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Pike Pine Renaissance pulls back on transformation of Capitol Hill corridors to downtown

The Pike Pine Renaissance plans wider sidewalks and concrete bike lane barriers on Pine Street over I-5

The Pike Street bridge over I-5 won’t be able to handle expanded sidewalks or concrete bike lane barriers

By Ryan Packer

Seattle’s waterfront remains a heavy construction zone as work progresses on the long-planned multi-lane boulevard and adjoining park, but a piece of the overall Waterfront Seattle project that gets much closer to Capitol Hill hasn’t broken ground yet.

The Pike Pine Renaissance project envisions streetscape changes to Pike and Pine Streets between 1st Avenue and Bellevue Ave, with the one-way street configuration in downtown extended all the way up the hill to Bellevue. Sidewalks in several areas will be expanded. The gaps between the existing protected bike lanes will be filled in, with the bike lane barriers beefed up with more solid and durable materials. That’s the original vision, at least, and the one that was reviewed by the city’s design commission last year when the project reached 30% design on its way to planned construction in fall of 2022.

But in the latest plans obtained from the city at the 60% level of design, a key segment of the project has been scaled back. While the wider sidewalks and concrete barriers for the bike lane are still planned for the I-5 overpass on Pine Street, the overpass on Pike Street is no longer planned as much of a makeover. Instead of concrete, the barricades look to be something like plastic posts only.

Ethan Bergerson of the Seattle Department of Transportation explained the reason for the change.

 

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“The proposed protected bike lane and expanded pedestrian zone over I-5 on the north side of the street retain the same footprint as the 30% design,” Bergerson said. “The design changes the physical materials used to construct these zones, in order to reduce the weight addition to the Pike Street bridge.”

“This change was necessary because analysis of the bridge load rating showed that additional weight of concrete sidewalks and bike lane buffers proposed as part of the 30% design exceeded what the bridge, which was built in the late 1960s, could safely support,” he wrote.

“The project team is committed to improving both pedestrian and bicycle facilities on the bridge and continues to explore ideas to accomplish this goal while respecting the weight limitations of the bridge structure.”

Bergerson notes that in 2019 the Washington State Department of Transportation, which controls the bridge over the freeway, changed its criteria for what is an acceptable load for a bridge like this one to be more restrictive. The Pike Pine Renaissance project had long been in motion at that point.

Downtown, the Pike Pine Renaissance plans upgraded bike lanes and unique crosswalk treatments.

Brie Gyncild, co-chair of Central Seattle Greenways, voiced concern over the change in design. “A protected bike lane is only as good as its weakest link,” she told me. “There must be a creative solution that maintains the integrity of the bike lane.”

Gyncild was also a member of the Community Package Coalition, which negotiated funding for these streetscape improvements as part of a suite of public benefits provided by the Washington State Convention Center expansion. About half of the project’s approximately $40 million price tag comes from that funding source. Given the high price tag, the project’s scaling back of promised improvements along a key segment that’s badly in need of improvement is pretty problematic.

The blocks between 1st and 2nd Ave are planned to be rebuilt as “shared streets.”

Elsewhere on the corridor, plans for a set of “shared streets” between 1st and 2nd Avenues on both Pike and Pine, designed to please everyone by maintaining vehicle access and parking, seem destined to please few. We’ve seen similar street treatments on Barbara Bailey Way fall short. The project is not living up to its promise as a people-centered transformation for a downtown now struggling with a long exit from a pandemic.

The Pike Pine Renaissance has already had its environmental review finalized as it heads toward 100% design by the end of the year. We’ll be watching to see if there are any more last minute changes before that happens. At the current schedule, construction should wrap up by the end of 2023.

 

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3 Comments
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d4l3d
d4l3d
2 years ago

That we were that close to tolerances makes me uncomfortable about that overpass under any circumstances.

hope
hope
2 years ago

creative solution… no cars.

Frank
Frank
2 years ago

So take the cars off the Pike bridge. No need for new construction or added weight