As CHS reported earlier this week, the City Council will soon vote on a resolution enabling construction of the First Hill Streetcar that includes authorization to begin planning an extended route that runs all the way to north Broadway.  We have  learned that the Broadway camera counters signal that SDOT is also now studying the viability of the Capitol Hill Community Council’s proposed “cycle track” concept .  The “cycle track” concept envisions that the streetcar will share Broadway not just with cars but bicycles and pedestrians.  Ethan Malone, the SDOT Project Planner for the First Hill Streetcar, shared the following with CHS:

“The traffic data is used in traffic models to show how traffic would work with various different options for the streetcar on Broadway, such as the Capitol Hill Community Council’s proposed cycle track concept.  A few of these locations are in error, such as the Pike and 11^th location, as the data collection consultant apparently worked from some earlier route maps.  We have notified the consultant about this.”

Both the proposed extension and the data collection efforts represent the sway of the Capitol Hill Streetcar Campaign. 

The “cycle track” envisions allocating Broadway (from West to East) as follows:

8′ – two-way cycle track
4′ – second planter strip
8′ – parking
11′ – southbound lane
11′ – northbound lane
8′ – parking