 Our transportation system is lethal, but it doesn't have to be
 This week, Washington state released sobering news that traffic deaths increased 39% between 2019 and 2022. Preliminary data shows 750 people died in 2022 alone. We've known for a while that traffic safety was going in the wrong direction, but this new data is very concerning and underscores the need for action to reverse this growing traffic safety crisis.
It’s why during my term as President of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), the four-county regional transportation agency that directs over $300 million annually in federal transportation funding, I led the charge to make safety one of our region’s top transportation priorities by adopting a Safe System Approach to how we prevent serious injuries and deaths.
Since PSRC adopted its new safety approach in 2022, our region has taken its first steps forward. In February, PSRC was awarded a $4.9 million federal transportation safety grant which will fund our regional safety action plan, as well as plans in Pierce County and the cities of Burien, Everett, Kent, Redmond and Tukwila. With this funding, we are moving the region toward a new approach that recognizes that humans are fallible and designs a transportation system that is more forgiving -- so that mistakes don't mean that people die. We're already working on a second grant that will support even more of our regional cities in moving toward this safer, "Vision Zero" strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all..
And yesterday, I welcomed over 150 national, state, and regional leaders to our first PSRC Safety Summit to begin the hard work to meet our Vision Zero safety goals. We have a big job ahead to eliminate serious injuries and deaths in our transportation system, but the good news is that we can do it with urgency and will.
Celebrate the Fourth of July on the Eastside!
 Next Tuesday, get out to celebrate the Fourth of July in the sunshine and with your neighbors!
Start out your day at Kirkland's annual 4th of July parade, including a kids pavilion at 10:30am, a kids parade at 11:30am, and the main parade at 12:00pm. The event features local shops, dance groups, music, government representatives, and much more.
From 5:00-10:30pm, the Bellevue Family 4th Celebration at the Bellevue Downtown Park will have live music, family entertainment, children's areas, and food vendors. Don't miss the Eastside's largest fireworks display, synchronized to music performed by the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra, starting at 10:05!
 The I-90 Steel Bridge project remains one of the final gaps remaining in the 42-mile Eastrail corridor
Earlier this month, a group of Eastside elected officials, staff, and community leaders took a walking tour of Eastrail’s next big step, the I-90 Steel Bridge project, a landmark recognizable to most who travel along I-90 as the graffiti-covered steel trestle just west of the I-405 interchange.
The I-90 Steel Bridge project will close one of final gaps in realizing the vision of an uninterrupted 42-mile trail that will connect the Eastside like never before and provide the communities of Renton, Bellevue, Kirkland, Woodinville, and Redmond with new opportunities for non-motorized recreation and transportation. The project includes construction of a 1.7-mile section of paved trail in Bellevue and retrofit of a critical bridge that spans sixteen lanes of I-90. It also includes developing a safe connection between the I-90 Mountains to Sound Greenway Trail that travels west to Seattle and east across Snoqualmie Pass, continuing to the Idaho border as the Palouse to Cascades Trail.
The I-90 Steel Bridge Project faces a significant funding gap that we’re working hard to close. The June walking tour with Eastside leaders marked a great next step to learn more about the project as we identify new funding opportunities, including acquiring federal dollars, to complete the project and, by extension, connect the Eastside with Eastrail.
Spread the word!
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Sincerely,
 Claudia Balducci
King County Council
District 6
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