Tag Archives: streets

Seattle has a new 20-year transportation plan — Now, about that $1.35B levy…

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(Image: @seattledot) “Nearly one hundred years ago, on April 21, 1924, the first traffic light in Seattle was installed at 4th and Jackson…”

The Seattle City Council Tuesday approved a new 20-year transportation plan for transit, street, sidewalk, and bridge projects across Seattle that will serve as the framework for the planned $1.35 billion transportation levy renewal vote this fall.

While still massive in scale and the result of a two-year process of outreach, bureaucracy, and budgeting, Mayor Bruce Harrell and council leadership are emphasizing the plan’s focus on day to day issues like potholes, sidewalks, and costly infrastructure repairs over the ambitious new initiatives and projects it might eventually spawn.

“It’s time for us to prioritize the bold basics of local government. From filling potholes to expanding access to public transit, this 20-year vision for the future of Seattle’s roads does just that,” District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth, vice chair of the council’s Transportation Committee, said in a statement. “Local government can’t solve every problem on its own, but when we put our mind to it, we can build world-class transportation infrastructure.”

The Harrell administration plan was little changed by the council and some of the few additions underlined what is being positioned as a more neighborhood-focused approach. Continue reading →

New era? This Capitol Hill restaurant is ready to move on from its pandemic streatery

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A view out to the soon to be removed Barrio streatery

Some of the dining habits and street seating setups of the pandemic may never go away but times have changed enough for one Capitol Hill restaurant to move on from its COVID-era “streatery” and restore an increasingly rare feature along 12th Ave — street parking.

“We are selling our Streatery!,” Barrio Mexican Kitchen and Agave Bar announced this week. “Thank you to our guests, team, and neighbors for making covid a bit more bearable by enjoying this streatery with us, but the time has come to move on.”

Get your offers in now for the 60-foot long x 8-foot wide patio that the restaurant installed during the years of restrictions and precautions under a city program put in place to regulate the proliferation of street patios that sprung forward during the pandemic. Continue reading →

RapidRide G will do a lot of things — but it won’t have the 14th and Madison crossing bell

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It is a tiny thing in the scheme of things of 2.4 miles of new bus stops, transit priority, new crosswalks, and better sidewalks. Enjoy it while you can. Unlike other crosswalks in Seattle, 14th and Madison has a vintage bell that rings when it is time to cross the street, but as the city works to finish the RapidRide G project and increase pedestrian safety through initiatives like creating lead time intervals for pedestrians and full-way crosswalks, the old bell — maybe the last of its kind on Capitol Hill — won’t remain for much longer.

“We will be replacing old equipment and modernizing the traffic signal to meet federal standards for ADA accessible crossings,” Ethan Bergerson, press secretary for SDOT, told CHS.

Once installed, the new crosswalk button will trigger an electronic voice message when it is safe to cross the street. The button will also vibrate for individuals who cannot hear the spoken message or see the walk symbol. The intersection will continue to have automatically displayed head-start walk signals.

“The new signal will also prioritize buses to help RapidRide G and other bus routes move through the intersection efficiently and reliably,” Bergerson said. Continue reading →

Hollingsworth amendment for Seattle Transportation Plan focuses on Lake Washington Blvd safety

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(Image: City of Seattle)

A Seattle City Council committee Tuesday morning will take up a handful of amendments including a proposal from District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth as it finalizes the city’s new long-term transportation plan.

CHS reported here on the proposed 20-year transportation plan for transit, street, sidewalk, and bridge projects across Seattle that will serve as the framework for the city’s planned transportation levy renewal.

Tuesday, the committee could move the plan forward to a full council vote after debate on a roster of amendments including downtown representative Bob Kettle’s push to remove funding from the so-called “Pike Place Event Street project” and amendments that seek to help better address the estimated 27% of Seattle streets that do not currently have sidewalks. Continue reading →

There still isn’t a crosswalk at Harvard and E Olive Way

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A photo Matt Baume sent to city officials showing yet another crash at Harvard and Olive

Even with a new representative on the city council more dedicated to public safety, transparency, and access, “One Seattle” slogans from City Hall, and leaders paying lip service to the importance of pedestrian and bike rider safety as they shape the city’s next billion dollar transportation levy, it still takes a hell of a lot of work and a few squeaky wheels for the Seattle Department of Transportation to add a needed crosswalk at a dangerous intersection on Capitol Hill.

Matt Baume, a neighborhood writer, has been documenting the crashes at E Olive Way and Harvard Ave E for about ten years, all the while trying to get safety improvements put in place. With new leadership in the district, Baume wrote to D3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth in January to share his concerns after yet another crash, this time involving three cars and several passengers including a family with a small child. Continue reading →

Council considers Seattle Transportation Plan proposal emphasizing equity and economic investments

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The Seattle City Council’s transportation committee will be busy Tuesday morning debating a resolution to adopt Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposal for the city’s next major plan for transit, street, sidewalk, and bridge projects across Seattle. The plan is considered a framework for the city’s upcoming transportation levy renewal, according to a council memo.

