Axios Seattle

June 05, 2026
It's Friday!
🌧️ Today's weather: Partly sunny then slight chance of showers and thunderstorms, with a high of 63 and a low of 48.
🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Seattle member Rachel Withers!
⚠️ Situational awareness: Northbound I-5 will close this weekend between I-90 and Northeast 45th Street.
- Lanes will start shutting down at 9pm tonight, with the freeway fully reopening by 5am Monday. The I-5 express lanes will stay open northbound throughout the closure.
Today's newsletter is 830 words, a 3-minute read.
1 big thing: Fatal crash highlights gaps
The intersection where a Seattle teacher died in a bicycle crash this week has long been identified as dangerous for cyclists — yet more ambitious plans to improve bike safety there were shelved years ago.
The big picture: The death of Christian Salyer, a 30-year-old teacher at Thurgood Marshall Elementary, comes seven years after Seattle city officials dropped plans for a protected bike lane on a stretch of 12th Avenue South.
Catch up quick: The crash that killed Salyer — which involved a garbage truck — occurred Monday afternoon at the intersection of 12th Avenue South and East Yesler Way, the Seattle Police Department told Axios.
- Salyer died Tuesday morning from his injuries, according to an email from Julie Breidenbach, the principal at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School.
- An investigation is underway, Seattle police detective Brian Pritchard told Axios.
Flashback: City officials had planned to build a protected bike lane along 12th between King Street and Yesler by 2021, documents from 2017 show.
- But those blocks were removed from the city's plans in 2019, leaving the stretch of road with painted bike lanes — or in many places, none at all.
- In a 2021 project update, SDOT said extending the protected bike lane north of King Street would create transit delays and longer vehicle queues at Yesler, Boren Avenue and South Jackson Street.
- The agency said it was balancing "streetcar speed and reliability, transit needs, and bicycle safety" and would continue evaluating alternatives.
State of play: SDOT says the part of 12th Avenue between Yesler and King has "a high number of crashes, including serious ones."
- The city has made some upgrades — including adding low concrete barriers along part of Yesler near 12th to help shield cyclists from cars.
- It's not clear where in the intersection Salyer was biking when he was fatally struck.
What they're saying: "There have been more ambitious plans for 12th between King and Yesler that got pulled back, and certainly would have made the intersection safer," Kyle Jacobson, co-lead of the neighborhood group Central Seattle Streets for All, told Axios Thursday.
- While not all the facts of this week's crash are known right now, he said "the next crash is preventable."

2. 🥖 Bánh mì bracket: Behold the Final Four


We're down to the Final Four in our quest to find Seattle readers' favorite bánh mì!
- After two rounds of voting, Saigon Deli, Tammy's Bakery, Chu Minh Tofu and Q Bakery are the last sandwich shops standing.
Vote below to help decide which two of them end up going head to head in the championship round.
- This round closes at 2pm Monday.
3. Morning Buzz: 💰 $2.6M SPD settlement
⚖️ Seattle will pay $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit by four female police officers who alleged sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation by current and former SPD leaders. (KING 5)
🏠 A group of nonprofits and business leaders is working to get every homeless person in a section of Pioneer Square into shelter before the World Cup. (Seattle Times)
🏈 The WSU Cougars landed one of their biggest recruiting wins in recent years, securing a commitment from three-star Oregon receiver Malachi Garlington. (Spokesman-Review)
⚡️Texas-based Digital Realty has proposed a downtown Seattle data center at the former Bed Bath & Beyond site, even as the city considers a one-year moratorium on new facilities. (GeekWire)
✊ Workers at Seattle's Walrus and the Carpenter restaurant overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike after more than a year of contract negotiations, citing disputes over pay, working conditions and bargaining practices. (The Stranger)
🎨 Seattle's landmarks board has designated The People's Wall in the Central District as a city landmark, recognizing the Black Panther–era mural at 1919 E. Spruce St. for its cultural, historical and artistic significance to Seattle's Black community. (City of Seattle)
4. Pets of Puget Sound: Buckles
We've asked you to share pictures of your beloved fur babies — and today we're celebrating reader Dan D.'s companion with a little poem.
Buckles the songbird, with a stick by her side
She sings in the breeze with fluffy-girl pride.
A log is a treasure, a song is her art,
And being a good girl is deep in her heart.
📸 Want to see your pet featured here? Hit reply and send us their name, some cute pics and what they most like and dislike. They might just become our next featured star!
🤞 Melissa is hoping her fridge gets fixed today, as she's blown way too much money on takeout this week.
🥶 Clarridge is trying hard not to turn the heat back on.
This newsletter was edited by Geoff Ziezulewicz.
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