By Kali Herbst Minino
Construction on the $4.3 million Melrose Promenade project, aiming to make walking and biking safer, accessible, and attractive along Melrose Ave on Capitol Hill, is planned to be completed in June.
Seattle Department of Transportation crews have been working on the final pieces of the project: a new protected bike lane between E Pine and Denny, reconfiguring street parking on the west side of Melrose, new crosswalks on Pike and Pine, new curb ramps, and sidewalk repairs. Melrose at Pike and Pine’s decorated community crosswalks will be re-constructed later in the summer.
The project is one piece of a community vision of a “Melrose Promenade.” Central Seattle Greenways, an organization comprised of community members who advocate for safer streets, helped work on that vision alongside the Melrose Promenade Advisory Committee (MPAC) 10 years ago. Creating a series of events titled “Muffins on Melrose,” CSG advocates talked with passersby about the street’s potential over free muffins and coffee.
MPAC’s website has been lost due to age, but a 2013 document lists their ultimate goals: improving pedestrian safety, new bicycle connections, additional connections to other forms of transit, and creating pedestrian green and gathering spaces.
CSG has not been as involved with the project as they used to be in part because some members have moved away, but according to co-chair Brie Gyncild, CSG has been watching the project unfold and monitoring feedback. One concern has to do with the completed raised intersection. Gyncild tells CHS that it isn’t raised enough and is stamped to look like bricks instead of being made of brick, causing confusion for drivers and challenges for pedestrians.
“Drivers aren’t actually clear about where they’re supposed to go, we’ve been seeing drivers on the sidewalk,” Gyncild said.
The Melrose Promenade project has taken shape with years of community feedback for a $4.3 million overhaul including improvements at E Pike, E Pine, E Denny Way, and E Olive Way with a new raised intersection and at Melrose and E Pike St, the raised community crosswalks at E Pike and E Pine, and new curb bulbs and crosswalks at the intersection of E Olive Way and Melrose to improve safety at the I-5 on-ramp entrance.
Gyncild says an evaluation of the completed project against its original goals is CSG’s “big ask.” They also hope to see adjustments based on that evaluation.
“Let’s go ahead, put the sidewalk in, do what you think you need to do, and then go out and take a look. Does it feel like a comfortable place for people walking? Do people know where they’re supposed to be? Is it clear to people using the loading zones?,” Gyncild said.
SDOT has plans to conduct an evaluation similar to what Gyncild described. Candace Goodrich, the outreach and communications lead for the project, says that once the project is fully completed SDOT will go through a punch list along with the contractor to make sure the work is completed.
“Every time we complete a project we monitor to see how its working and if we’re meeting our goals,” Goodrich said.
While construction on the project is being finished, other biking improvements are being made in Seattle through SDOT’s Bicycle Master Plan, which the Melrose Promenade is a part of. The goal of the plan is to create a city-wide bike network, and includes improvements like protected bike lanes, trails, greenways, and bicycle parking. There are 15 projects that are a part of the plan, some of which are still in the design stage.
Another big change will come over the next year as work will take place to overhaul Pine and Pike below Bellevue into a new one-way layout with upgraded protected bike lanes headed up and down the Hill.
Melrose Promenade Project Manager Marilyn Yim says that Capitol Hill is one of the central parts of the bike network to connect.
“Each of these projects is building out part of that network, and over time each of those bits gets connected,” Yim said.
As for CSG, Gyncild hopes the Melrose Promenade can be used as a model for other parts of the city.
“We don’t have a lot of great pedestrian thoroughfares in this city. There’s a lot of areas that are really dedicated to moving vehicles quickly,” Gyncild said.
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I find this project underwhelming considering the time and effort that went into planning it. The “raised intersection” just means that cars and delivery trucks are parked halfway on the sidewalk. The bike lanes on Melrose are just painted, no physical separation except for a few short sections.
I agree. The construction quality just seems awfully poor too. The concrete additions are cracking and uneven, potholes everywhere, busted sidewalks, and the street painting just looks sloppy.
Aka a nightmare to drive, walk, or ride through with little or no parking
I’m unclear what this project was intended to accomplish. All I see is less space for pedestrians and more cars parked everywhere.
I am pleased to see the parking eliminated from Melrose between Olive and Denny. It feels more open, visibility is better, and as a pedestrian I feel less vulnerable. I walked this recently just before the parallel parking was eliminated. I noted how many cars had not been moved in a long time. Much of this space was long-term car storage or abandoned cars. Good riddance!
I LOVE the concrete curbs protecting the bike lanes. I wish we could have them everywhere.
Another likely underutilized bike lane.