On the evening of July 16, 74 people brave the heat for a walk and talk along a busy downtown portion of Division Street, the state-owned, high-speed arterial highway that bisects the city. Facilitated by the Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC), a Washington state nonprofit that advocates for safer and more affordable transportation, the gathering is stifling, dusty and loud; it’s incredibly difficult to hear speakers over the traffic.
It isn’t just unpleasant — it’s unsafe, too. Across six lanes of traffic, many cars whiz by at speeds far exceeding the 35 mph speed limit, just mere feet from the pedestrians on the sidewalk.
There were three pedestrian fatalities on Division Street in 2024 and five in 2023, a majority taking place along Division Street’s one-way couplets (Division and Ruby from Cleveland Avenue to the Spokane River; and Division and Browne south of the river to I-90)…