Metro and SDOT are planning to make some changes to Metro Route 44, which travels along the NW Market Street/45th Street corridor connecting Ballard, Wallingford, and the University District. Through funding presented by Bridging the Gap–the City’s voter approved levy for transportation and maintenance–the plan includes designs to improve the route’s efficiency, with 
the goal to reduce travel time by 10% throughout the day. Metro Route 44 is ranked as one of the most popular routes in the Seattle area, carrying 6,000 riders per day.
The proposed designs include adding sidewalk extensions (bus bulbs) at Woodlawn and 46th eastbound, Corliss and 45th westbound, and Thackeray Place at 45th eastbound.
Plans also call for implementing Traffic Signal Priority (TSP), giving preference to Route 44 at signalized intersections along 45th Street, as well as a new Transit Lane along Midvale Place. The map below shows the exact location of these proposed changes. The transit improvement project is planned to take place between 2011 and 2013.
Prior to finalizing the design, they’ll ask for public input; but in the meantime, anyone is invited to come to the project open house to view the design plans, provide feedback, and chat with the project team. The open house is scheduled for next Tuesday, September 28, from 5:30-7:00pm at Good Shepherd Center, Room 202. Comments are also welcome via email [email protected] or by phone Jeff Bender 206-684-8837.
Update: Jeff Bender sent us a graphic with the proposed changes for the Midvale Place queue jump. Click here to view the image.
Hooray!! Improvements for this route have been discussed for 15 years that I’m aware of. This is great news for everybody who uses the 44 now and those who plan to use the new light rail station at the eastern end of the route. Also good news for those of us who cross 45th Street, those bulbs make it soooo much easier!
Thanks — this is very useful information.
One request: could you change the link to the Route 44 Transit Map so that it points to the much larger graphic on the “Bridging the Gap” site? My old eyes had a tough time reading the GIF file until I went to the site, clicked and viewed the much larger image.
“Traffic Signal Priority (TSP)”
Whoa. Didn’t know they did that.
I’d consider taking the bus more often if I knew it could speed through traffic better than sitting in my car on 45th. (although I guess I could just time it so I am driving behind a bus…)
I think they should get rid of the 26 route on Latona and Thackeray through the neighborhood and rely on Light Rail links in UW through the Route 44. The bus is impossibly slow to downtown commuters and speeds through residential areas with children, which is loud and over the speed limit for the area. Not sure if this is part of the plan here, but seems like it shouldn’t be listed as a major transfer with light rail coming in at the University just blocks away. The 44 needs to keep going but the 26 should be abolished.
“The 44 needs to keep going but the 26 should be abolished.”
Hey! Don’t take away my bus. I chose to live in this neighborhood because the 26 exists to take me and my non-car owning family where we need to go.
I use it to commute to work. We have elementary school kids who use it to get around the neighborhood and to school events. It gets us up to Green Lake where we can use the pool, the lake and the library. It takes us down to catch the 44..
I’m sorry, you think it is loud, speedy, and dangerous. I think all the cars in the neighborhood are loud and speedy and dangerous, but I’m not calling for my neighbors’ cars to be abolished. Leave your neighbors’ bus alone
@ clea. Ever taken the 26 Express? 20 minutes or less from 45th to James in the AM, sometimes with standing room only. Awesome commute!
Report speeding drivers to METRO. Write down the bus # and time. You & your neighbors might have to nag, nag, nag, but they eventually respond.
Once light rail is in place, my understanding is that Metro is going to be changing bus service to better integrate with the light rail stations. This is already happening (slowly) in the Rainier Valley. For now, 26 has reasonable ridership (it’s about in the middle of the pack for all of Metro’s bus routes) and I don’t think it should (or will) go away.
Long term, it will probably makes sense to have a bus route connect the UW-Stadium station with Fremont via 40th or 34th. I think we’ll still need a N-S route to connect Fremont to Greenlake and points north. But we’re far away from needing to hash out those details.
@Ffej – Thanks for point out the problems seeing the map. We’ll contact Metro/SDOT to see if they have a larger size. Sorry! It really is tiny.
We’ve updated the map so when you click on it, you should see a much larger version.
I live near Thackeray and 45th and I honestly don’t know what a “bus bulb” means and the impact for that corner. Could you explain? I fear that it will prevent an easy turn from EB 45th to SB Thackeray?
I’m really curious where they’ll put the “proposed transit lanes” in that bottleneck between Stone and Aurora. I would also like to defend the 26, especially the express!
@Peg, if you look at the picture of the bus in the blog, you’ll see an example of a bus bulb. It’s kind of where the road is a little wider so that the bus can move closer to the curb while traffic can continue to move, instead of having to wait for the bus to stop and start again. Almost looks like an indentation.
@Sara, That’s a great question. Let me see if we can contact Jeff and ask him. Stay tuned!
@Margaret – thanks! That helps – “indent” is more descriptive for sure!
