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Incoming SDOT director promises ‘top to bottom review’ of Vision Zero

caption: Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell selected Greg Spotts as the city's transportation director in July 2022.
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Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell selected Greg Spotts as the city's transportation director in July 2022.
Seattle Department of Transportation

Trains, bikes, buses, scooters, rideshare.

There are plenty of ways to get around town, and Seattle's new director of the Department of Transportation has been using them in his first couple weeks on the job.

Before taking the top job at SDOT, Greg Spotts was in Los Angeles, leading the city of L.A.'s street services bureau.

Soundside host Libby Denkmann spoke to Spotts about some of his priorities for the department in his first year on the job, Vision Zero, and creating a more climate-resilient transportation infrastructure.

Vision Zero is Seattle’s 2015 plan to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030.

But, at least so far, the vision has not become a reality. A KUOW analysis of SDOT data earlier this year found that the pedestrian fatality rate was 150% higher in the five years after the plan was launched, compared to the five years leading up to its creation.

Here is a link to our earlier reporting on Vision Zero.

You can listen to the full interview above.

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