Tag Archives: transportation

‘The basics of a 21st-century transportation system’ — Seattle boosts transit levy proposal to $1.45B with $100M more for sidewalks, bikes, and transit

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Harrell digs in (Image: SDOT)

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office has finalized his proposal for the city’s next transportation levy planned to go before Seattle voters in November — now with an even bigger price tag: $1.45 billion.

The Seattle Times is calling the eight-year proposal Seattle’s “biggest-ever property tax proposal.”

Transit, biking, and pedestrian advocates are calling it an improved proposal after a month of criticism over the plan’s focus on repairs, replacements, and realignments over new street and transit projects.

The mayor said Friday at a press conference unveiling the new proposal that feedback shaped a $100 million addition to the plan.

“Over the last month, we’ve received feedback from thousands of Seattle residents who want a transportation system that is safe, connected, and well maintained – this proposal will help get us there,”  Harrell said in a statement.

Transit advocacy leaders have been measured in their enthusiasm for the proposal, praising the administration for listening to constituents but framing the plan’s spending on elements like safety, transit, and non-motor vehicle travel as barely adequate.

“We thank the transit riders and the community of advocates who spoke up to ensure this levy ushers in the transportation future we need,” Kirk Hovenkotter, executive director, of the Transportation Choices Coalition, said in a statement from the mayor’s office that called the proposal’s investments “the basics of a 21st-century transportation system.”

“We thank Mayor Harrell for his leadership on the levy and for being responsive to community feedback.”

The updated levy proposal will add a more than $20 million to boost sidewalk work including adding 250 blocks of new sidewalks in the first four years.

The administration also responded to advocates, boosting funding earmarks for improving transit corridors by 20% to around $145 million in spending in the plan to improve safety and connectivity with light rail stations and on key routes like the 3, 4, and 31.

Bicycle spending in the proposal was also boosted around 20% with about $114 million in planned safety spending, and expansion of the city’s bike networks. Continue reading →

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 →

Groups will rally Saturday in the Central District for ‘more housing and better transportation’ in Seattle

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Seattle urbanists and transportation activists will rally Saturday, calling for “more housing and better transportation in Seattle” as city leaders move forward on a new 20-year growth plan for the city and a new $1.35 billion transportation levy vote this fall.

The Transportation and Housing Rally for a Healthy Future will take place Saturday, April 20th starting at 2 PM in the Central District’s Jimi Hendrix Park: 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 →

Seattle sizing up new $1.35B transportation levy proposal

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The Harrell administration’s delicate dance around shaping a $1.35 billion transportation levy proposal for Seattle has begun. Thursday, Mayor Bruce Harrell unveiled the framework of the levy focused on repairs, replacements, and realignments and not major new street and transit projects.

“No matter how you get around, it will make trips safer, more reliable, and better connected so that every Seattleite is set up for success when they experience our city,” Harrell said about the levy proposal.

Mayor’s Office Summary of the 2024 Transportation Levy Plan: 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 →

Why 23rd Ave is at center of new Seattle Transportation Plan

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(Image: CHS)

The mayor’s proposal for the priorities that will define the size and scope of Seattle’s next more than $1 billion transportation levy is now in the hands of the Seattle City Council. The council must now finalize the plan in preparation for taking a new levy proposal to voters this fall.

The council’s transportation committee will hold its first meeting on the process Tuesday.

CHS reported here on the Harrell administration’s efforts to shape the transportation plan and a framework for safe and efficient protected areas for bikers along its arteries, a proliferation of transit-only lanes, and preparations for possible new light rail lines criss-crossing Capitol Hill and the Central District along 23rd Ave and Denny Way.

The final proposal from Mayor Bruce Harrell has crystalized on a roster of highest priority initiatives and projects while also downplaying massive investments like new light rail lines. The plan would emphasize equity and economic investments along with safety and motor vehicle traffic priorities while also continuing the long-running effort to lower speeds across the city — a mix that places 23rd Ave at the top of the heap for Capitol Hill and Central District area investments.

