SEATTLE — The location where a 23-year-old woman was struck and killed by a Seattle Police Department (SPD) vehicle will become the city's first "protected intersection."
Construction for a portion of the Thomas Street Project began Tuesday at the intersection of Thomas and Dexter Avenue North, according to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). This is the same intersection where pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula was killed going east to west in a crosswalk in January.
The Thomas Street Refined project dates back to well before the collision that killed Kandula, with a first draft being revealed in September 2019.
A protected intersection is designed to "support and prioritize safety for nonmotorized traffic in the corridor." Protected intersections often include islands in the intersection that serve as protective barriers to pedestrians and bicycles crossing the street.
Traffic signals will be installed to increase safety for those walking and biking through the intersection. In addition, the greenway on Thomas Street will be connected to the Dexter Avenue North bike lanes.
The map below shows an overview of where the scheduled work will be done in South Lake Union.
SDOT says there will be a closure at the intersection as soon as Nov. 13 and that detour signs will be posted when that closure occurs.
According to a case investigation report, the Seattle police officer was traveling at 74 miles per hour in a 24 mph zone just before Kandula was struck and killed. The cruiser was traveling at 63 miles per hour when Kandula was hit.
The report found that speed was the cause of the collision, as the speed at which the officer was traveling did "not allow [Kandula] or [the officer] sufficient time to detect, address and avoid a hazard that presented itself," the report states.
According to the report, the officer did not have his siren activated continuously. Instead, the officer "chirped" his siren at the intersection. He did have his emergency lights on, according to a previous statement from the police department.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has hired an outside firm to review the case, but the officer who hit Kandula so far has not been charged with anything.
Kandula's death made national headlines in September and sparked local protests after body camera footage was released of a different SPD officer making jokes about her death while on the phone with a union executive.
In the body camera footage, Officer Daniel Auderer, who was not involved in the January collision, was captured in the video saying, "But she is dead" and laughing while on the phone.
"She was 26 anyway," Auderer said in the video. "She had limited value."
After that comment, he said the city should just write a check for $11,000.
Auderer is the vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, the largest law enforcement labor union in the Northwest. He has said his comments were shared without context.