Spotts to Leave SDOT Just as New Transportation Levy Gets Rolling
Greg Spotts is the latest SDOT Director to leave the city after a short stint, departing after overseeing a strong finish on the $930 million Levy to Move Seattle.
Move Seattle
The Levy to Move Seattle Era Draws to a Close
As Seattleās nine year transportation levy expires and a new one is set to take its place, the city is leaving behind the transformative goals of the Move Seattle era and trading them for something more modest.
Seattle Voters Approve $1.55 Billion Transportation Levy
Passage of Seattleās transportation levy was all but assured Tuesday night, after initial returns showed two-thirds of voters in support.
The Seattle Timesā Credibility on Transportation Levies Has Run Out
The editorial board of Seattleās only remaining daily newspaper has an abysmal track record when it comes to supporting the Seattle transportation levy. Voters should take their recommendation with a boulder of salt.
āKeep Seattle Movingā Levy Campaign Kicks Off
Transportation advocacy and business groups alike are supporting Seattleās Prop 1, the $1.55 billion renewal of the cityās transportation levy.
Seattle Sends $1.55 Billion Transportation Levy to the November Ballot
Itās official: Voters this fall will get to weigh in on whether Seattle should invest $1.55 billion over eight years to improve transportation infrastructure, with most funding allocated to road and bridge maintenance.
Seattle City Council Rejects Bid for Larger Transportation Levy
The transportation levy on Seattle ballots this fall wonāt grow beyond $1.55 billion, despite a push by transportation advocacy groups to go bigger. A Morales-backed amendment to increase the levyās size failed Tuesday.
Morales Makes Last Minute Push for $1.7 Billion Transportation Levy
Councilmember Tammy Morales offered a new proposal Thursday for a $1.7 billion transportation levy that increases spending across a broad array of programs. None of her colleagues have yet backed the proposal.
Seattle Councilās 500-Block Sidewalk Expansion Proposal May Be Infeasible
A proposed amendment to the next Seattle transportation levy pushes the city to build 500 blocks of new sidewalks in five years. However, SDOT says that goal likely isnāt achievable without more funding and broader changes.
Saka Adds $100 Million to Levy for Sidewalks, Freight, EV Charging
Amending the Mayorās final proposal for a transportation levy, committee chair Rob Saka has revised the proposal by increasing funding for new sidewalks, freight mobility, and electric vehicle charging.
Urbanist Publisher Doug Trumm Discusses Transportation Levy on Hacks & Wonks Podcast
The Urbanistās Publisher Doug Trumm was recentlyĀ on Crystal Fincherās Hacks and Wonks podcast to discuss the Seattle transportation levy proposal, which came in well short of where safe streets advocates were pushing the mayor to go. The episode is a good primer on the levy debate.
Levy Proposal Would Add Only 10 Miles of Protected Bike Lanes
After building over 40 miles of protected bike lanes since 2015, the City of Seattle only promises around 10 additional miles through 2032. The potential for extra projects depend on additional funding beyond the mayorās levy proposal.
SDOT Sprints Toward the End of the Move Seattle Era
The Seattle Department of Transportationās project delivery is ramping up in 2024. What does that tell us about where the department is heading under a new levy?
Mobility Advocates Find Support for Bigger Levy in Poll, Council Deliberates
A recent poll found Seattle would support a $1.9 billion transportation levy focused on fix-it-first and safety investments, but the Cityās proposal currently sits at $1.45 billion.
Harrell Adds $100 Million to Transportation Levy Proposal, Sends to Council
Responding to pushback that his $1.35 billion levy proposal was too small and car-focused, Mayor Harrell added another $100 million in pedestrian, bike, and transit investment.
Seattle Levy Proposal Lowers the Bar on Public Transit Investments
Seattleās draft transportation levy takes a big step back when it comes to public transit investments, only proposing two full corridor upgrades and allocating less overall funding to transit.
Seattle Levy Proposal Keeps Modest Pace of Building New Sidewalks
250 blocks of new sidewalks was a big win from the Move Seattle levy. Now itās seen as the new baseline, with the 27% of missing blocks citywide being put front and center in the levy debate.
