The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has released its nearly-final designs for a $16 million maintenance project along 15th Avenue NW through central Ballard and along the deck of the Ballard Bridge, set to start construction later this year. The repaving, which covers just over one mile, will add ADA-compliant curb ramps along the street but will largely leave one of the corridors on SDOT’s “high injury network” unchanged.
The project has an oversized importance citywide, as the department takes steps to further integrate safety into projects, nearly eight full years after committing itself to ending traffic fatalities citywide by 2030. The repaving’s “Complete Streets checklist”, a form required by city ordinance to prioritize safety in transportation project design, prompted only minimal changes along the corridor. Signed off by department staff just last year, simple sidewalk repair was the biggest single planned improvement for people walking and biking along the corridor.
The Complete Streets checklist directly acknowledges that SDOT’s designation for 15th Avenue NW through the heart of Ballard as an “Urban Village Main Street” is completely at odds with how the street is actually used. “While Urban Village Main Streets must accommodate the movement of people and goods through the Urban Center or Village, the design of these streets encourages slower speeds and clearly communicates that walking, bicycling and transit access are prioritized,” it noted.
Since walking and biking advocates asked for broader changes along the street during the project design, the repaving now touts updated pedestrian crosswalk “signs and markings”, as well as added street trees. But so far there are few signs that the department will be significantly modifying the project’s design to more directly align with the Safe Systems approach that the department is moving to embrace.
Last year, after design for the repaving project was already well underway, SDOT Director Greg Spotts, a few months into his new role, went on a walking tour of the project area with SDOT staff including City Traffic Engineer Venu Nemani, whose job title is being updated to Chief Safety Officer at SDOT. That led to increased hope that the project’s scope would be substantially revisted.
