A crash killed a teen. Now this revamped Boise intersection promises more safety
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- ACHD completed a $450K safety upgrade at 16th and Washington in Boise.
- Improvements include flashing beacons, raised crossings, and ADA ramps.
- Intersection work follows 2023 fatalities that spurred calls for reform.
The Ada County Highway District has completed long-promised changes to a Boise intersection where a dump truck driver ran a red light and killed a 16-year-old as he was skateboarding to Boise High School.
The $450,000 reconstruction of the intersection for 16th at Washington streets, next to the North End Albertsons, has taken several months. The work includes replacing the aging traffic signal with pedestrian-activated flashing beacons and installing raised pedestrian crossings to calm traffic and improve visibility.
The two raised pedestrian crossings, basically large and flat speed bumps, require drivers to slow down at the entrance and exit of the intersection.
The upgrades also include Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant pedestrian ramps and bulb-outs — the extension of curbs into parking lanes to slow traffic and to help drivers see pedestrians more easily.
The changes come after ACHD vowed in 2023 to improve multiple intersections in Boise after several pedestrians and bicyclists were hit or killed that summer. Some of the strongest calls for change came after David Brown, a Horseshoe Bend resident, ran the red light at 16th and Washington and killed Jadin Zurawski on Aug. 3.
Brown was driving his dump truck to a construction site to pick up dirt and was focusing on the light a block ahead at 16th and State streets when the light turned red four seconds before he hit Zurawski. Brown’s speed hadn’t changed, though other cars had stopped at the light. After the accident, Brown stopped and told someone to call 911.
The defense and prosecutors called what happened an accident. Brown pleaded guilty to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter and was ordered in December to spend 20 days in jail, along with two years of unsupervised probation.
At one intersection less than half a mile away, at 11th and State streets by the downtown Boise YMCA, four people were also hit by cars and a 79-year-old was killed in 2023. A pedestrian was killed underneath the Boise Connector, a bicyclist was killed on Eagle Road, and two others were killed on or near Cloverdale Road that year.
Mayor Lauren McLean called the deaths “thoroughly preventable.”
The intersection improvements also plug into the adjacent construction of the 104-unit North End Lofts at 1522 W. State St., which could bring more pedestrians and traffic to the already busy area.
“Let this intersection serve as both a place of healing and a symbol of progress,” ACHD Commission President Miranda Gold said Tuesday at a ceremony marking completion of the project.
Business and Local News Editor David Staats contributed.
