A rendering of the plans for Pike (Image: Waterfront Seattle)
(Image: Waterfront Seattle)
The Seattle Department of Transportation says it is time to begin the transition that will change Pike and Pine between the waterfront and Capitol Hill into one-way streets.
Pike, you’ll go first.
“As early as” this Saturday — depending on weather and the construction schedule — westbound vehicle access to Pike on Capitol Hill between Terry and Bellevue will come to an end.
“This is the first step in making Pike and Pine streets one-way from 1st Ave to Bellevue Ave, Pike St one-way eastbound, and Pine St one-way westbound,” the city says. “Westbound bike travel on Pike St will remain accessible during construction until improved routing to Pine St is established.”
CHS reported here in October as the first construction work crossed onto Capitol Hill in the $17.45 million project from the City of Seattle’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects in coordination with the Downtown Seattle Association and SDOT to “improve east-west connections between the waterfront and surrounding neighborhoods” with new bike lane protections and the overhaul to Pike and Pine in downtown and on Capitol Hill below Bellevue into one-way streets. The project will bring wider sidewalks “buffering pedestrians from freeway noise” and higher railings with integrated lighting on the bridges over I-5, increased landscaping, and protected bike lanes “separated from traffic by curbed buffers and planters,” the city says.
Bike leaning rails are being added along the route. Guess what! They’ll also help protect riders from drivers. (Image: Waterfront Seattle)
The overhaul has urbanists, transit, and mobility proponents stoked in work that will be especially beneficial to bike riders and the scooter crowd. “When complete, riders will no longer have to choose between awkwardly riding on the sidewalk or sharing a lane with fast-moving traffic to get between two of the city’s busiest neighborhoods,” the Urbanist development and transit advocacy media organization writes.
As for how a city changes a busy set of neighborhood streets from two-way to one-way configurations, SDOT says drivers have a few things to learn about the new Pike setup:
- People driving west on Pike St will turn north towards Pine St or south towards Union St at Bellevue Ave.
- People driving north and south on Bellevue Ave will continue straight or turn eastbound at Pike St.
- People driving north and south on Melrose, Minor, and Boren avenues will continue straight or turn eastbound at Pike St.
As construction wraps up on the downtown portions of the overhaul, SDOT says it still has eight new cherry trees to be placed along Pike between 1st and 2nd Ave near Pike Place Market along with a plaque highlighting the cultural and historical significance of the trees. Construction on the bridges over I-5 continue with wider sidewalks and protected bike lanes, plus new greenery, public artwork, and the improved railings and lighting. Work will continue to move east from 9th Ave to Bellevue Ave.
As for Pike’s twin, its one-way below Bellevue days are coming. Pine between 1st and Bellevue is scheduled to become one-way westbound for vehicles sometime in early 2024 with work across the entirety of the project hoped to be completed before the fall.
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Will cyclists riding up hill (eastbound) on Pike have to switch sides of the street at Bellevue?
How will cyclists heading uphill on Pike turn right onto Minor? Will there be a real traffic light or stop sign there so cyclists and pedestrians can cross Pike onto Minor/Melrose?
Can’t remember the details but the Central Area Greenways group got some of this info from SDOT during the planning/design stages, if you want to reach out (or if you’re already on the listserve someone probably knows there).
Sure looks like bikers will have to get to the other side/cross Pike at some point (where?) because existing bike lanes are on south side of the street… Definitely not ideal and an artifact of the city’s piecemeal planning which should surprise no one! Can see them retro-placing the bike lane on the north side of Pike in near term (tear it up and rebuild again!).
I mostly walk, sometimes bike, and sometimes drive. This plan looks like good, reasonable street management to me. Better than the implementation of stop signs at every intersection which has created ever-present traffic on Pike… Plus randomly no stop sign on Harvard, where I turn if driving, haha!
So stupid. The traffic headaches will be huge and the number of bicyclists who actually use this will be negligible. I vote with my wallet and am already avoiding all of Pike/Pine businesses up the hill I can no longer get to by car. Yeah, I’m evil. Do I give a s*** what you think? Nope.
Less evil people on the hill? That’s a win!
‘Fewer’ evil people on the hill.
