Sen. Patty Murray delivered the big check to Seattle (Image: City of Seattle)
Eastlake will be the next area neighborhood to get the RapidRide treatment. This week, Seattle officials are celebrating a $64.2 million grant to help pay for it.
The RapidRide J route will connect the University District to Southlake Union via the core of the Eastlake neighborhood in a construction project expected to begin this summer and be completed sometime in 2027.
“Americans depend on fast, affordable, and safe transportation options to get to work, pursue their education, and come home every day to their families” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said about the grant. “Bus rapid transit is the fastest-growing transit mode for a good reason, and the Biden-Harris administration’s $64.2 million investment will build out Seattle’s RapidRide J Line to provide faster, more efficient service that benefits the greater Seattle area.”
The full project including two new miles of bus priority lanes and 3.7 miles of “protected bike facilities” has a $128 million cost estimate.
The Madison RapidRide G line started with a $134 million price tag buoyed by $60 million in federal funding. CHS reported here on the final year of construction that will complete the 2.4-mile route promising six-minute service during most hours of the day between 1st Ave downtown and MLK Jr Way in Madison Valley with stops across First Hill and Capitol Hill along the way.
RapidRide G broke ground in 2021.
The Eastlake timeline is planned to run a similar course. Both projects include major utilities and infrastructure work along the lines with plans for a new watermain along Eastlake Ave.
The Eastlake RapidRide J project was planned to have broken ground earlier but faced additional rounds of design over neighborhood concerns around street parking and bike and pedestrian improvements along the route.
When completed, the city says the RapidRide J project will include 15,130 feet of repaired sidewalks, 2 miles of repaved roadway, 3.7 lane-miles of protected bike facilities, 2 miles of bus priority lanes, 177 improved crosswalks, 33 intersections with traffic signal improvements, including 253 new traffic signal devices, 190 newly planted trees, and 8,900 feet of watermain replacement, in partnership with Seattle Public Utilities. The city is also promising to protect canopy and public art along the line.
Existing bus service including Route 70 along the path will also see changes.
While in the long run, the changes will bring transit, biking, walking, and driving safety improvements to Eastlake, neighborhood businesses and residents should be ready for a rough ride, RapidRide G construction including the attached utility and infrastructure work has created years of major challenges for businesses and residents living along Madison.
You can learn more and sign up for updates at seattle.gov.
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I have concluded these projects aren’t really about improving bus service, but more about upgrading and replacing existing infrastructure, such as sidewalks, electrical, and plumbing. That’s not a bad thing, but after observing the Madison project, Eastlake is in for a rough ride. Enjoy those new sidewalks!
So do you think the city should reject this federal funding that’s providing a lot of great infrastructure improvements to this area for just about every mode of transportation? Or is it just that they need to consult with you about how to best alleviate your concerns during these projects that benefit hundreds of thousands of people 🙄
Geez Matt. Take a pill. I said “that’s not a bad thing.” I simply pointed out that much of this is about improving non-transportation infrastructure, and that the project will make things difficult in Eastlake for the duration.
Fair enough, but you also know that it’s much more than new sidewalks. Water mains are kind of important, and when left too long they fail. They can fail quietly and allow small amounts of contaminants into the tap water undected, or they can fail catastrophically and cause significant damage to public and private infrastructure. Either way it’s not good and it’s therefore infrastructure that needs to be adequately maintained… Our priorities as society are getting very self-centered…
I love the improvements on Madison, but it’s completely unacceptable that the corridor has been in constant construction for 4+ years. The phasing used has been impossible to understand and feels like it could have been completed in six months with a few weeks of full closure rather than years of partial closure.
I walk along Eastlake, from Roanoke to Boston, on a frequent basis, and see no need for “sidewalk upgrades.” The old adage applies: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The businesses along the route are in for years of major disruption, and in the end elimination of parking for their customers. Will they get any mitigation?
The parking is not theirs. Nothing to mitigate.
Spoken like a true non-business owner.
Except it’s not just sidewalks, it’s a whole slew of major infrastructure upgrades above and below ground…
Honestly, I’ve been impressed with how quick and relatively smooth the RapidRide G construction has been… they are replacing an 100+ year old water main under a major thoroughfare that is adjacent to major hospital complexes.
WHHHHAAAAT!? It’s been partial closure of the street for 4+ years…
RapidRide G broke ground in 2021 and is slated to finish this year… That’s not bad for a major infrastructure project of this scale, including replacing a water main nearly as old as Seattle! The staging and partial closures could have been for any number of reasons, likely some combination of the need for utility work to happen in certain orders that would make a full closure too long and the need to maintain emergency vehicle access to the many large hospitals along this route.
I’m not saying mistakes weren’t made and that there shouldn’t be better outcomes for mitigating impacts on businesses, but in terms of construction of this scale in a major city, this was pretty smooth.
All this for bus and not train…
$128 million dollars to cut the number of bus stops in half and to eliminate the curb lane from neighborhood use for a bicycle super highway. I’d rather have load zones on the arterial, the Peak Hour traffic lanes, customer parking and the $128 million spent on projects that actually improve access to transit. The Route 70 re-painted for $128 Million. Smile for the camera! (And missing from the photo is District # Joy Hollingsworth — thank you!)
The Madison rapid ride is almost done? Much of Madison still feels like a derelict gravel pit. I hope the Eastlake project is smoother and looks more like it was built and designed by professionals, but I have horrendously low expectations at this point.
It’s been going on so long now that I can’t remember what it used to look like.
“With Madison RapidRide G work wrapping up this year’
Look up the definition of a year
Looking forward to it!
Good luck Eastlake
Very exciting! Much better investment at $128 million than connecting the two existing streetcar lines at $410 million. Goes to show you the benefits of BRT.
This should be a streetcar extension. it would be awesome if the SLU trolley extended to the U-District through Eastlake.
There used to be a streetcar from downtown through SLU and Eastlake up to the U District! decades ago, before I-5 existed. I want to love the idea of bringing that streetcar back but the neighborhoods and infrastructure are so different now I’m skeptical it would be worth the cost.