TOPIC: Hastings and Bellwood Pedestrian Safety Commissioners Chris Jordan and Josh Kerns, I am writing regarding the ongoing safety concerns at the intersection of Bellwood and Hastings. I am very pleased to hear of your response at the county potentially installing a rapid flashing beacon at that intersection. You may recall that as a part of our Fairwood Farmers Market community reinvestment funds, we provided $2,500 to help cover the cost and installation of the first rapid flashing safety beacons on Hastings. At that time I advocated that the lighted crossing be located closer to Bellwood, due to the heavy amount of student and retirement home foot traffic there. However, it eventually was installed at the Washington intersection. As we move forward, there are some other mitigations which ought to be considered at this time. These include: 1. Moving the westbound “school zone” boundary further west, beyond the current crosswalk. Drivers tend to speed up when leaving the school zone. We plan to do this with the project. 2. Reducing the speed limit on Hastings from 35 to 30 mph between Mill and Division. We see a lot of foot traffic on Hastings outside of school hours for sports and special events. We will consider this. 3. Adding more overhead lighting at the crosswalk and all along the Hastings corridor. It is a rather dark area at night where the recent accident occurred. We are working with Avista to improve lighting at the Bellwood Drive crosswalk with this project. 4. Please give consideration to moving the existing crosswalk further east, past the private Home Owner Association driveway toward the school. Morning and afternoon foot traffic from the school naturally uses this route. This would resemble the mid-avenue crossings installed at Whitworth on Hawthorne Road. Mid-block crossings are also used in downtown Seattle. Management at Fairwood Retirement Village informed me that they would not be supportive of relocating the crosswalk to the east side of the intersection. The residents of Fairwood Retirement Village use the crosswalk regularly to access the amenities of the shopping center on the south side of Hastings Road. They prefer not having to cross both Hastings Road and then Bellwood Drive. Another benefit of having the crosswalk on the west leg of the intersection is there is less left turning traffic on that leg. Potentially a raised pedestrian refuge island could be installed in the median at some point in the future without impacting left turning traffic as much as it would be impacted on the east leg of the intersection. The County has a project listed in the TIP (Transportation Improvement Program) to eventually reconstruct Hastings Road from Mill Road to Division. We applied for a safety grant in 2025 to reconstruct the east half of this project. Unfortunately, we were not awarded the funding. A major goal of the project will be to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. As we plan for future grant applications for the Hastings Road project, we will be reviewing the crossing locations and determining appropriate crossing treatments. Let me say again, I appreciate your quick response to the need for additional pedestrian safety measures for our neighborhood families including Fairwood Retirement Center residents, Mead High School students, and other walkers, runners and bicycle riders. I am pledging a $1,000 donation to the general improvements you implement. Please advise me where to send a check. Make the check payable to “Spokane County Treasurer” and send it to the following address: Attn: Nathan Thompson Spokane County Public Works 1026 W Broadway Avenue Spokane WA, 99260. Alternatively, you could drop it off at the front desk on the 2nd floor of the Public Works building. I will make sure it is credited to the crosswalk project. Rob Allen CO-Founder and Board President of the Fairwood Farmers Market Owner, 319 W. Hastings Road (the Thomas Hammer Coffee location) 509-218-0413 RobAllenSpokane@gmail.com