Seattle Gives Up on Bike Network Expansion Goals in Draft Transportation Levy
Seattleās 2015 transportation levy committed to expanding the cityās bike network by 110 miles. Its follow up doesnāt include a specific target.
A Deep Dive on the 15 Corridor Upgrades in Seattleās Draft Transportation Levy
The transportation levy proposed this month by the Harrell Administration would overhaul at least 15 corridors around the city. Hereās whatās on the table when it comes to changes on those streets.
Harrell Proposes Modest $1.35 Billion Transportation Levy Renewal
The mayorās levy proposal is focused on preserving the existing car-focused system rather than promising transformative changes. Advocates asked for at least $1.7 billion focused on pedestrians, bikes, and transit, but didnāt get it.
What to Look for in Seattleās Next Transportation Levy
With a transportation levy going to ballot this fall, advocates want at least 50% of investments to be dedicated toward pedestrian, bike, and transit upgrades. They also want the City to go big, with a levy of at least $1.7 billion, but the Mayor appears set to go smaller.
Seattle Levy Oversight Committee Pushes for Bigger, Broader Renewal Package
As a $930 million transportation levy winds down, its oversight body has made it clear that a simple renewal this year wonāt be enough to address Seattleās transportation issues. The group is pushing Mayor Harrell to go big.
Announcing The Urbanistās 2024 Advocacy Agenda
Focused on housing abundance and sustainable transportation, our 2024 advocacy agenda runs the gambit from comprehensive plan updates to transit upgrades and a safety-first Move Seattle Levy renewal.
Mobility Advocates Push Seattle to Seek Bigger $3 Billion Levy
āTo put the city on track to meeting its mobility, safety, equity, maintenance, and sustainability goals,ā the coalition of mobility and climate groups wrote, āSeattle must invest just over $3 billion over the next 8 yearsā in building 60 miles of dedicated transit corridors, 331 miles of new sidewa
Seattle Voters On Board with Big Transportation Levy, New Polling Shows
The survey found 56% of Seattleites supported a $1.7 billion transportation levy, with safety and transit top concerns.
Seattle Transportation Plan Project List Suggests Roadmap for Levy Renewal
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has released a draft project list intended to go along with its mammoth Seattle Transportation Plan, still in development and set to be finalized over the coming months. The list, which includes 80 discrete ideas for projects that would overhaul segments of Seattleās
Finding the Legacy of the Move Seattle Transportation Levy
What comes next when a ātransformationalā levy didnāt transform Seattle streets? On a Monday morning in late August, Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Director Greg Spotts started his workweek with a walking tour in West Seattle. Thatās a usual day for Spotts, who has made a point of
Bus Lanes Largely Missing in Early Concepts for Route 48 Upgrade
Of the seven frequent bus corridors that the 2015 Move Seattle levy pledged to upgrade, Route 48 between the University District and Mount Baker was always planned to be the least ambitious upgrade. The nine-year levy was never actually set to provide any direct funding dollars for the project at
SDOT Proposes Assembling Funds to Get Closer to Move Seattle Levyās Multimodal Promises
When voters approved Seattleās nine-year transportation levy in 2015, they were choosing whether the city should invest in a very specific list of transportation projects, from street repaving to protected bike lanes to blocks of new sidewalks. That suite of projects has evolved over the past six years, with
2021 Budget Takes Another Bite Out of RapidRide Program
Back in 2018, we reported that Mayor Durkanās āMove Seattle Resetā had cut Route 40, Route 44, and Route 48 from RapidRide plans, instead promising lesser improvements. This month, we learned that King County Metro and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) have also dropped the Rainier Avenue corridor
SDOT Adds a Bit More Transit Priority in Updated Route 40 and 44 Designs
As a part of Seattleās voter-approved $930 million Move Seattle Levy, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has been planning design updates to Routes 40 and 44. Both route updates have already gone through their first rounds of community surveys, and SDOT has been steadily adding bus lanes and
Route 40: From Workhorse to Racehorse?
