On August 29, 2014, a young attorney named Sher Kung died in downtown Seattle when a truck struck her as she biked to work on Second Avenue. She left behind a wife and infant daughter.
Antoine McNamara, a downtown attorney and resident of Beacon Hill, remembers riding past his friend’s body on his way to work on the day that Kung died. A tarp was laid over it.
Dozens of people held a memorial ride to remember Kung. A shrine, including a “ghost bike” painted white and bouquets of flowers, appeared at the corner where she died.
City officials moved fast. Three months earlier, Mayor Ed Murray had directed engineers and planners to jump-start the construction of a protected bike lane on the street, using easy-to-install plastic pylons. Ten days after Kung’s death, Murray inaugurated the new bike lane. A literal death trap was transformed into vastly safer bidirectional pathway for cyclists with a physical barrier separating them from vehicular traffic…