The bus bulbs slow all traffic.
What the heck?
I would have to move out of Wallingford if the 26 was abolished – including the “26 route on Latona and Thackeray through the neighborhood”. My partner and I absolutely depend and rely on this bus on a daily basis. So do quite a lot of our neighbors. There are always people waiting at the 26 stops at any time of day! We are in lower Wallingford and no other bus is close enough to us or goes where we need to go. Plus, the loud cars speeding like idiots through the neighborhood (especially you no-muffler motorcycle guy) are far more annoying and dangerous than the buses.
As for the 44, all I can say is the first thing they need to do is BLEACH them from top to bottom. Almost every time I ride them I end up on a bus that is totally sticky, disgusting and filthy!
More agreement with LeaveMy26Alone – especially “I think all the cars in the neighborhood are loud and speedy and dangerous…”
I wish more people realized how cars and roads damage our quality of life. We could have so much more green space, bike and pedestrian space, less lung disease from pollution, quieter neighborhoods, less obesity, …
In 1998, the William Makepeace Thackeray Traffic Calming Consortium (some neighbors with clipboards and a speed gun) worked with Metro, SDOT and SPD to work on safety for this leg of Thackeray: 50th south to 42nd Street and on down 2nd Avenue NE to 40th (the “chicanes” on Thackeray that make it hard for speeding vehicles to pass busses at three clutch points are part of that). Metro offered to have its “coaches” drive 20mph on this arterial which has an unposted speed limit of 30 mph. Lots of them do and it is a simple matter to both thank the drivers who so when boarding the bus, and calling/e-mailing in the ones that don’t. Until people remove them, there are “METRO” signs with “20mph” signs below on corner telephone poles. The Seattle School District also agreed to have its drivers participate but accountability there is more problematic.
Could someone please explain the purpose of sidewalk extensions/bus bulbs? From my observation they just slow down traffic because buses can’t pull off to the side of the road, and they seem to coupled with barriers that prevent cars from moving into the turning lane to move beyond the buses. I’m all for slowing traffic down for a PURPOSE but I don’t understand this one.
Susan@18: I think you answered your own question. Turning lanes are not for passing.
The purpose is to let the bus get going again without having to wait for a gap in traffic. It also makes the bus stop more pleasant for riders to wait at.
I have taken the 26 many times to downtown – and the Express! Never EVER has it taken only 20 minutes to get there. Routine on the bus is about 45 minutes on the express in the morning on a good day. More importantly, I just don’t think the 26 route suits the neighborhood from 50th to 42nd. There is also the 16 on Meridian but that is a 2 lane aterial. Its just my opinion, but I think it should go before some small child gets hit. If there redoing the 44 route to make it faster, they should get rid of the 26 in the meantime. E.g. One time, I saw Metro run into a Pottery Barn delivery truck and immediately take off. I’ve emailed complaints to Metro with no response. Its just not the right street for a bus route.
It works for those people who purchased homes on its route so they could rely on public transportation; keeping children and pets out of the street is vital on every street, bus or no bus. Also, that “slow” bus is slowing vehicle and delivery traffic for the residents, they are part of an overall, complex solution to safer urban living. I understand not liking the bus, but how many streets are there to chose from that don’t have them?
clea,
You sound like you live pretty close to 45th.
Even if I lived on 45th, I doubt I’d want to take the 44 to light rail instead of the 26 (transfers are costly in terms of time and hassle), but it’s arguable.
Like a lot of people in the neighborhood, however, I don’t live close to 45th. I’d have to walk some distance to get there. In the rain. In the dark. Walk + 44 + transfer to light rail is unlikely to be substantial faster than the 26 – not to mention the value of staying dry and not getting run over by the cars speeding through the neighborhood in the dark.
When you talk of eliminating the 26, you should consider that there are a lot of people in the neighborhood that use that bus and would use it even after light rail arrives. I’m not sure how you envision the commute for folks, say, above 55th without the 26.
Metro tried eliminating the #26 route. The idea was that riders could hike over to the #16. Didn’t fly. There was no publicity about it. The bus drivers posted notices on the #26 buses. Passengers took action and stopped Metro from cutting that service.. At that time bus drivers did not always press the button to register passengers who paid by showing a pass or transfer, and Metro did not know the #26 was such a needed route.
I, too, rely on the #26 and because of the #26 have been able to get by without owning a car. Buses on Latona in the area south of 50th are going downhill only and are not really particularly noisy compared to cars and SUV’s and trucks. I live right on the bus route where traffic is two way.
Bus noise is part of the rhythm of the city, and for those of us who like being in the thick of things, it is a welcome sound.
my error. #26 definitely going uphill on Latona south of 50th. Downhill is Thackeray.
Jeff Bender sent us a graphic with the proposed bus lane on Midvale Place. We’ve added it to the post for you to click on and take a look.