After a 14-year-old Prairie High School student crossing Highway 503 was hit by a car in early 2023, the Washington State Department of Transportation plans to make pedestrian safety improvements near the school.
The department plans to install a HAWK crossing — a crosswalk signal with flashing lights activated when a pedestrian pushes a button — near Prairie High School and Northeast 116th Street. The transportation department will also add a refuge island in the highway to give pedestrians a safer place to wait at the halfway point before completing their crossing.
The improvements are estimated to cost $1.1 million and are scheduled to be built in early 2025.
According to The Columbian, the car that struck the student was traveling around 40 mph — the posted speed limit in the area — when it struck the teen, who was not at a crosswalk. The student didn’t suffer life-threatening injuries.
