Posted by Zoe Harris and Drew DeVitis
Local
Hundreds of thousands of pedestrians waited in chilly temperatures to watch the Seahawks Super Bowl victory parade in downtown Seattle!
Seattle’s West Seattle neighborhood is experiencing traffic safety improvements to help slow down drivers. Temporary speed signs on 35th Avenue SW as well as flashing beacons in three school zones have been installed.
National
In Cincinnati, a proposal to move the elections office from downtown to a site eight miles outside the central business district has turned into a heated political debate. Opponents say moving it will make early voting harder for the county’s car-less, which includes more than 21 percent of the city’s population.
Rhode Island’s South Providence Elementary School was struggling with chronically absent students. To address the issue, they started a Walking School Bus. The program has now expanded to two schools and six routes and 100 percent of participating students have improved their attendance.
Currently, New York law states that city officials cannot regulate speed on the city’s streets, however new bills introduced in the state Assembly and Senate would give the New York City Council the power to reduce the speed limit by 10 mph on residential streets.
International
The Olympic Torch finally arrived in Sochi, Russia after a 123 day and 65,000 km journey that involved 14,000 different torchbearers. En route, the flame traveled all over the Russian Federation including the North Pole and the summit of Mount Elbrus.
If you come across any interesting pedestrian news or stories, please send a link to zoe@feetfirst.org.
Photos courtesy of KING5.com and the Baltimore Sun