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Woman struck by truck near Broadway and Pine construction site

jseattle — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:21:28 +0000

A woman was struck by a truck outside the construction site at Broadway on Pine prompting a major emergency response Friday morning.

Seattle Fire and police rushed to the scene to the report of a woman struck by a hauling truck driver just before 11 AM.

A woman in her 70s was being evaluated for a serious injury to her leg, according to emergency radio reports.

Police reported the driver was being evaluated for drugs and alcohol at the scene.

Seattle Police reported it was investigating the collision and said traffic would be shut down “for an extended period of time.”

The construction site has been busy for the past year as work is underway on the Broadway Center for Youth affordable housing and job training facility. Demolition in the winter of 2025 revealed old signage as the development takes shape that will recreate the facade of the corner’s historic Booth Building.

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Officials roll out Capitol Hill Healthy Hike (and ‘dog agility equipment’) to connect more people (and pooches) to neighborhood’s parks

CHS — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:08:26 +0000

(Image: City of Seattle)

By Brenna Gauchat

Those new “HCHH” discs around Capitol Hill are hoping to inspire you — and your dog — to get outside, get moving, and enjoy Capitol Hill’s parks.

With four colorful stripes and a QR code, Seattle Parks and Recreation has placed the sidewalk markers to encourage more use of the area’s public parks with the Capitol Hill Healthy Hike.

SPR’s Andy Sheffer, tells CHS the low-cost initiative comes as a response to concerns about public safety in parks like Tashkent, Broadway Hill or Seven Hills.

These markers take residents through an urban “hike” that connects nearly a dozen public spaces around Capitol Hill. The two loops are nearly 1.5-miles each and can be combined to create a 5k option. They all start at Cal Anderson Park.

The Capitol Hill Healthy Hike website has maps, and details options, noting the routes have many accessible ramps at intersections but a few spots that may be missing adequate accessibility for all users.

By creating connections for residents and visitors to travel between parks, Sheffer said SPR hopes to promote “human circulation” and bring “fresh air” into Capitol Hill’s public spaces.

CHS reported here in February as fences came down after a 6-month closure of Seven Hills Park over concerns from nearby residents and officials including District 3 City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth about public safety and camping.

Improved maintenance and increased effort around community activation have been part of the reopening including the plan for “human & hound fitness installations” in Seven Hills and other Capitol Hill parks to create a circuit of low-cost, low-maintenance workout stations.

The new 3.1-mile Healthy Capitol Hill Hike campaign with signage and printed maps is part of the plan.

Seattle Parks has also encouraged more small events in the parks to draw visitors. The next edition of the “Sounds of the Spring Breeze” concert series in Seven Hills is scheduled to run from 3 to 6 PM Saturday, April 25th.

Parks has also promised small upgrades and better maintenance of the parks. Last year, a public safety “facelift” for Boylston Ave’s Tashkent Park was highlighted by new strings of catenary lights and plans for improved maintenance.

SPR currently manages nearly 500 parks within its 6,441-acre park system but the path to creating new park space is expensive — and slow. Sheffer said programs like the hike are ways to enhance the parks the city already has.

Phase II Complete!

The markers are in! We will be checking them over the next couple of weeks to confirm their placement and ensure they bonded properly.

If you notice missing or troublesome markers, please let us know by using the contact block below!

Timeline item 2 – incomplete

Phase III

By fall 2026, SPR will add fitness equipment to the following parks to work out the same or similar muscle groups to the body weight exercises currently associated with these parks:

Broadway Hill Park

Seven Hills Park

Tashkent Park

Williams Place Park

Dog agility equipment will be installed at the following parks:

Broadway Hill Park

Seven Hills Park

Thomas Street Mini Park

Williams Place Park

As seen in this illustration of the CHS Newshound, the dog and human fitness installations will use “natural features” like stumps and logs

In addition to connecting these parks, SPR’s final phase of the initiative is to add outdoor features to encourage residents to “stay healthy” with their families, friends and pets. For example, the Broadway Hills and Seven Hills parks will see stationary exercise equipment like pull up bars and dog agility equipment installed by June.

“Dog agility equipment” is coming soon to Broadway Hill, Seven Hills, the Thomas Street Mini Park, and Williams Place Park along 15th Ave.

The treks are intended to bring awareness to the neighborhood’s charm, drawing attention to Capitol Hill’s architecture, landscaping and character. Sheffer compared the initiative to Boston’s Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile route marked by a red line on the sidewalk that snakes through the city and leads tourists to 16 historical landmarks.

