Kirkland Transportation Safety Action Plan

In 2024, the City of Kirkland secured federal funding from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program to develop a Transportation Safety Action Plan - a vital step toward making our streets safer for everyone.

The Kirkland Transportation Safety Action Plan advances the City’s Vision Zero Goal to eliminate fatal and serious-injury crashes affecting roadways users, including people who walk, bike, take transit, or drive. The Transportation Safety Action Plan will use a data-driven and community-informed approach to identify collector and arterial streets with high priority safety needs, develop a new speed limit setting policy, and create a toolbox of engineering strategies that prioritizes the safety of all roadway users.

Upcoming Public Meetings

Transportation Commission Meeting
Date: Wednesday July 23, 2025 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Hybrid meeting - City of Kirkland Council Chambers and Zoom
More information, including a link to sign up to give public comment

Past Public Meetings

March 2024 - Transportation Commission - Staff Report(PDF, 87KB)

December 2024 - Transportation Commission - Staff Report(PDF, 89KB)

March 2025 - Transportation Commission - Staff Report(PDF, 90KB)

**Link to all past Transportation Commission meeting recordings

May 2025 - "Tea With Transportation" Open House - Event Flyer(PDF, 3MB)

May 2025 - Transportation Commission - Staff Report(PDF, 153KB)

July 2025 - City Council Study Session - Staff Report(PDF, 510KB), Video

Project Timeline

January 2025 – project begins
January through March 2025 – data collection period
March through June 2025 – analyses work ongoing
July 2025 – consultant produces draft plan for City staff review
July 2025 – Draft KTSAP goes to Transportation Commission for review, feedback, and recommendation to City Council for adoption
September 2025 – City Council reviews draft plan document and offers feedback
Q4 2025 – anticipated adoption of the Kirkland Transportation Safety Action Plan and Speed Limit Policy Update

What's In The Plan

Intersection Near-Miss Analysis and Recommendations

The City’s consultant will collect and analyze video data from select signalized intersections with a history of severe crashes, focusing on near-miss incidents involving people walking, rolling, and bicycling. The analysis will summarize behavior patterns and contributing factors, and it will identify engineering countermeasure recommendations to improve intersection safety.

Citywide Crash Analysis and Recommendations

Citywide crash data over the past five years will be analyzed for trends, focusing on various factors such as crash severity, type, location, time of day, pedestrian and bicyclist involvement, human behavioral factors, and contributing circumstances. Any patterns identified which relate to roadway design, including crash rates, severity, and contributing factors will be paired with recommendations for safety improvements specific to intersections and road segments.

Speed Data Collection and Analysis

Vehicle speed data has already been collected for approximately 90 arterial and collector roadway segments throughout Kirkland under typical weather conditions over a 48-hour period. The data has been processed for various measurements, such as the 85th percentile (defined as the speed which 85% of drivers are driving at or below), average speed, and pace. The findings will be used as an input into the speed limit setting policy currently under development.

Speed Limit Setting Policy and Speed Limit Evaluation Tool

A key outcome of the plan is a context-sensitive, data-driven approach to setting speed limits within Kirkland utilizing the Safe System Approach. Currently under development is a speed limit evaluation tool, an objective means to evaluate many factors above and beyond the 85th percentile speeds, including land use context, crash history, driveway spacing, roadway geometry, and more, to help engineers study and set appropriate speed limits. The inputs and output of this speed limit evaluation tool, in combination with an iterative decision-making process, will be formally documented and proposed for adoption by City Council as an update to Kirkland’s existing speed limit policy. Speed limits would not change on every Kirkland street overnight; instead, the policy update will outline a process for speed limits throughout the city to be evaluated. Implementation of speed limit changes would be opportunistically incorporated into capital improvement projects as they are planned and designed and would be formally approved by Council.

Contact

Jennifer Palmer
Transportation Engineering Supervisor
425-587-3894