It’s OK, we reciprocally don’t give a s*** what you think either. ;-)
good thing it’s going to happen in spite of you
Cool story bro. Sounds like you don’t live in Seattle. Go get a hobby.
This is great! More of this!
Ever written a complaint to the city in order to get a sidewalk cleaned up to make it walkable?
These big projects do little to make the city more walkable when the vast amount sidewalks of neighborhood are not accessible.
I have! And as someone who primarily walks I think the city should be investing lots more in walkability, and that projects like these often do contribute to traffic calming and safer streets.
I hope the traffic lanes are still 2 cuz if one there will be backups. Which impact buses unless there is a bus only lane.
Then there’s the cyclists that will still be in the traffic lanes Lolol
cyclists are traffic
But they choose to not use the bike lanes sometimes that got built for them
Yeah – because thankfully Washington state allows us to choose to not use piss-poorly designed ones that are more dangerous to use than not…
Most of Seattle’s bike lanes are junk – they are badly designed, have poor sight lines, abrupt transitions, they are never swept, often have illegally parked vehicles in them. It should be little to no surprise when experienced cyclists don’t want to go anywhere near them
So though this looks good in pictures and on paper, in reality it will only cause more transportation issues. Transportation investments should center on moving the largest number of people the most efficient way. Since bicyclists account for 3-6% of travelers depending on whose figures you believe this doesn’t seem to have a decent return on the investment. If you want to move cars off this corridor that’s fine with me but replace it with something that is more sensible.
Huh, dunno about you, but I’m amazed by the # of people using scooters and other micro mobility devices these days.
Anything that gets them (safely) onto the street and off the sidewalk sounds like a win to me.
Moving people more efficiently is exactly what this project is about; cars take up enormous amounts of space and are by far the least efficient way to move large numbers of people around a city. Right-of-way is a limited resource, so increasing efficiency has to mean reallocation of transportation resources away from cars, toward buses and bikes.
Building more dedicated bicycle infrastructure will increase the percentage of people who travel that way; the percentage is currently low because the bicycle route grid is incomplete and most people are not comfortable sharing the road with cars. With the increasing popularity of electric bikes and scooters, especially, people are discovering that it is quicker, easier, and more pleasant to get around on two wheels than four, and connecting the bicycle grid through more of the city is an important way to support that transition.
Bike commuting to work plummeted by one third post-pandemic, as did walking, since so many former biker and walkers are working remotely. Use of mass transit fell by even greater amounts, while driving alone to work fell much more modestly. Even pre-pandemic only three percent of Seattle commuters did so by bike, the great majority were men, and the stated goal with infrastructure changes was to raise that number to four percent. So, are we building this infrastructure with the expectation that more people will be biking downtown for work or for some other reason?
My wife started biking to work a few months ago. The protected bike lanes were a significant factor. Build it and they will come.
Buses, trains, trams, monorails, etc I’m all for, they move many people and since investing in them the number of users has climbed at least until the pandemic and safety issues. The number of bike riders has not increased since we started bike infrastructure. I generally walk and use a car a couple times a week but this corridor won’t increase that because the existing sidewalks are already sufficient. There is so much criticism of favoring the 1%ers this seems the same only maybe the 3-4%ers. How about the 95%?
Yay, can’t wait!
Here is an interesting dilemma: as the city tried to prioritize mass transit, and redefine what counts as ‘traffic’ to be more inclusive, where does private mass transit for into all of this? I am thinking specifically about the huge Microsoft Connector bus that currently stops (during rush hour no less) at the NE corner of Bellevue and East Pike. Gridlock anyone? This is a corner where trolley buses headed uphill must turn north onto Bellevue…and there isn’t room for both. I have already witnessed this gridlock. These buses are turning nearly
Every five minutes at rush hour, so this will not be a rare occurrence. The question I want eansweeed it this: wil fancy private mass transit be allowed to trump all other forms of traffic?
I hear you that the Connector stop placement isn’t ideal in terms of delaying the metro bus route. But I’d rather have a Connector bus picking up dozens of people than each of them driving to Redmond in their own cars.
Lid it! But also add workforce housing here to add density…with two convention centers and the Paramount there is a huge swath with no residents, making this space desolate at night.
The essence of Seattle on sustainability: expand a giant convention center dependent on thousands of air travellers and then put a few blocks of bike lanes in front of it and call it good.