The sidewalk discs also represent a collaboration between two Seattle departments: SPR and the Seattle Department of Transportation. Sheffer said the “receptiveness” SDOT’s Public Space Management team had expressed to the permit requests for these new markers was an important factor in the realization of the initiative.

Sheffer said SPR hopes to expand the strategy throughout the city, targeting other neighborhoods that might struggle with disengagement in its community spaces, but is waiting to see how Capitol Hill residents and visitors explore these routes first.

While unclogging the 8 on Denny Way, Mayor Wilson is also opening Bicycle Weekends in full glory on Lake WA Blvd

CHS Staff — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:00:33 +0000

(Image: City of Seattle)

As Seattle transit and safe streets advocates are celebrating Mayor Katie Wilson’s $ 4 million plan for a new bus-only lane on Denny Way, the urbanist-leaning mayor is also scoring points with the city’s cyclists and those who love them.

Earlier this month, the mayor cleared away years of bureaucratic paralysis and restored Lake Washington Boulevard’s Bicycle Weekends to full glory:

Seattle Mayor Katie B. Wilson announced today that Lake Washington Boulevard will open for Bicycle Weekends every weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

“Seattle summers are beautiful, and everyone should be able to enjoy them,” said Mayor Katie B. Wilson. “We’re opening Lake Washington Boulevard every weekend to make more space for people to bike, walk, roll, and be outside. This is your city, and it should be easy to get out and enjoy our sunny days.”

Beginning Memorial Day weekend and every weekend through Labor Day, a portion of Lake Washington Boulevard will be closed to motorized vehicles, creating safe, car-free space along the waterfront for people to walk, bike, and roll. The route offers a continuous stretch for biking, jogging, and walking throughout the summer.

On holiday weekends, closures will be extended an additional day to include the holiday:

Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day)

Friday, July 3 (Fourth of July)

Monday, September 7 (Labor Day)

As The Urbanist notes, “Bicycle Weekends had been dramatically scaled back under former Mayor Bruce Harrell to just ten weekends across the summer, with no extended holiday weekends in 2025.”

“This storied open streets event formerly known as Bicycle Sunday has been held on Lake Washington Boulevard since 1968, and the 2026 schedule expands it from 10 to 15 weekends and includes three extended holiday weekends for a total of 33 days, more than any year prior (except for maybe during COVID shutdown times, but those felt a bit less celebratory),” the Seattle Bike Blog reports.

You can find the full schedule for the 2026 Bicycle Weekends here.

Another book shop closing on Capitol Hill — but this one was planned

CHS Staff — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 23:39:17 +0000

There will be another book shop closing on Capitol Hill this June — but this one was planned from the start.

Haunted Burrow Books owner Roxanne Guiney says she is sticking to her plans for the 15th Ave E store to be a brick and mortar experiment.

“HBB has always been a temporary store, and we were thrilled to be here as long as we have been,” Guiney said as she announced a sale to wind the store down into the closure.

The final day of business is planned for June 21st.

Across the street, book lovers are also losing a longer-term part of the 15th Ave E retail and reading scene as Ada’s Technical Books and Cafe is closing down after 16 years of business on Capitol Hill and 13 on the street. The final day of business at Ada’s is planned for June 6th.

CHS visited with Guiney and Haunted Burrow last summer as she brought her offerings of “horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, and other moody genres” into brick and mortar form in the empty commercial space destined for eventual demolition and redevelopment on 15th Ave E. The store was a temporary retail experiment for the horror and dark fantasy book shop after growing the business with flea markets and online sales.

With the QFC block redevelopment still in a holding pattern with developer Hunters Capital, a new temporary tenant can soon fill the Haunted Burrow space. The neighboring old grocery lives on, in the meantime, as the also temporary home for the Punk Rock Flea Market.

The Ada’s closure will also add new empty space on the street. Ada’s owner Danielle Hulton is retaining ownership of the property and said she is seeking a new tenant for the bookshop and cafe space. Next door, the long-empty former Coastal Kitchen building remains dark and quiet despite assurances to CHS heading into the year from the folks at Fire Tacos Cantina that they were ready to finally move forward with their plans to open on the street.

Another empty Ada’s neighbor has been filed as the former Casita shop was transformed last year into the new Mac and Milo’s Barbershop.

Find Haunted Burrow Books until June 21st at 430 15th Ave E. Learn more at hauntedburrowbooks.com.