This combination of priorities would create a plan that emphasizes major investments in parts of the city that are heavily populated but have been left behind in current transportation priorities like the Rainier Valley where traffic deaths and safety issues remain disproportionately high despite transit and development investments. Continue reading →

After the race for District 3, Hudson continues advocacy work and sees hope in Seattle’s big 2024 goals: an equitable comprehensive plan and an ambitious new transportation levy

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Hudson making a 2023 campaign stop before her new path with Commute Seattle (Image: @AlexHudsonforSeattle)

It is very likely the voters in the Seattle City Council’s District 3 could not go wrong in November. Though Central District born and raised Joy Hollingsworth reached a solid victory, First Hill neighborhood and transit champion Alex Hudson also would have brought a strong fight for the needs of Seattle’s core neighborhoods to City Hall.

After the election, Hudson has spent the past few months finding a new path to helping the residents of First Hill, the Central District, Capitol Hill and the entire city resting up from the long campaign, sorting out her new priorities, and moving forward in her new role as executive director at Commute Seattle.

“Running for office is an incredible experience and a grueling task,” Hudson told CHS. “I was grateful for the opportunity, especially right after the election, to take a little break—spend some time with my family, catch up on much needed sleep, unwind my brain, and thank people and reflect on the experience.”

She also snatched up the leadership position at Commute Seattle, a nonprofit that works towards making the city more walker and bicycle friendly, while centering those disproportionately impacted by transportation costs.

Hudsons calls her new role the “perfect fit”and is “still very much doing the work that I love and that I’m committed to around transportation, transit and mobility, and doing that in service of the people of the City of Seattle.”

Running for D3 has changed Hudson, she said, by helping her come to appreciate the community’s experiences and real concerns around safety. From her campaign team canvassing a total of 18,000 people during her campaign, Hudson listened to residents’ genuinely held concerns that were backed up by numerous negative experiences, and holds a well of compassion and empathy for those who are struggling in society.

“I think it has helped to crystalize so many of the values that I had walking in—that people deserve a government that works for them,” Hudson said. “People deserve to have a government that invests in opportunities that spreads that fairly, that has meaningful and specific plans for making life better here in the City of Seattle. I feel more committed to making that possible than I did before.” Continue reading →

City Council to decide on whether Seattle can use impact fee to fund transportation projects

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(Image: SDOT)

Should Seattle reduce its reliance on property taxes to fund transportation by creating a fee on new development in the city? Or is a city facing an ongoing housing and affordability crisis at the scale of Seattle’s the last place you want to pile more costs onto development?

The Seattle City Council won’t decide any of that on Tuesday but it will vote on a proposal to amend its comprehensive plan to allow the council the option of implementing a new transportation impact fee program in the future — maybe as soon as next year.

On an agenda chock full of housekeeping and budget-related procedural votes, the vote on whether to open the door to debate in 2024 on a Seattle transportation impact fee is a big decision. Continue reading →

Denny Way and 23rd Ave light rail lines? 20-year Seattle Transportation Plan taking shape

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How about safe and efficient protected areas for bikers along its arteries, a proliferation of transit-only lanes, and new light rail lines criss-crossing Capitol Hill and the Central District along 23rd Ave and Denny Way? The Seattle Department of Transportation has published a draft of its “20-year” Seattle Transportation Plan and is beginning the process of gaining public support while — hopefully — addressing shortcomings and challenges in the proposed vision that will guide the city’s leaders and shape its transportation spending for years to come.

The high-level strategy isn’t necessarily about specific projects, instead laying out visions and technical frameworks for changing how SDOT works and makes its decisions. It is the latest in efforts from Department of Transportation head Greg Spotts as he attempts to turn around an organization that has struggled with timelines and compromises. CHS reported in March on the reorganization of the department’s Vision Zero efforts under Spotts to address street safety that included implementation of a “safe systems” model with roads designed to be “self-enforcing.”

The newly released draft of the Seattle Transportation Plan is equally ambitious — and equally removed from the hard realities of implementation SDOT has run into over the years. Continue reading →