said investments in sidewalks and neighborhood-level traffic calming are part of the solution; nominees and committee members urged the oversight committee and SDOT to prioritize work in areas with high rates of pedestrians and missing sidewalks. No new legislation was proposed at the meeting; SDOT’s commitment to set firm timetables was the principal outcome.
Next steps: SDOT told the committee it would provide specific timetables for safety measures already planned for the South Park location and any immediate additional mitigation by the end of the week following the May 20 meeting. Committee members said they will support and monitor SDOT’s progress.
