The installation of the new RapidRide G bus line on E Madison and the infrastructure upgrades adjoining the project continue to bring major closures to area streets over its three years of planned work. Wednesday night will bring a full closure of a few blocks of E Madison that is planned to last only overnight.
The Seattle Department of Transportation which is managing construction of the new King County Metro line’s transformation of Madison between the waterfront and Madison valley says the street will be closed between 19th Ave and 22nd Ave starting at 7 PM on May 4th through the morning of May 5th around rush hour.
The closure is necessary as Seattle Public Utilities crews will install a water main at the intersection of E Madison and 20th as part of area infrastructure updates planned in conjunction with the $134 million RapidRide G project.
There are other closures including the stretch of E Pine above 15th Ave that will last months during the project. The adjacent 7-Eleven is temporarily shutting down during the long closure.
Wednesday night, SDOT says crews will provide local access for businesses and residences located in the area.
It also says police officers will be at the site to help direct traffic. The restricted lanes and closures have made for a challenging area for drivers, bikers, and pedestrians. Last month, a man suffered serious injuries when he reportedly fell in front of a Metro bus moving through the construction zone.
SDOT says buses will be detoured to E Thomas and John from Madison at 15th and 24th Ave E during the overnight work.
Meanwhile, water service for businesses and residences in the area will also be disrupted during the work.
You can learn more and get updates on the project at seattle.gov/MadisonBusRapidTransit.
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Justin, it would be great if you could check around a bit on whether this project is kind of OBE. I am all for transit usually, but post pandemic I am really struggling to figure out whether there is a significant enough number of people who live in Madison Park who are ever going to need a speedy “rapid ride” to downtown to justify what must be a massive cost for this project, let alone the hassle of it. Working from home at least part of the time is here to stay at least part of the time for formerly downtown type workers. Is this going to finally be finished and then zip back and forth mostly empty? I hope not, but wondering.
I agree completely! This is a very expensive project which will only subtract a few minutes on to the former travel time, not to mention all the disruption during construction. I think the money could have been much better spent.
You can think of the Madison Rapid Ride as development-oriented transit. Its sunk cost will be used to justify upzoning to ostensibly create demand.
The line will end at MLK in Madison Valley.