PORTLAND, Ore. — A Northeast Portland woman is trying to make the site of a serious crash safer for people who walk in the area.
On Sunday, Tamara King made bright orange and yellow checkered flags for people to carry while walking across Northeast Sandy Boulevard and 26th Avenue.
“People kind of treat this street like a second freeway," said King, "and it's not.”
On the evening of Oct. 24, Tamara was stopped at the intersection, which is marked with a painted crosswalk and median, waiting for a woman to cross the street.
“She gave us a little wave to say, 'Thank you for stopping,' and the next instant she was hit by an SUV,” King recalled. “It was the worst thing I've ever seen.”
The woman survived and King resolved to make the intersection safer, by putting the flags on both sides of Sandy Boulevard.
“Just take one, cross the street, make sure drivers see you," King said. "Don't take anything for granted."
Rather than flags, King said she would like to see flashing lights at Northeast 26th and Sandy. She shared that with the Portland Bureau of Transportation and learned the city wasn’t planning to putting lights there anytime soon.
A PBOT spokesman told KGW that the intersection could be a good candidate for a flashing light, especially with new apartments coming to the area. He also said flashing light beacons were under construction on Northeast Sandy and 31st, 85th and 91st avenues.
In Oregon City, someone fastened crossing flags at Pearl Street and Molalla Avenue, where someone hit and killed a woman back in April. Not long after that, a distracted driver hit a boy on a bike.
It's hard to know whether those flags, or the flags posted on Northeast Sandy will make crossing the street any safer. But for King, one thing is certain: after what she witnessed in October, she has to try.
“This project has helped me work through it,” King said, “instead of living it over and over.”