A couple of years ago, at 124th Ave. N.E. and N.E. 140th St. of the then-unincorporated Kingsgate area, the county put in a new pedestrian crossing.

When I first saw it in action I was impressed how effective the system was in drawing my attention to the entire crosswalk. The system’s effectiveness derived from a series of flashing yellow lights embedded in the street along the crosswalk.

The lights were activated by crossing push buttons on either side of the street. They were highly visible a distance away, even in bright daylight, and supplemented by overhead caution lights.

I was disappointed to see workers pulling up the embedded lights the other day. The city has replaced this sleek, modern and effective safety system with orange flags that the pedestrians are supposed to carry across the street.

The lights notified the drivers of a pedestrian before they stepped from the curb, now a walker is hardly observed until in the street.

Sometimes I have noted all of the flags on one side of the street; the pedestrians from the other side left to dodge traffic and pray. This is big-city progress?!

Besides the safety and aesthetic superiority of the light system over the flags, it is a heartbreaker that they trashed a several-thousand dollar system for the sake of conformity to Kirkland’s inferior standard.

Perhaps the flag system is effective in two-lane downtown Kirkland. It is not as effective on a five-lane thoroughfare.

Brad Sheneman, Kirkland