A pedestrian was struck crossing East Whidbey Avenue last Thursday morning at the site of a future mid-block crosswalk, according to Oak Harbor police.

Officer Mike Clements said a 25-year-old woman was crossing East Whidbey Avenue near the intersection of Northeast Barron Drive. She was headed toward the Saars Marketplace parking lot.

At the same time, a man was driving a Ford F-350 pickup west on East Whidbey Avenue. He entered the left-turn lane but didn’t see the pedestrian.

The truck struck the woman in the middle of the road.

Clements said the woman was injured and transported to the hospital by ambulance. He said she was talking and her injuries didn’t seem to be serious.

Clements said he was still investigating some issues, but he didn’t think either party would be cited.

He explained that pedestrians are supposed to use a crosswalk to cross a road if there’s one within 300 feet. In this case, it was about 400 feet to a crosswalk.

The driver wasn’t at fault, he said, because the collision occurred when it was dark and foggy; the pedestrian wasn’t wearing anything reflective.

“She wasn’t very visible,” he said.

Clements said a student walking to school about a week earlier was hit by a car just up the road.

Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley is spearheading an effort to build a mid-block crosswalk at the site, which is a common place for people to cross.

People commonly cross between Saars Market, other businesses and a bus stop on one side and the Roller Barn and residential units on the other.

He brought the proposal  to the Skagit-Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization and the group ranked it as the No. 1 project for funding.

As a result, the city received a $224,500 grant from the Transportation Alternative Program to build the crossing.

The grant requires no local matching funds.

Several council members, however, had concerned about the configuration of an unusual mid-block crosswalk in a road crammed with driveways, entrances and exits.

As a result, the council asked for a traffic engineer to look at the issue before moving ahead with it. The engineer found there was a need and proposed two options.

In October, the council approved moving forward with the design and permitting of the project.