TACOMA, Wash. — Julia Brown said one of the main complaints she hears from customers at the Cat and Rabbitt Cake Shop is about drivers speeding by.
Brown has been running the bakery on Sixth Avenue for about a year and half. She serves her cakes through a window on the sidewalk.
That means her customers stand in line outside, close to the busy street. Cars zooming past is a recurring problem.
“The noise alone from the high speeds can be a little intimidating,” she said.
Now the Sixth Avenue Business District is one of four sites being suggested as a testing ground for lower speed limits in Tacoma. The district and three others would have their limits lowered to 25 miles per hour. Residential streets would be lowered to 25 miles per hour.
It’s part of Tacoma’s Vision Zero Action plan to address traffic fatalities and severe injuries in car crashes.
Senior Transportation Planner Carrie Wilhelme said traffic fatalities in Tacoma saw a 60% increase, including 10 deaths in 2020 and 16 in 2021. Reversing that trend is a long process, but areas like Sixth Avenue are a good place to start, she said.
“That’s the area where need to be driving slow,” Wilhelme said. “It’s where we have a lot of pedestrians and bicyclists, and we need to work together and slow down and make it an environment that’s safe for everyone.”
Brown said that may mean doing more than just changing the signs because the impact could save lives.
“I think we would need to see a lot more enforcement, and possibly, also speedbumps … to actually, physically make the cars slow down,” she said. “Say you’re walking your 4-year-old and you’re terrified that they’re gonna walk or jump in the street, and when they’re going 40 miles an hour in a 30, there’s no time to correct for that.”
Tacoma Public Works is hosting a open house Saturday at 11 a.m. at the STAR Center to present the initiative, and the larger plan to address traffic fatalities. Public feedback is welcome.