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.

Much of the proposed levy spending will go to much need infrastructure spending including $423 million in planned repaving, and $221 million for the city’s aging bridges, SDOT says:

• $423 million to repave arterial streets that carry the most buses, trucks, and cars, and improve infrastructure for people walking, rolling, biking, and taking transit.
• $221 million to keep bridges in reliable working condition and prepare for future bridge projects. ($3 million added to the new Bridge Preventative Maintenance Program to expand bridge preservation focused on optimum treatment cycles.)
• $162 million to make targeted and community-requested Vision Zero safety improvements to streets, sidewalks, intersections, and crossings to reduce traffic collisions, severe injuries, and fatalities. (This includes a $41 million Neighborhood Initiated Safety Partnership Program and an additional $14 million District Project Fund to address emergent neighborhood concerns and requests.)
• $145 million to connect people safely to transit hubs, including Link light rail stations and bus stops, and reduce delays on bus routes. ($23 million added to improve transit reliability and safety.)
• $135 million to build and repair sidewalks, crossings, and curb ramps so people walking and rolling can safely get to where they need to go. ($26M added to improve walking and rolling, including a commitment to build 250 blocks of new sidewalks or alternative walkways in 4 years.)
• $114 million  to expand Seattle’s protected bike lane network; connect schools to bike lanes, paths, and neighborhood greenways; and maintain and upgrade existing bike lanes. ($20 million added to expand the bike network, with a focus on South Seattle.)
• $100 million to install new and maintain and upgrade traffic signals for safe, reliable movement; improve pedestrian and bike accessibility; and support traffic operations during large events and for trips in and out of the port.
• $66 million to activate public spaces and improve lighting in partnership with business districts and community organizations so people can enjoy unique and vibrant, activated spaces. ($11 million added to improve public spaces including additional lighting leading to transit stops and stations and additional project development for Occidental Promenade.)
• $59 million to make direct investments in addressing climate change, reducing air pollution and making sustainable transportation options more available, in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars in climate-forward, pollution-reducing investments across other areas of the levy. ($10 million added to support Seattle City Light’s expansion of publicly available electric vehicle chargers.)
• $25 million  to make freight improvements to support trucks delivering goods and providing services.
• New sidewalk and infrastructure strategies ($5 million)  to increase sidewalk repair and establish a Transportation Funding Task Force.

Seattle Department of Transportation director Greg Spotts said the revised proposal would give SDOT 17% more purchasing power “to maintain our modernize our streets than the current Levy to Move Seattle.”

The proposal will now make its way through the Seattle City Council before landing on the ballot for the city’s voters this fall. If passed, the funding and spending plan will replace the $930 million previous levy approved in 2015.

As the proposed levy moves forward, the city is also reshaping its guiding Seattle Transportation Plan that leaders say emphasizes equity and economic development.

Under the plan and with the power of the new levy, the 23rd Ave corridor is an example of the type of transportation investments the city will focus on in coming years with reconstruction and paving, a corridor safety analysis, additional transit investment, and crossing improvements, sidewalk repair, and neighborhood greenway upgrades.

The council’s transportation leadership is eager to carry the proposal forward.

“Building and maintaining bridges, roads, sidewalks, bike lanes, and buses may seem like the boring work of government, but few things shape the way we interact with our city and connect with each other more,” the council transportation chair and West Seattle representative Rob Saka said in a statement. “We have a tremendous responsibility to get this right and deliver the everyday basics in an extraordinary way.”

Paying for it all leans on the city’s property owners. The city says that under the current expiring levy, the cost to a typical homeowner is around $24 per month. The new eight-year levy proposal would increase the monthly cost by 70% to $41 per month.

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