Bicyclist Killed Monday Is 3rd To Die On Rainier Ave Since July

SEATTLE, WA - A bicyclist was killed Monday by a hit-and-run driver along Rainier Avenue South in the Rainier Beach neighborhood, the third bicyclist to die on a 3-1/2 mile stretch of the busy road since last July.

Seattle police responded around 5 p.m. to Rainier Avenue and Sturtevant Avenue South where the bicyclist was found dead. Around 5:30 p.m., police blocked off the road in both directions. The man's bicycle was still on its side near a street corner, its back wheel bent slightly.

Police said the bicyclist was trying to cross Rainier when a sedan traveling southbound hit him and then fled the scene. There is no crosswalk at Sturtevant and Rainier, although there are marked crossings nearby at 51st and 52nd avenues.

But in Seattle, any intersection is a crosswalk, even if there are no painted markers. That means drivers are required to stop.

The area around Sturtevant is usually busy. There's a Neighborcare Health clinic on the corner, and across the street is a bus shelter along the Metro route 7 line. The main entrance to Safeway is right next to that bus shelter.

The bicyclist's death came just hours after new Seattle Department of Transportation Director Sam Zimbabwe was sworn in, and after a weekend where three pedestrians were killed in separate crashes in Seattle and around King County. Part of Zimbabwe's challenge will be to build bike and pedestrian infrastructure in a city that's outgrowing its road network.

"Now, we can carry on the hard work of building a city of the future with more world-class transit and safer options for biking and walking," Mayor Jenny Durkan said on Monday as Zimbabwe was sworn in.

Rainier Avenue poses a challenge for SDOT. It's the main road between Columbia City and Renton, and serves as a major route for commuters heading from Renton to Seattle. Drivers often speed down the street at speeds in excess of 40 MPH. Although bikes can technically use Rainier, it's a treacherous ride, with no separate bike lanes - not even sharrows - along the 6 miles of Rainier between the International District and Seward Park Avenue.

Rainier is often referred to as Seattle's most dangerous road due to the high volume of car crashes - more than 3,600 between 2005 and 2014 alone, according to SDOT. Last August, two young girls were hit while crossing at the intersection of Rainier and Henderson, just a few hundred yards north of where Monday's fatal collision happened.

The Seattle Department of Transportation made some upgrades for pedestrians at the Henderson intersection after the August incident, but a bigger overhaul of the Rainier Avenue corridor is still in the works. SDOT has been gathering feedback since 2017 about adding a dedicated bus lane and possibly bike lanes along Rainier between Henderson and Kenny streets.

In 2018, two other bicyclists died while riding along Rainier. In July, Alex Hayden, 50, was hit and killed by a driver in the Lakeridge area between Seattle and Renton. Hayden was riding in a bike lane at the time he was hit.

In December, Taylor Marie Goehring, 23, was hit and seriously injured in Renton by an impaired driver with six DUI convictions. Goehring was taken off life support about two weeks after she was hit.

On Friday night, a man died while crossing the unmarked intersection at Lake City Way and Northeast 85th Street. Two other pedestrians were killed in separate collisions in Kent and Maple Valley over the weekend.

Correction: An earlier version of the story incorrectly stated that the driver who killed Alex Hayden was impaired.