CHS reported here how areas like 23rd Ave are at the center of the Harrell administration’s proposal for the Seattle Transportation Plan as it focuses on a roster of highest priority initiatives, equity and economic investments, and projects in underserved areas of the city while downplaying massive undertakings like new light rail lines.

If approved by the committee and the full council, the resolution would adopt the plan that shapes plans for multiple modes of movement and travel including transit, vehicles, bicycles, freight, pedestrians, Vision Zero, and more, “and will likely inform the investments in the upcoming Seattle Transportation Levy,” a council brief on the Tuesday session reads. Continue reading →

City of Seattle not giving up on ‘Healthy Streets’ program in the Central District

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(Image: @SNGreenways)

The pared-back Healthy Streets program has lived on in corners of the city including the Central District, providing hope for advocates wanting to make Seattle safer for bikers, pedestrians, and the drivers who love them.

The Seattle Department of Transportation has announced it is making new investments to the Healthy Streets routes through the CD that are hoped to add new solidity to an effort criticized for a half-baked approach that depends on flimsy signs and driver goodwill.

According to the SDOT announcement, the Healthy Streets routes along 22nd Ave and E Columbia are lined up for new features to be constructed in 2024 and 2025 including a planned new vehicle divider at the busy 22nd and Union intersection that would be installed as early as this summer to do more to protect the routes from car and truck traffic.

“To further improve safety for people walking and biking along the north end of the Central District Healthy Street and discourage cut-through traffic, we’re excited to announce that we will construct additional safety enhancements at the intersection of 22nd Ave and E Union St,” the announcement reads. “These enhancements will include installing a new median on the south side with a cut-through for people biking, restricting vehicle turns from E Union St onto 22nd Ave, and restricting vehicle access southbound onto 22nd Ave from the intersection.”

The changes at 22nd will include installation of a “new median with bike cut through on south side of intersection” to block motor vehicle traffic, and elimination of left turns in both directions from 22nd Ave onto E Union. Continue reading →

A century ago, Capitol Hill’s cobblestone streets eased transportation woes — Now, their purpose is preservation

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Sometimes green and a little Pacific Northwest mossy, sometimes just bumpy, there are still stretches of cobblestone streets around Capitol Hill in 2024.

Seattle is home to about 100 blocks of cobblestone streets, including east of 23rd Ave and on Mercer, Roy, Valley and Ward streets. Similarly to other cities across the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the cobblestones replaced dirt or plank roads — the original roads of Seattle — but as the city turned to asphalt and became more concretely paved, some historically stoned streets have survived.

“Many people who live near or travel on these streets appreciate their aesthetic quality and historic significance, and the city has generally attempted to preserve these cobblestone streets to the extent possible,” a Seattle Department of Transportation representative told CHS.

Formerly known as the Seattle Engineering Department, SDOT and the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods signed an agreement that set out guidelines for the preservation and maintenance of cobblestone streets in 1996. Continue reading →

City says work starting on latest 23rd Ave overhaul adding bus-friendly traffic signals, safer crossings, and a short stretch of ‘transit-only’ lanes

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(Image: SDOT)

The city’s department of transportation is following up on the 23rd Ave corridor’s road diet with a scaled-back project to improve bus service through the busy route connecting the coming soon Judkins Park Station and the Central District to the University of Washington across the backside of Capitol HIll.

The Seattle Department of Transportation isn’t saying when work will wrap up as crews have begun digging in on the north end of the $2.6 million Route 48 – Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor project that will add limited bus-only lanes to separate transit from traffic, improve crossings at intersections “to help people access transit safely,” and add new optimized and “smart” traffic signals “that prioritize transit with queue jumps that give buses a head start and “activate or extend green lights for buses” to the route.

“We are excited to announce that construction on the Route 48 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor project’s North Segment is kicking off,” the announcement from SDOT reads. “We’re making these improvements to reduce bus travel times, increase bus service reliability, and make street crossings safer for people getting to bus stops.”

UPDATE: SDOT tells CHS they hope to have the completed “the majority of the work” by the end of 2024.

The upgrades will be missing one key component. Continue reading →

Between Capitol Hill and downtown, it is now west on Pine, east on Pike

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(Image: SDOT)

West on Pine, east on Pike.

Pine Street is now one-way between the base of Capitol Hill and downtown. The Seattle Department of Transportation says crews were working this weekend to finalize the overhaul to make Pine the westbound component in the new couplet configuration with Pike.

CHS reported here on the $17.45 million project to transform Pike and Pine into one-way streets below Bellevue Ave with protected bike lanes and safety improvements including wider sidewalks as part of the city’s waterfront improvements. 18 months of scheduled work on the project began late last year. Continue reading →