WIDE STREET
Wide streets and traffic lanes can encourage vehicles to speed, especially when the streets are greatly over-sized, i.e., road capacity is not used. While Rainier Avenue serves about 6,200 vehicles per day, the street is designed for over six times that amount!. Because speeding is commonplace on Rainier, there have been many avoidable crashes and injuries. There have been 15 reported collisions from 2015 to 2019: 9 of these resulted in injuries and were caused by excessive speeds, automobile right-of-way violations, and improper turning.
LONG CROSWALKS / NARROW BIKE LANES
There are only two marked crosswalks along this 3,500-foot segment of Rainer Avene. These crosswalks are long, and pedestrians often report that drivers don’t always see them when they cross the street. People riding bikes use narrow bicycle lanes with only a thin line of paint separating them from speeding vehicles; east of Rushmore Avenue, they must ride next to parked vehicles with no buffer protecting them from getting hit by opening vehicle doors.
Site distance on Rainier Avenue is poor for motorists turning out from the quad homes, especially when vehicles parked along Rainier Avenue are parked all the way up to the driveways. This makes it difficult for motorists coming out of the driveways to see oncoming speeding vehicular traffic as well as bicycle traffic.
