Tag Archives: streets

As it reopens from year of COVID-19 restrictions, Seattle wants its residents to meet, play, do business — and get married — in the street

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With its residents facing a summer of transition to a full reopening after months of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, the City of Seattle is pulling out the stops to make room for more activity in the streets including easing the permit process for community block parties and street closures, and making it easier for businesses to get permits for outdoor cafes, merchandise displays, vending locations, and street closures.

The moves join the extension of the city’s “Cafe Streets Program” through May of 2022 in a strategy of reclaiming more of Seattle’s right of ways for people, not cars to boost communities, increase business opportunities, and, well, help everybody have a good time.

“Over the past year, Seattle has faced daunting challenges presented by the COVID-19 crisis. As we move to the new normal, we are finding ways for community to enjoy our streets in a safe and new ways,” Mayor Jenny Durkan said in an announcement about the effort. “The Seattle Department of Transportation programs and permits such as Stay Healthy Streets, the Safe Start permits, block party, and play street permits will encourage our residents and businesses to create vibrant streetscapes around the city.”

Here’s an overview of the programs: Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s proliferation of street dining tents and sidewalk patios can stay into 2022 — and maybe beyond

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The Wildrose’s new street patio (Image: Wildrose)

The decks, tents, pergolas, and gazebos set up on the streets of Capitol Hill to create a safer food and drink experience during the pandemic will remain a part of the neighborhood’s streetscape — until next spring, at least.

The Seattle City Council this week approved an extension of the city’s emergency “Cafe Streets Program” through May of 2022.

CHS reported here in March on the proliferation of outdoor dining and seating around Pike/Pine as venues did what they could to safely expand capacity during COVID-19 restrictions. The new seating areas on streets and sidewalk areas have emerged outside bars and restaurants across the Hill from 15th Ave E to E Olive Way.

The new extension might have some restaurants and bars that decided to sit out the pandemic without investing in street cafe infrastructure changing their minds. E Pike’s Wildrose is one notable bar joining the wave late with its new patio seating joining the street just in time for Pride. Continue reading →

To get ready for Pride, City of Seattle will brighten Pike/Pine rainbow crosswalks and Black Lives Matter mural — UPDATE: Capitol Hill in-person Pride celebrations planned for late summer and October

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A Pride tradition is scheduled to start this week on the streets of Pike/Pine. Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation will be out to restore the neighborhood’s rainbow crosswalks. The round of street maintenance will also mean a cleaning for the E Pine Black Lives Matter mural added to the street during CHOP.

The SDOT activity will brighten up the elleven rainbow crosswalks up and down E Pike and E Pine as well as include work to refresh the large BLM mural just south of Cal Anderson Park.

UPDATE: Organizers have announced Seattle Pride celebrations will take place in October. Another celebration focused on Capitol Hill will happen later this summer.

Continue reading →

Seattle sorts out plan for increased vehicle license fees: pedestrian improvements, bridge maintenance, and bicycle safety upgrades

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A Seattle City Council committee voted unanimously Wednesday to earmark money from a new increase in the vehicle license fee for pedestrian improvements, bridge maintenance, and bicycle safety upgrades.

The doubling of the vehicle license fee from $20 to $40, passed by the council during the budget process in November, is expected to raise $3.6 million this year and then about $7.2 million annually after that.

The new revenue this year would fund $1.125 million in safety improvements as part of the city’s Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths. Another $1.025 million would go toward sidewalk maintenance; $850,000 for bridge rehab; $350,000 for bicycle lanes and other transportation upkeep; and $250,000 to “plan for a future transportation system that addresses our values and goals for equity, safety, and sustainability,” according to the council. Continue reading →

City plans to start Madison bus rapid transit project construction this fall

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With $60 million in federal financial security to boost the project, E Madison bus rapid transit also has a newly updated timeline.

