10 years later, a safer crosswalk near a Bothell-area school

BOTHELL — Gavin Doyle and other parents at Lockwood Elementary School wanted to make a school crosswalk safer. They didn’t realize it would take 10 years.

Thanks to some help from Snohomish County officials, the county’s public works employees installed newly constructed flashing lights last week at the crosswalk to help alert drivers to crossing students and other pedestrians.

Doyle’s first child was a kindergartener when parents started advocating for a safer crosswalk. He’s in the tenth grade now.

Parents observed cars traveling at high speed downhill on Lockwood Road during the morning rush to drop off students. As the number of near misses increased, parents set out to make the crosswalk more visible.

“We didn’t know who to turn to,” Doyle said Monday. “We didn’t know if the school could do something, or if the district could do something, or the city or county. We just started writing letters to everyone.”

For years, parents wrote to Brier city officials to the west, Bothell officials to the east and Kenmore, in King County, to the south. Lockwood Elementary resides within Snohomish County, while Kenmore Middle School, also part of Northshore School District, resides in King County. Both schools use the same crosswalk.

Over time, parents and staff reached out to officials from multiple city officials, school district officials and members of the state legislature. They even applied for an arts grant in an effort to paint the crosswalk to make it more visible.

Parents, including Doyle, approached the Snohomish County Council last May. Council member Jared Mead visited the crosswalk soon after the meeting.

Over the next year, he helped secure the crosswalk upgrade. The county paid $50,000 from real estate excise tax funds for the new lights, Mead said.

Community advocacy can make a difference, and local government can provide help — eventually, Mead said Monday.

“It shouldn’t take advocacy from parents for 10 years to make something like this happen,” Mead said.

Parents are already seeing a difference after the installation of the safety lights.

“I feel like the kids are more confident when they’re crossing,” said parent volunteer Kelly McDonald. “Even when there’s not crosswalk guards here, they have the flashing lights. I think they’re aware that the cars can see them better.”

Nearly 600 students attend Lockwood Elementary, while just over 700 attend Kenmore Middle School right next door. Hundreds cross the street daily, parents said. Now, after 10 years of work, they can do so a little safer.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Doyle said. “I drive through here every day and it warms my heart. Just knowing that this is something, a change in the world that I helped to affect, that’s a fantastic feeling.”

Correction: A previous version of this story contained inaccurate compass directions for Bothell and Brier

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; [email protected]; X: @willgeschke.