WSDOT Projects

• High Accident Location (HAL): spot locations less than a mile long with a higher than average rate of severe accidents in the past 2 years.
• Pedestrian Accident Location (PAL): spot locations (0.10 mi or less) that have 4 accidents in a 6-year period.
• High Accident Corridor (HAC): sections of state highway one of more miles long, with a higher than average number of severe accidents over a continuous period of time.

SR 99 ranked poorly overall
SR 99 North has one High-Accident Corridor (HAC) and six High-Accident Locations (HALs), plus 12 Pedestrian-Accident Locations (PALs ) within the eight-mile study area. (listed below)

Third worst HAC in state
Designated a HAC: a three and one-half mile section of Aurora Avenue - Denny Way to north of N. 50th Street (the Woodland Park Zoo) -- is ranked third worst in the state compared with all highways (using collision cost/per mile/per year). The list includes state-operated and locally operated highways. SR 99/Aurora Avenue is operated and maintained by the city of Seattle. SR 99 in SeaTac and SR 500 in Vancouver ranked first and second worst in the state, respectively.

Recent accident data
Along with traffic congestion, the high number of collisions prompted a study of the SR 99 North corridor to get more details on the types of collisions which were occurring. The SR 99 study team examined recent accident statistics over a three-year period (1999-2001) and found there were a total of 1,541 collisions in the eight mile section. Pedestrian and bicycle accidents totaled 73, including four of the eight fatalities in the corridor.