The city says construction is finally gearing up to begin this fall: Continue reading →

SDOT: E Union will finally get its protected bike lanes this month

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(Image: 2020 Cycle)

The Central District’s 2020 Cycle is surely geared up for the occasion. Construction is set to begin for the remarkably speedy installation of new protected bike lanes running by the shop serving E Union between Capitol Hill and MLK.

Here is the latest from the Seattle Department of Transportation on the project:

We’re scheduled to construct the E Union St Protected Bike Lane on the weekend of April 24 – 25*! Our crews will begin site preparation work as soon as April 19. We will be installing a protected bike lane on both sides of E Union St between 14th Ave and 26th Ave and an uphill protected bike lane with downhill sharrow (permanent marking on the road to indicate shared lane between vehicles and bicycles) between 26th Ave and MLK Jr Way.

SDOT has distributed a construction notification, embedded below, in the area around the route. Continue reading →

Thanks, Mayor Pete: E Madison bus rapid transit project gets $60M in federal funding — Here’s a block by block look at the planned changes to the street

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Mayor Pete has come through. Monday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $187 million in federal funding for four bus rapid transit projects — San Bernardino, California, Ogden, Utah, Everett, Washington, and right here on E Madison in Seattle:

The City of Seattle Department of Transportation will receive a $59.9 million allocation for the Madison Street BRT project, a 2.3-mile east-west BRT line operating diesel-electric buses along Madison Street spanning from downtown Seattle in the west to the Madison Valley neighborhood in the east, with connections in First Hill, Capitol Hill, and the Central Area. It will connect people to hospitals, schools, businesses, and other destinations as well as to dozens of bus routes, the First Hill Streetcar, and ferry service at the Colman Dock Ferry Terminal.

The federal money helps put the $134 million Madison bus rapid transit project on path for its planned 2024 start of service of the Metro RapidRide G line, a 2.3-mile, 10-station route connecting the waterfront through First Hill and Capitol Hill to Madison Valley.

The final designs for the BRT route’s major overhaul to the Madison corridor’s streetscape were finalized last year. You can check out a block by block look at the changes below.

Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s streets filling with pandemic-era restaurant patios — Will they stay?

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Plum’s “greenhouse” seating on 12th Ave

As Washington’s reopening speeds, there are signs that getting “back to normal” too quickly could be part of a new uptick in the spread of the virus. For Capitol Hill’s restaurants lucky enough to have a safe stretch of pavement nearby and the foresight to invest in some creative solutions, street patios have been a business lifeline allowing what officials say is a safer approach to reopening in the food and drink economy.

Across the Pike/Pine nightlife area, CHS found a diversity of designs and solutions in place across the neighborhood. But we also heard the same thing again and again from owners facing the uncertainty of a drawn out pandemic future.

“We would love to have this long term but the special permitting is set to stop in October unless the city changes something,” the folks at Cafe Pettirosso tell us. “We will have this as long as possible, it has helped tremendously.” Continue reading →

Montlake Bridge planned for month-long summer maintenance closure

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(Image: WSDOT)

First opened 96 years ago this June, the state says much needed work will close the busy Montlake Bridge for around a month starting late this summer. Meanwhile, there is a new rumbling of opposition to the Washington State Department of Transportation’s plans to construct a second parallel bridge as part of its ongoing 520 replacement project.

WSDOT says the planned summer 2021 construction is all about maintenance and replacing the old bridge’s key components over a month of work likely to start in August that will mean no motor vehicles crossing the span but sidewalk and boat traffic, below, continuing: Continue reading →

Catching up on a lost 2020, E Union protected bike lanes should be in place by summer

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(Image: CHS)

Seattle needs to push in 2021 to catch up on its plans to create new, safer routes for bicyclists including its plans for new protected bike lanes on E Union connecting Capitol Hill and the Central District.

A representative for the Seattle Department of Transportation tells CHS that there is no official schedule yet for the project but construction will start before summer.

“We anticipate construction may happen as soon as late March or at late as May,” the department rep said. “We will be sure to inform neighbors at least two weeks ahead of time to coordinate any construction-related impacts.” Continue reading →