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GreenDeck Super Safety Standards

Addressing Safety, Accessibility, and Resilience at the I-5 Underpass

The I-5 underpass in Seattle’s Chinatown–International District is more than transportation infrastructure. It is a vital community connection used by residents, workers, visitors, pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and motorists every day. GreenDeck Climate Commons believes that spaces this important should meet a much higher standard for public safety, accessibility, environmental performance, and human dignity.

Our goal is to establish a GreenDeck Super Safety Standard for underpasses and other overlooked public spaces across Seattle — transforming them into well-lit, resilient, accessible, clean, and welcoming community infrastructure.

Safety begins with visibility.

GreenDeck proposes a layered lighting system using high-efficiency LED fixtures, solar-powered lighting, battery storage, and resilient microgrid technology to eliminate dark zones beneath the freeway. Lighting should illuminate pedestrian routes, bike connections, gathering spaces, entrances, exits, signage, and potential conflict areas while minimizing glare and unnecessary light pollution.

Where appropriate, solar generation can be paired with GreenDeck's Blue Battery infrastructure, creating distributed renewable-energy systems capable of supporting lighting, communications, water systems, sensors, and other essential public amenities even when conventional power is unavailable.

Safety also requires the ability to call for help.

Clearly visible emergency communication stations and call boxes should be strategically located throughout the underpass. These systems could connect users with emergency services, provide location identification, support two-way communication, and incorporate highly visible emergency lighting or wayfinding features.

GreenDeck's standard also emphasizes Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design principles, including clear sightlines, open pathways, thoughtful landscape design, elimination of hidden spaces, intuitive circulation, highly visible entrances and exits, and infrastructure that encourages regular community activity and legitimate public use.

Accessibility must be designed into the space from the beginning.

Pedestrian routes should support people of all ages and abilities through smooth and unobstructed pathways, appropriate grades, detectable transitions, accessible crossings, seating and rest areas, clear directional signage, and sufficient clearance for wheelchairs, mobility devices, bicycles, and emergency access.

Sanitation and public health infrastructure are equally important.

GreenDeck envisions sanitation stations that may include handwashing facilities, potable-water access where feasible, waste and recycling receptacles, pet-waste stations, and regularly serviced hygiene infrastructure. Rainwater capture, filtration, and Blue Battery systems could help support non-potable water needs while reducing stormwater runoff from surrounding transportation infrastructure.

A safe public space must also be actively maintained.

GreenDeck's Super Safety Standard calls for routine inspection of lighting, drainage, vegetation, pavement, accessibility features, water systems, emergency equipment, graffiti, trash accumulation, and structural conditions. Green stormwater infrastructure should be maintained as functioning infrastructure — not simply landscaping — with clear responsibility for inspection, vegetation management, sediment removal, and long-term performance.

Additional safety features may include:

• Solar and grid-connected lighting with battery backup

• Emergency call boxes and two-way communication systems

• Clearly marked emergency location identifiers

• Public drinking-water and sanitation stations where feasible

• ADA-accessible pedestrian and mobility routes

• Protected bicycle and pedestrian connections

• High-visibility wayfinding and community information signage

• Open sightlines and elimination of concealed spaces

• Strategically placed cameras or environmental sensors where legally and publicly appropriate

• Fire-extinguisher and emergency-response infrastructure where warranted

• Green stormwater infrastructure to control runoff and standing water

• Slip-resistant walking surfaces and improved drainage

• Heat-, smoke-, and air-quality monitoring where appropriate

• Solar microgrids and Blue Battery backup systems

• Durable seating and community gathering areas designed for universal access

• Regular inspection, cleaning, maintenance, and rapid repair protocols

Most importantly, GreenDeck approaches safety as more than the prevention of crime or accidents.

Safety means knowing where you are.
Safety means being able to see and be seen.
Safety means having a clear route home.
Safety means access to light, water, sanitation, communication, and emergency assistance.
Safety means infrastructure that continues functioning when conditions become difficult.
And safety means creating public spaces that communicate, through their design, that every person using them matters.

By combining renewable energy, resilient water systems, green stormwater infrastructure, universal accessibility, emergency communications, sanitation, thoughtful urban design, and consistent stewardship, GreenDeck Climate Commons can help establish a new model for underpass safety — beginning in the CID and scalable across Seattle.

The GreenDeck standard is not simply to make neglected spaces less dangerous.

Our standard is to make them exceptionally safe, resilient, useful, beautiful, and worthy of the communities they connect.