King County Metroās third busiest bus route doesnāt have fancy RapidRide branding. Youāll often see it (sometimes represented by some of the oldest buses in Metroās fleet) slogging through Mercer Mess traffic in South Lake Union or stuck behind boat and car traffic at the Fremont
Rapidride J Aims to Double Route 70 Ridership
Route 70 is not a bus that riders are thrilled to rideāitās crowded and often stuck in traffic in South Lake Union. But thereās a plan to fix that, and, thanks to the more reliable, speedy service at more frequent intervals, the City projects it would more
Route 44 Upgrade Pursues Elusive High-Quality Crosstown Service
Route 44 is a workhorse, but itās far from a racehorse. 9,300 daily riders pack themselves into the lumbering beast of burden and suffer the routeās sluggish pace and unreliability. Running east-west 5.3 miles across town from Husky Stadium to the Chittenden Locks, the Route 44
Help Decide How Route 70 Becomes RapidRide J
Route 70 is not among Seattleās speedier buses, but that could change. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is studying how to improve the route, which averaged 8,300 daily riders in 2017, and it has an online open house available for folks to comment. In 2015, voters overwhelmingly
Seattle Should Paint These 9 Bus Lanes within a Year
To an urbanist, thereās no sweeter sight than fresh red paint claiming a new bus lane. We have seen that sight a bit more frequently lately. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has added about 32 blocks of bus lanes this fall, including stretches on Columbia Street, Olive Way,
Neighborhood Street Fund Projects Head to Levy Oversight Committee
A pedestrianized Ballard Avenue and protected bike lanes on Roy Street in Queen Anne were some of the street safety improvements dealt a setback this week. The Neighborhood Street Fund projects that received the most votes were revealed to the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee this week, and the members
Neighborhood Street Fund Voting Open Through May 5th
Seattleās largest safe streets grant program, the Neighborhood Street Fund, is currently in the voting stage. Voting is open through Sunday, May 5th, with anyone with any connection to Seattle able to cast a ballot in each of Seattleās seven council districts. The NSF program allows neighbors to
Seattle Stagnated on Vision Zero in 2018, Preliminary Crash Data Shows
Preliminary data from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) shows the total number of serious injuries and fatalities on Seattleās streets was virtually unchanged between 2018 and 2017, showing another year of stagnation toward our citywide goal of completely eliminating those types of collision results by 2030. This data
Extra Water Taxi Service and a Few Temporary Bus Lanes Planned for Seattle Squeeze
On Thursday, officials from the City of Seattle, Washington State Department of Transportation, and King County Metro held a joint press conference to discuss upcoming traffic impact responses that agencies will make in the wake of imminent closure of the SR-99 viaduct and long-term mega-construction projects happening in Downtown Seattle
Durkanās SDOT Director Pick Could Jumpstart Stalled Department
After nearly a year of interim directors, Mayor Jenny Durkan on Tuesday announced her pick to lead the Seattle Department of Transportation. Sam Zimbabwe, who will start work in early January, has spent seven years working at the District Department of Transportation, in the other Washington, most recently as the
Seattle Shelves Promised RapidRide Upgrades for Routes 40, 44, 48
The rumors of the Move Seattle Reset have been swirling for months, but it remained unclear what that would mean beyond a sort of vague watering down of upgrades due to an estimated $96 million shortfall. Now itās become clearer that the City is planning to abandon three of
SDOT Considers Alternatives to Eastlake Bike Lanes, But Itās Clear There Are None
While Lynnwood Link is slated to get its badly needed $100 million from Congress in the latest appropriation from D.C., Seattleās RapidRide projects wait on the Feds and are just as essential in serving the cityās surging transit needs. Roosevelt RapidRide is one of the corridors that
Letās Add New Bus Lanes to Overcome āPeriod of Maximum Constraintā
The news on One Center City has not been very uplifting. The effort to keep Seattle moving during coming transit logjams got a re-brand to āImagine Seattle,ā but it appears to still be lacking for bold imagination and timeliness. The problem, dubbed the āPeriod of Maximum Constraint,ā stems from convergence
Seattleās Key Transit Corridors Face Uncertain Budgets and Diminished Scope
$96 million dollars could be the new overall budget cap for all seven corridors that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) promised voters it would upgrade to prioritize transit, according to the newly released findings from the reassessment of the nine-year Move Seattle levy that has been taking place over
Funding Outlook for Seattleās Bicycle Master Plan is Bleak
While we wait for the full results of the Durkan administrationās reassessment of spending and deliverables in Seattleās nine-year Move Seattle transportation levy, details are starting to emerge on where exactly we are in certain programs. Last Wednesday, Interim Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Director Goran Sparrman and
