HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
The Seattle Department of Transportation is collecting public feedback on a roster of dozens of street, sidewalk, and mobility projects around the city as planners try to round out the city’s next 20-year transportation plan.
Included in the mix are 18 projects on and around Capitol Hill and the Central District including a few in vital connecting neighborhoods like downtown Seattle.
CHS reported here on the August publication of the draft Seattle Transportation Plan including a framework that would create more safe and efficient protected areas for bikers along 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.
Now SDOT has further fleshed-out some of the concepts in the proposed plan as it seeks more feedback. The priorities will also likely shape the city’s next transportation levy as the current levy expires next year. You have until November 20th to add your priorities and thoughts.
“After a multi-year community visioning and planning process, we have identified a list of candidate transportation projects and potential program activities for the public to review and provide feedback,” SDOT writes. “These proposed projects and programs support the STP’s 20-year vision for Seattle’s transportation network.”
SDOT says the projects were shaped by the city’s growth strategies and equity priorities.
The Central Seattle roster covers Capitol Hill, the Central District, and nearby neighborhoods like Montlake, Madison Valley, and First Hill.
Projects on the list include overhauls including repaving, more street trees, improved bike lanes, and “improving access to local businesses for people walking, rolling, and biking, as well as vehicles making deliveries” on 12th Ave.
Similar projects listed include overhauls on 23rd Ave, Denny Way, and James on First Hill where a Intelligent Transportation System is also proposed.
Project #35 would continue the overhaul of Pike and Pine. “This project will extend previous improvements in this area to the east, better supporting access for people walking, rolling, and biking to destinations like shops, restaurants, and cultural centers in the area,” SDOT writes. The work would “complete the connection between two community hubs: Capitol Hill and Pike Place Market,” SDOT says. The corridor is already undergoing major changes with construction underway on changes to convert Pike and Pine to one-way streets between downtown and Capitol Hill.
Project #55 would transform another neglected artery. Boren Ave “reimagines” the street as “a safer, more reliable, and more pleasant connection through First Hill and the Denny Triangle” with the addition of “lush median landscaping and street trees to encourage slower vehicle speeds.”
Project #29, on the other hand, would target a quieter segment of the city with improvements to Lake Washington Blvd part of an effort that would “improve safety and comfort for all modes along one of Seattle’s signature Olmsted Boulevards.”
Easy to lose in the shuffle could be one of the few projects envisioned for Central Seattle that would create a wholly new transportation resource. Project #43 would prioritize improvements on Beacon Ave S, Broadway, and 10th Ave E that would create a corridor for a new RapidRide bus line connecting Eastlake through Capitol Hill to Beacon Hill.
Off the Hill, the stalled Center City Connector streetcar project is on the list for downtown. The Urbanist has more on the projects beyond Capitol Hill and the greater effort around shaping the next transportation plan.
You can learn more and provide feedback on the proposed Seattle Transit Plan project list here through November 20th.
HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
Wow, their website is uh, pretty shitty.
Ok, so SDOT wants public input on how to prioritize a bunch of really vague potential projects when their past history of vague “multimodal” or “improving safety for all modes” has meant improvements for cars, and cars alone (maybe sometimes trucks).
I have zero faith in SDOT to implement any pedestrian, transit or bike projects effectively. Look at Melrose and Barbara Bailey Way as examples. The “improvements” made them less safe, more confusing, and made a ton of sidewalk space available for cars to drive and park on.
SDOT needs to stop greenwashing, and start actually doing what needs to be done: get cars off of streets, and make space for people.
Yes, I would prioritize “get the cars off Barbara Bailey Way and out of Pike Place Market” over all of these proposals.
You’re a problem.
He’s right about getting cars off the street though. Need to force habit changes.
Exactly… I used to walk to downtown using the Olive Way & Melrose crossing the north on-ramp to I5. Since that was “improved,” I’ve had to switch to going down Pine to avoid the increased times I almost got hit crossing.
Pike and Pine by a mile.
It’s the main artery east and west.
I support pedestrian and bike infrastructure, but feel SDOT has lost sight of the fact that they also need to repave roads. I have never seen the roads of Seattle in such bad shape. This is a major issue for bike safety.
Agree! I recently took a taxi home from the airport to Cap Hill and the taxi driver, who said he lives in Burien, was horrified by the bumpy awful worse-than-potholes situation around the area just east of Volunteer Park. He said I don’t understand why this city doesn’t have roads that can be driven on.
Add link lightrail to CD down 23rd ave then down Madison and build density corridors down those streets.