King County will install pedestrian-activated crossing lights to the downtown intersection of SW Bank Road and 100th Ave. SW, said John Taylor, director of King County Department of Local Services, in an email to The Beachcomber.

The lights are currently in the design process and are expected to be installed in late summer or early fall of 2021, according to a spokesperson in his office.

The decision comes after other safety improvements to the intersection have been made by the county following the death of islander Eileen Carlson in November of 2020. Carlson was fatally struck by a car in the intersection, directly across from Vashon’s Senior Center.

Another serious injury to a pedestrian also occurred in the same spot in 2016. According to Senior Center Executive Director Catherine Swearingen, near misses are a daily occurrence in the crossing — and she counts herself as one of the many people who have almost been hit in the intersection in recent weeks.

“It was frightening,” she said. “The driver was headed west on Bank Road and clearly did not see me until it was almost too late.”

Because of limited parking, she said, seniors with impaired sight, hearing and mobility must frequently use the crosswalk in order to get to the Center. Children and other islanders also use the crossing, she said.

Addressing repeated requests by Swearingen, Community Council traffic committee member Jill Janow, community activist Hilary Emmer and others, the county has already taken two other steps to make improvements to the dangerous intersection.

In May, the county installed a rotational speed sign on Bank Road just west of the intersection, warning east-bound drivers of the speed with which they approached the intersection. Receptacles holding flags for pedestrians to carry across the street have also been installed at the intersection.

The county also plans to add brighter bulbs to lighting in the intersection by late summer and is evaluating to what extent a growing, healthy tree in front of Café Luna, on the east side of the intersection, obstructs drivers’ view of the intersection.

The county’s spokesperson, Broch Bender, said that the intersection did not meet the county’s metrics, in terms of traffic volume and collision history data, to install a four-way stop sign.

In an email, Swearingen cheered the news that pedestrian-activated crossing lights would be installed. But she also cited a long process involving repeated emails to county officials as well as a meeting with Taylor, road engineers and other officials in March, which she said was arranged by Rep. Joe McDermott.

“It just seemed like a Vashon problem can’t always be compared directly to other communities,” Swearingen said. “They have their thresholds but we just kept pushing and it seems like it may have gotten through … We kept reminding them, this is a major crossing for island seniors.”