Seattle Councilmember Rob Saka has proposed to earmark $2 million in existing City funding to modify an already-completed RapidRide project, removing a prohibition on left turns that he has been attempting to get removed since it was installed in 2021. The proposal, included in the amended budget released by committee chair Dan Strauss on Wednesday, would freeze funds, preventing them from being used for any other purpose except to “to make improvements to Delridge Way SW near the SW Holly St right-of-way to allow for left-turn ingress and egress from adjoining properties, including the Refugee and Immigrant Family Center Bilingual Preschool.”
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) installed the hardened median strip as part of the RapidRide H Line project, which King County Metro launched in early 2023. A standard piece of infrastructure seen across the city, the hardened median prohibits drivers from turning left across a protected bike lane near an H Line bus stop.
As first reported by PubliCola, Saka has apparently taken the barrier’s installation personally, as a parent of two kids who attend or have attended the Refugee & Immigrant Family Center (RIFC) Bilingual Preschool. With the median in place, drivers trying to access the preschool’s small parking lot cannot turn left from northbound Delridge, nor exit that direction.
In an email sent to SDOT in late 2021, Saka pushed for the immediate removal of the median, calling it “highly unsafe,” and characterizing SDOT’s justification of its installation “trite.” After a response from SDOT about the reasons that the median was installed, Saka proceeded to compare it to the 30-foot wall along the southern border of the US — a policy priority of the Trump administration.
“Historically, barriers have been used to exclude, isolate, divide, discriminate against, project power over, subjugate, render less than status to, punish, segregate, humiliate/embarrass, harass, degrade, and so much more. More recently, the Trump administration sought to build an enormous wall on the southern border with Mexico – presumably, to exclude certain individuals deemed ‘undesirable’ in the name of national security,” Saka wrote. “That is why SDOT’s ill-advised concrete barrier placed directly in front of RIFC (despite our strong feedback against) has only re-traumatized many members of the RIFC community. It is triggering for many of our members.”
This week, Saka made it clear he hasn’t let it go, after being elected Councilmember in 2023 for District 1, which includes West Seattle, the Duwamish Valley, and SoDo, and appointed chair of the Council’s transportation committee. But in Wednesday’s committee meeting, where proposed amendments were discussed in brief, Saka portrayed the proposal as more broad than it actually is, and based in equity.
“Delridge is, as we know, an under-resourced neighborhood and historically marginalized and disadvantaged community. [The] very extremely busy but very important arterial corridor through the neighborhood kind of bifurcates it,” Saka told his colleagues. “Among the many communities there [are] immigrant and refugee families who continue to face, on a daily basis, conditions and unsafe access to important services along Delridge. So this is a much needed investment, and helps our city deliver safe, accessible, equitable access in that really important corridor.”
