(Image: SDOT)

West on Pine, east on Pike.

Pine Street is now one-way between the base of Capitol Hill and downtown. The Seattle Department of Transportation says crews were working this weekend to finalize the overhaul to make Pine the westbound component in the new couplet configuration with Pike.

CHS reported here on the $17.45 million project to transform Pike and Pine into one-way streets below Bellevue Ave with protected bike lanes and safety improvements including wider sidewalks as part of the city’s waterfront improvements. 18 months of scheduled work on the project began late last year.

Overhauling the traffic flow on Pine involves the permanent removal of “eastbound vehicle access” on Pine between 8th and Melrose and will help complete the vision for the new alignment with Pike’s new eastbound flow from downtown. Now, people driving north and south on 8th, 9th, Boren, Minor and Melrose will continue straight or turn onto Pine headed westbound.

“Reconfiguring Pine St into one-way streets creates more space for people walking and rolling to support a safe, welcoming and pleasant experience for all travelers downtown,” SDOT said in its announcement of the milestone.

Pike’s new bike features taking shape (Image: SDOT)

Improvements on Pine’s bridge over I-5 include expanded sidewalks, protected bike lanes, landscaping, and integrated art elements such as new railings with incorporated lighting, bike buffer texturing, and planter boxes designed by artists Derek Bruno and Gage Hamilton, SDOT says. CHS reported here in 2021 on the state backing off concerns about the weight of the improvements an signing-off on the more ambitious overpass upgrades.

The city says there is more work to over “the next few months” to finish the reconfiguration on Pine including repaving, signals and signage for permanent reconfiguration to a one-way westbound street, finishing wider sidewalks to buffer pedestrians from freeway traffic and noise, installing higher railings with integrated lighting on the bridge over I-5, landscaping, and installing protected bike lanes with concrete bike lane buffers.

SDOT says work also continues on the Pike transformation even as traffic is already flowing through the new setup.

Work is also still underway through the year to complete the new RapidRide G bus line on Madison.

You can subscribe to the project’s weekly Pike Pine construction email for updates.

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