Rainier RapidRide: Metro and SDOT Seek a Streamlined Route 7
The Rainier RapidRide Line is coming to the Rainier Valley in 2021 and will provide very frequent 24-hour service and improve the quality of bus operations, bus stops, and bus design. The route will largely replace the existing Route 7, one of the busiest routes in the King County Metro
Delay in Madison RapidRide Means More Pedestrian Collisions Likely
Seattleās annual traffic report includes a map of the locations where pedestrian collisions occurred, with the number increasing with the size of the blue dot. Looking at 2016ās map, the data is much like previous years: it shows that pedestrians are most frequently involved in collisions in the
King County Metro Asks for Next Round of Feedback on RapidRide H Line
In 2020, King County Metro Transit will relaunch the Route 120 as the RapidRide H Line offering greater frequency, increased span of service, and improved service quality. The route threads together communities from Downtown Seattle to Burien by way of Delridge and White Center on a 13-mile corridor. On weekdays,
SDOT Unveils 23rd Avenue āPhase 2ā Design
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is in the midst of planning the second phase of corridor improvements to 23rd Avenue, a main thoroughfare linking neighborhoods from Montlake to the Rainier Valley. SDOT completed work on the first phase of the project earlier this year, which included a 1.4-mile
Roosevelt RapidRide Predictably Scales Back Bike Plans
On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council got an update on the proposed Roosevelt RapidRide corridor. Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) staff shared details on the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the line, a required milestone for federal funding, which point to a transit line mimicking the one conceived in earlier
Neighborhood Street Fund Projects Selected
We have been covering the selection process all year long for the beefy neighborhood projects that are funded through the Neighborhood Street Fund program, a collaboration between the Department of Neighborhoodsā District Neighborhood Councils and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). This year, with Seattleās new transportation levy providing
Introducing The Move Seattle Dashboard
One of the main pointsĀ made by the anti-movementĀ in the lead up to last yearās vote on a Seattle-specific transportation levy, the nine-year Levy to Move Seattle, was the idea that promises had been made to Seattle voters in the previous transportation levy (Bridging the Gap) had not
Digging Into The Neighborhood Street Fund Proposals
One of the biggest stories of the year for neighborhood groups has been Ed Murrayās dissolving of the District Neighborhood Councils. As we covered before, one of the biggest tasks that the DNCs had on their plates was a front-line say in the distribution of grant money, namely in
RapidRidership: Corridors With Huge Potential
I covered the rollout schedule of the next batch of RapidRide+ bus routes. The seven corridors already account for more than 60,000 in weekday ridership according to 2015 numbers. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) expects the RapidRide+ upgrades to increase ridership by 50,000. Given the existing ridership
Madison Could Earn Bronze-Standard BRT
Relative to other medium-sized American cities, Seattle has a good bus network. What it doesnāt have is a true bus rapid transit (BRT) line. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) wants to change that with āMadison Bus Rapid Transit,ā as it has labeled a new project in a corridor
Madison BRT: An In-Depth Look At The 30% Design
On August 3rd and 4th, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) held public open houses where they unveiled the 30% design for its Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. Identified in the 2012 Seattle Transit Master Plan as a priority corridor for High Capacity Transit and later designated as
Questions Still Loom About RapidRide+ Rollout
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) revealed on Saturday its preliminary timeline for rolling out the seven RapidRide+ lines promised in the Move Seattle transportation levy. Madison and Delridge come first in 2019, whereas the 23rd Ave E upgrade isnāt slated until 2024. Seeing the timelines makes the bus
Event Notice: Join Urban Transit Advocates For A Multi-Modal Meetup
How can Seattleās transit, walking, and biking advocates work together to create a safe and reliable transportation system? The Move Seattle levy promised to implement 7 āRapid Ride Plusā corridors by 2024, with two of those currently in the planning stages. The levy also promises to implement walking and
Roosevelt āTargetedā Transit Improvements Need Better Aim
Almost all transit advocates are in agreement that the proposal that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) unveiled in late June for improvements to turn the Eastlake and Roosevelt corridor into a high capacity transit corridor leaves much to be desired. SDOT was tasked with analyzing the level of investment