Motorists drive past a small memorial for two boys who died in January, as seen near the intersection Northeast 23rd Street and Northeast 112th Avenue. The kids -- Taylor Crepeau, 14, and Andrew Friedt, 17 -- were hit by a car while trying to cross Northeast 112th Avenue. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
A new sidewalk installed along Northeast 112th Avenue in east Vancouver marks the latest step in improving safety along a notoriously dangerous road for pedestrians.
However, there’s still more work to be done, said Loretta Callahan, spokesperson for the Vancouver Public Works Department.
The new sidewalk along the east side of the north-south arterial stretches from Southeast Chkalov Drive to Northeast Ninth Street. Construction on the sidewalk wrapped up over the summer, on-schedule despite COVID-19 delaying other projects around the city, Callahan said. In all, the infrastructure upgrade cost just under $270,000.
“It was a grant-funded project to improve pedestrian safety,” Callahan said.
The half-mile stretch of fresh sidewalk is one of a few chunks of designated pedestrian walkways along 112th Avenue. Yet it stops nearly a mile south from where two teenage boys — Taylor Crepeau, 14, and Andrew Friedt, 17 — were struck and killed by a pickup truck while trying to cross the five-lane arterial in the early hours of Jan. 21.
According to a release from the Vancouver Police Department, the driver had reported he didn’t see the boys in time to stop. The intersection is illuminated by streetlights, but there’s no marked crosswalk or traffic signal. There weren’t — and still aren’t — sidewalks along the east side of the road where Crepeau and Friedt died.
The crash was the latest in a long line of incidents along the arterial, which the Washington State Corridor Safety Program identified in 2009 as a safety corridor project. Signs still posted along the side of the road indicate the designation.
Work to improve the arterial’s safety is ongoing, Callahan said, with staff “pursuing grant funding for sidewalks, ADA-compliant ramps and hybrid pedestrian signal crossings” along the corridor.
So far, the city’s work has focused primarily on sidewalks. Public works personnel are working with property owners along the corridor to install and upgrade pedestrian walkways, Callahan said.
“Staff are also working with two proposed private developments for future sidewalk infill improvements along Northeast 112th Avenue, near Northeast 23rd Street,” Callahan said.
The southern half of the road, up to Northeast 28th Street, was highlighted as a priority in the city’s 2020-25 Transportation Improvement Program.
Memory remains
A small memorial at the corner of Northeast 112th Avenue and Northeast 23rd Street honors the memory of the teenagers who died there earlier this year.
“Gone forever but in our hearts rest in paradise,” reads one poster propped up on a stake by the side of the road, next to photos of the two boys. “We love and miss you so very much.”
The posters and flowers at the scene look fresh. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, loved ones of the boys held a vigil and started a GoFundMe account. Friends printed T-shirts, with photos of Friedt and Crepeau wearing angel wings and halos.
And a group of Vancouver teens mobilized at the city government. On Feb. 10, Alyna Munoz, a friend of Friedt and then a junior at Mountain View High School, asked the city council to improve the safety of the road.
“We did what we could do at a time when it felt like we couldn’t do anything,” Munoz told the council. “We were sitting there at the vigil looking over at the traffic, and we realized, there’s little to no sidewalks on either side. No streetlights, it’s very dark, cars are going very fast.”
Logan Eberhard, another friend of Friedt’s to address the city council in the immediate aftermath of the accident, told The Columbian in March that he avoids driving on the road because he knows how dangerous it is. He expressed frustration that something hadn’t been done sooner.
Recent history of 112th Avenue:
August 2014: Two motorcyclists critically injured
August 2014: Woman drives car into Clark Public Utilities Substation and dies.
October 2014: Family struck while trick-or-treating on Halloween. Seven-year-old girl dies.
November 2014: Car crashes through the barricade that had cordoned off the site of the Halloween crash and narrowly misses investigators.
December 2015: Driver seriously injured in crash near state Highway 500 interchange.
March 2016: Off-duty Vancouver firefighter struck and killed while walking.
January 2018: Two people hospitalized in collision near Highway 500 interchange.
February 2018: Pedestrian suffers a broken arm in a hit-and-run.
January 2020: Two boys struck and killed on their way to school.
“It’s such a preventable cause. All of these people lost their lives and got injured,” Eberhard said.
A couple months after she addressed the city council, Munoz told The Columbian that she was still hoping for more comprehensive safety upgrades.
“I’m hoping that we get better sidewalks there. Maybe some type of crosswalk or intersection, maybe some flashing lights. Something to let people know that there’s people there,” Munoz said.
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