Here is the $4M plan to fix the 8 — including nine new blocks of a bus lane on Denny Way to the base of Capitol Hill

jseattle — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 16:37:42 +0000

“I’m so incredibly happy we are finally getting bus lanes on Denny. The 8 is one of the most important routes in the system, it is time to treat it that way. Now lets continue making it better” — @harlander.bsky.social

The mayor’s plan to reconfigure Denny Way to speed the L8 will include nine blocks of a new eastbound Business Access and Transit lane joining an existing short stretch already in place toward Capitol Hill, new turn restrictions including changes for drivers headed to I-5, and safety improvements at key intersections to protect pedestrians.

The work is expected to be completed by August.

Mayor Katie Wilson unveiled the highly anticipated plan to speed up King County Metro’s Route 8 at a Wednesday event in front of the Westlake Whole Foods.

“I promised we would move quickly to make transit move more quickly, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Wilson said in a statement. “I’ve been one of the Route 8’s 8,000 daily riders and I know how frustrating it can be when buses are stuck in traffic – and you’re stuck wondering if you’re ever going to get to your destination. That’s why I’m so excited to be rolling out nine blocks of red carpet for transit riders on Denny Way.”

The Wilson plan will include two phases:

Phase 1 (West End – Planned for May 2026):

The first phase includes three blocks of eastbound bus lanes from Queen Anne Ave N to 2nd Ave at the west end of the street serving riders on seven routes – the 1, 2, 8, 13, 24, 33, and the D Line – carrying nearly 26,000 riders each day. This phase also extends an existing southbound bus-only lane on Queen Anne Ave to Denny Way and adds a bus queue jump at 2nd Ave to help bus riders move ahead of traffic at the intersection. These improvements are designed to help buses move more smoothly through congested intersections and streets. Installation is scheduled for May.

Phase 2 (East End – Planned for August 2026):

Additional improvements are planned east of 5th Ave, including an extension of the eastbound bus lane and intersection changes to better support transit operations along the corridor.

The next phase includes the following:

Installing nine blocks of new Business Access and Transit (BAT) lane from 5th Ave to Fairview Ave N in the eastbound direction.

Shifting the eastbound bus lane between Fairview Avenue and Stewart Street to a curb side bus lane.

Restricting turns at select locations, including eastbound left onto Dexter Avenue and right onto Yale Avenue, and westbound left turns onto Lenora Street and Boren Avenue.

Closing the Yale Ave slip lane where right turn is restricted.

Reconfiguring the intersection at Lenora Street and Boren Avenue to enhance pedestrian safety.

Full details of the Denny Way Bus Reliability Project have been posted here.

Work will include lots of new red paint for the dedicated transit lane as well as what will be a large set of new no-turn sign installations along Denny. The Seattle Department of Transportation will also set about reconfiguring the Lenora and Boren intersection to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and scooter riders. Changes at Yale will alter the route drivers take headed for the I-5 southbound onramp.

The 8 has been a drag for thousands of riders for decades with the lowest on-time performance of any line in Seattle. While King County Metro sets a target of 80% on-time performance, Route 8 has historically fallen far short.

During peak rush hour periods, the bus has been documented moving as slow as 3 miles per hour due to congestion on Denny Way.

Advocates, including Central Seattle Greenways and the Transit Riders Union, have used these metrics to lobby for “red carpet” bus-only lanes on Denny Way to decouple the bus from traffic.

CHS reported here on Wilson’s move to target the line as the mayor has taken more aggressive progressive approaches to select issues in the city including increasing emergency shelters by expanding the Tiny House Village system and speeding up the effort to increase housing and affordability in the city with surgical rezoning and policies focused on key blocks and opportunities.

Meanwhile, Wilson may be eyeing other key routes in the city for similar upgrades. A SDOT memo to the mayor outlines nine other areas of the city where reconfiguration could boost transit performance including Routes 48 and 43 on a half-mile stretch of 24th Ave E from Boyer to Roanoke, The Urbanist reports.

The plan for the 8 released Wednesday did not address enforcement changes. While the Seattle Police Department has mostly moved completely away from standard traffic stops, Seattle has begun to slowly add transit lane enforcement cameras to core areas.

The Wilson administration also did not announce goals or metrics they are hoping to achieve with the work but promised they would continue to “make adjustments” to speed the key route.

“These improvements are designed to help move thousands of bus riders through this busy corridor more efficiently,” the mayor’s statement reads. “Once these changes are in place, SDOT will monitor how the corridor is performing and make adjustments as needed.”

The project’s construction and ongoing monitoring for adjustments is being paid for with a planned $4 million in funding from the Seattle Transportation Levy.