A collision at 12th and Boren yesterday left a man seriously injured, according to Seattle Police Department’s blotter. A small sedan crashed into his scooter around 1:24 PM.

More from SPD:

Preliminary investigation indicates that a black 2013 Yamaha scooter was traveling northbound on 12th Avenue South approaching Boren Avenue South. At the same time a 2001 tan Honda Accord was traveling southbound on Boren Avenue South approaching 12th Avenue South. The two vehicles collided in the intersection, causing the motor scooter operator to be ejected and thrown to the pavement. The events leading up to the collision are unknown at this time and remain under active investigation.

Fire department medics responded to the scene and transported the adult male operator of the scooter to Harborview Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Officers evaluated the 82-year-old female driver of the Honda for signs of impairment due to alcohol and/or drugs.  No signs of impairment were detected.

There were no citations issued at the scene, which is standard procedure in serious traffic collisions requiring extensive follow up investigation and collision reconstruction.

Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives responded to the scene and continue to actively investigate.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is hosting another open house for the Central Area Neighborhood Greenway and 23rd Avenue corridor projects tomorrow, February 26, from 5:00 to 7:30 PM at Thurgood Marshall Elementary (2401 S Irving Street).

In case you need a reminder, SDOT’s summary of the projects:

23rd Avenue connects a variety of users to businesses, educational institutions and residences in the Central Area and beyond. This area also serves high volumes of vehicles, pedestrians, people riding bikes, and transit users (approximately 5,800 daily– the 8th highest ridership in King County). Today, the road is in poor condition with hundreds of patches where potholes existed, narrow lanes, a lack of turn pockets at key intersections and is bordered in many places by narrow and uneven sidewalks.

To balance the needs of users in the area, SDOT will redesign 23rd Avenue between E John Street and Rainier Avenue S (Phases 1 and 2) from the current four lanes (two lanes in each direction) to three lanes (one lane in each direction and a center turn lane). Between E Roanoke Street and E John Street (Phase 3), the road will remain four lanes. SDOT will also implement a nearby neighborhood greenway, called the Central Area Neighborhood Greenway. This greenway will provide a safer, calmer street for people to walk and ride bicycles.

The purpose of our projects in the Central Area is to balance safety, mobility and reliability needs for a variety of users in the area, as well as enhance the local community and natural environment.

More info

Central Area Neighborhood Greenway: www.seattle.gov/transportation/centralgreenway.htm

23rd Avenue Corridor Improvements Project: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/23rd_ave.htm

[email protected]

County residents will vote in April on measures to boost King County Metro’s budget, including a $60 car tab fee and a tenth-of-a-cent sales-tax increase.

Bus fares will also rise beginning in March 2015 in another effort to help Metro. Yesterday, the Metropolitan King County Council voted to raise fares by 25 cents, so peak one-zone rides will cost you $2.75 and peak two-zone rides will be $3. If the ballot measure is approved, it will raise $130 million per year, with $50 million of that going to repair streets around the county. The remaining $80 million will be earmarked for Metro and for county-maintained roads.

These efforts are attempts to avoid Metro’s threatened 17 percent service cut after the state legislature chose not to act on Metro’s behalf. Metro said in November it would slash service, including cutting and reducing several routes in the Central District. If the budget picture didn’t improve, Metro said it would eliminate routes 4 and 27 and reduce service on routes 2, 3, 7, and others.

The council also created a low-income fare program to reduce the burden of a fare increase on low-income riders. If the tax measure passes, the county’s approval of a $1.25 low-income fare will go into effect. If voters do not pass the measure, low-income fare will be $1.50.

If passed, the April 22 ballot measure will do several things:

• Increase the King County sales tax by 0.1 of a percent for ten years;
• Establish a $60 vehicle fee;
• Distribute 60 percent of the net revenues of the ballot measure to provide funding to maintain Metro transit service hours at current levels. If any funds remain after maintaining transit service hours, evenly split the remaining funds 50/50 between transit and unincorporated road purposes;
• 40 percent would go to cities for transportation improvements and the county for unincorporated area road purposes allocated based on population;
• Specify that the funds must be used for transportation improvement projects contained in the County’s, Cities’ or Puget Sound Regional Council’s approved transportation plans (as updated by the individual jurisdictions);
• Establish a low-income rebate program that rebates $20 of vehicle fee for vehicle owners whose household income is less than 45 percent of the county’s median household income.

The sales tax increase and the $60 car tab fee would expire after 10 years.