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It took years — plus a few extra months — to make it happen but the “Broadway and John Street Signal” project is transforming the busy intersection’s traffic patterns.
The new “BUS ONLY/ONLY BUS” markings are applied restricting left turns onto Broadway from John to only transit. The rest of the project includes new protected left-turns on Broadway along with all the necessary markings and signal changes required to make it work.
CHS reported here in June on the planned two-month construction project’s long-anticipated start. The Seattle Department of Transportation couldn’t exactly explain why the work dragged on four months — “Project construction was originally anticipated to last approximately 3-4 months,” a spokesperson said, despite what the department said this summer. “The start of work was delayed about one month due to finalizing the signal design and weather,” they added.
The original vision has been boiled down by time and shifting funding sources after originally being raised as a community priority to improve safety in the area around Capitol Hill Station.
The final project has included rebuilding the traffic signals at the intersection of Broadway and E Olive Way/E John, adding new “left turn pockets” and a “separated signal phase” for eastbound traffic on E Olive Way, installing a new transit-only left turn lane for westbound E John, and removing an area of in-street bike parking “to accommodate transit turning movements.”
For people on foot and bikes outside the busy transit station, the changes are hoped to bring more time and safer crossings while the new transit-only lane will help ease the way for buses. Westbound cars and trucks will no longer be able to turn left onto Broadway. It is unclear if that will change driver patterns where westbound back-up can be some of the longest on the Hill at busy hours.
SDOT says the new project will “address a crash pattern with left turning drivers” at the intersection that has been targeted for change for more than a decade in anticipation of the addition of light rail and the new station.
Shifting funding sources and a boiling down of planned elements has been part of the long process. CHS reported on the impending construction of the project here in 2021 as groups like Central Seattle Greenways continued to champion the project that emerged close to its current incarnation as a “crowd-sourced” proposal from the community in 2019.
Connected plans to turn the intersection into an all-walk crossing format, meanwhile, were shifted to Broadway and Denny.
Other street construction projects are also underway around the area. CHS reported here on construction crossing I-5 as crews work to complete new one-way Pike and Pine layouts along with new bike lanes. Meanwhile, the multi-year Madison construction project to complete the new RapidRide G bus line is hoped to finally be wrapped up in 2024. As for transit-only lanes, rider of Route 8 are hoping to push for more red paint on Denny to help improve the route’s performance.
New signal installation typically costs around $250,000 in the city. The Broadway and John project is lumped into the city’s Neighborhood Street Fund Program spending.
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What bus route turns left from John onto Broadway?
From my experience… the 43 does at times when it returns to the yard without going downtown again. I’ve been on it when it’s done that and have had to get off by the light rail station entrance by Denny. Why they would put that in there when that’s the only bus and it doesn’t run constantly is question that should be asked.
Yeah I don’t get it either. I’m 100% in favor of transit infrastructure, but this one is a head scratcher.
They want to ban left turns there (sensible), the “except buses” is just to avoid disrupting that 43 service pattern.
Basically, they arent so much making a bus only turn, rather they are adding a bus lane, clarifying that left turns aren’t allowed, but making an exception for the 43.
Haven’t I seen that during reroutes and return to base? It’s been a while.
None! There hasn’t been a bus route that has made a left turn in years; definitely pre-First-Hill street car.
When trollies did make that turn they would end up blocking both lanes of traffic because of the short distance between the stop and the lefthand lane.
Maybe we will get a new route, the loss of the 10 being routed through the core of Capitol Hill businesses has turned that area into an oasis.
The 43 does
So SDoT is effectively eliminating 25-33% of the roadway in the middle of the roadway?!?!? Fascinating logic.
Maybe it’s suggesting there’s a new route coming. Either way, it’s only going to make the backup coming down John worse
The trailhead direct bus makes this left in the summer every 30 minutes… Regardless, banning lefts here to all but buses and emergency vehicles will help out with clearing this intersection and remove dangerous pedestrian/car interactions and make it easier for emergency vehicles to get around this dense part of the city.
Makes sense – thank you for explaining!
My car identifies as a bus.
What are your car’s pronouns?
250k and 4+ mos to redo a signal! Tax revenue growing at 4x the rate of population growth and still a 250m deficit! And we have a unanimous consensus from the politicians that more taxes are needed. Seattle is run by clowns with keffiyehs.
Good thing the city budget is rock solid. *eye roll*
All well and good. Now can we please have a signaled pedestrian crossing at Olive and Harvard?
We don’t even have signalized pedestrian crossing at the Boylston-Olive intersection. I don’t think we need HAWK beacons at every intersection, but maybe better street designs to slow drivers in this area that a significant portion of our city calls home…
Couldn’t agree more! I find it frustrating (from a pedestrian perspective) how many streets on Capitol Hill have been neglected in favor of targeted, expensive HAWK/RRFB (rapid flashing beacon) deployments. These signalized crosswalks often fail to include elements that would actually discourage or deter unsafe driving behaviors. The result is a tenuous crossing where pedestrians have to be constantly wary of cars encroaching on or outright ignoring and speeding through the intersection.
We need narrower streets with adjacent obstacles that force drivers to proceed slowly. For lower volume intersections, raised street-level crosswalks would go a long ways too.
Keep arterials for cars and separate pedestrian and bike traffic by one street. Don’t allow cars on those streets. Keep arterials at 35 mph and time lights to keep traffic moving. Focus all of this (currently wasteful) spending on intersections where you must intersect these two types of streets. This is the only way you’ll measurably reduced injuries to vulnerable parties and you’ll get a bonus of better vehicle flow with fewer emissions.
See the things is, pedestrians generally need to cross and use arterials at some point… That 10 mph more speed makes a huge difference in drivers’ abilities to make adjustments and increases the severity of pedestrian impacts. Is it really necessary in one of the most population dense parts of the city (meaning many people, including children call this area home) and one of the denser cities in the US?
Adding a pedestrian crossing would do exactly the opposite of what this change is aimed, which is allowing more cars to make use of the Olive St Exit.
By removing left turns heading downtown at Broadway, more cars will be able to flow through the intersection, which is one of the main bottlenecks for that exit. Left hand turns result in blocked intersections, which slow traffic.
This was a horrible decision. We need to find better ways to integrate car traffic instead of making devisions that cause traffic backups for blocks, ultimately resulting in unsafer roads. Stopping car use isn’t going to happen. Stop trying to make it a thing and make decisions that make it horrible to drive in this city.