(Image: SDOT)

RapidRide G has settled in after a bumpy but much-anticipated start with service that probably falls somewhere below the loftiest goals of completely reinventing public transit along the Madison corridor. While the new G line and the changes and cuts to dozens of adjoining bus lines got the headlines, another important Central Seattle transit corridor also has been upgraded.

At one point, Seattle planned to make Route 48 and the 23rd Ave/24th Ave corridor a RapidRide route, too.

Years later, the Seattle Department of Transportation has completed work in the final weeks of summer on the Route 48 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor Project.

Construction began in March to support more reliable trips for people riding the Route 48 between Mount Baker, the Central District and the University of Washington across the backside of Capitol Hill.

The work included signal upgrades for buses including installing new “smart signals” at 14 intersections that activate or extend green lights for buses traveling through the corridor. Those new signals will be activated over coming months, SDOT says.

Small stubs of “bus only” transit lanes have also been added at S Massachusetts St and S Grand St a turn lane from southbound 23rd Ave S to Rainier Ave S.

24th Ave was also improved for pedestrians with ADA-accessible curb ramps, and upgraded crossing signals near Boyer Ave, SDOT says.

The project was funded by the voter-approved transportation levy. SDOT did not provide a total cost for the effort in its announcement.

The 48 project could have been something at the scale of RapidRide G. In the mid-2010s, funds had been dedicated in the Move Seattle levy package to convert the 48 corridor into a Bus Rapid Transit corridor, combined with the highest ridership route in Metro’s fleet, the 7 running on Rainier. Shifting priorities and budget realities put that plan on ice. The 48’s planned electrification is also one of dozens of similar projects in Seattle transit limbo.

The more modest project now joins SDOT’s six-year road diet changes to the corridor in bringing smaller but hopefully still better changes to the ways people travel up and down 23rd and 24th Ave.

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