The mayor’s final Move Levy proposal was released, but unfortunately nothing has improved for Wallingford despite the levy growing from 900 million to 930 million. Here is the map, then the proposals:
On the map grey is paving, yellow is safety improvements to Aurora, blue is bike master plan implementation, and the red targets are seismic upgrades. I added the numbers and aligned them with the numbered project list below. Descriptions are from SDOT via their project list plus what you come up with when matching the blue lines to to the Bike Master plan:
- Green Lake Way N paving project with a cycle track added between 50th and the lake. Hannah McIntosh, outreach lead, said that the cycle track was supposed to continue around Green Lake and that she would fix the map, but it remains the same in the final version.
- A greenway between Green Lake Elementary and lower Wallingford. In practical terms this only means adding a signal at Sunnyside and 40th, which was Wallingford’s top NPSF project twice but was rejected by SDOT both times, most recently because not enough people used the crossing.
- A cycle track between Woodland Park Ave and Phinney. Hannah said the map was in error and the cycle track should continue to Green Lake Way, but again didn’t change the map in the final release. Connecting to bike lanes on Stone Way at the 5 way signal at of 50th and Green Lake Way was brushed off as a “detailed design issue”, not a feasibility issue.
- Paving 50th
- “Market/45th Transit Improvement Project” and “Bus Rapid Transit” project, piling more bus service on top of all the changes on 45th made for buses in the last few years. Ironically, the city rationalizes all the bike-only parking for new developments on 45th because we are a transit corridor, then provides no way to use bikes in the 45th street corridor.
- A cheap greenway on 42nd street (no arterial crossings)
- Paving part of 40th
- A cheap greenway on Densmore (no arterial crossings)
- A cheap greenway on 36th street (no new arterial crossings)
That’s it. Some of the top safety issues in the city are completely ignored. There will be no new ways to bike or walk to light rail when it opens in 2021 in the U-District. The only greenways we get are the cheapest ones to implement, ones with no new arterial crossings and no paving required. Beyond slamming more buses through on 45th, everything is being chosen based on what’s cheapest to do, nothing based on the needs of the community.
Over 9 years this Levy extracts $2,750 for every half million in home value, compared to $1,300 for the last Bridging the Gap Levy. Think you’re getting your money’s worth? SDOT’s feedback synopsis notes that Wallingford spoke up during the feedback cycle for the Levy. In a 29 page document, these are the mentions we got:
- Some comments that proposed improvements neglect certain neighborhoods with great needs (e.g., West Seattle, Lake City, Wallingford)
- Some comments about paying more attention to east and west connections citywide
- Support for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge on 47th over I-5 that connects Wallingford and the U District
Fortunately, SDOT is going to come to Wallingford on Sunday, May 17th, from 11 AM to 1 PM for a walking tour. It would have been nice if they had set foot in the neighborhood while planning the Levy or before the mayor submitted the finalized Levy to the city council, but at least they are coming.
The walking tour is sponsored by Seattle Greenways, which has a pedestrian and cyclist I-5 crossing near 45th as their top priority for all of Seattle City Council District 4. District 4 candidates will also be on the walking tour, plus Tom Rasmussen and Mike O’Brien have been invited as they are Seattle City Council Transportation Committee Chair and Vice Chair. Here’s the tour map:
So I hope you come on the walking tour Sunday, May 17th, from 11 AM to 1 PM! Come meet the candidates. Meet people from SDOT and describe this strange land called “Wallingford” to them. Find out if anybody in city government will fix this Levy before we get stuck with it for the next decade!
we need Mike McGinn back…..and for sure we need to keep Mike O’Brien as our council person….I’ve been going to the mad tea party council meetings lately and there are only 3 sane and humane people on it, and he’s Definitely one of them….I had no idea what city politics was like before attending…it’s a real eye opener…now I’m involved because it Really Matters
P.S. I’ve also been at the Mayors office a lot lately, but he is very unaccessible, also, he always seems to be for something and then later on he adds a “but……” to it
It looks to me like the 47th Ave crossing & greenway on both sides of the highway *is* included in the map, as #5, which is blue (bike), and lines up with the BMP map.
It’d be nice it they’d continued the greenway to 46th at least as far as Stone, but other than the Meridian & Wallingford crossings, those roads aren’t bad, at all.
-jeff
It looks like it, but #5 is just about improving 45th for transit. There’s no plans for structural work on the bridge to make things better for pedestrians or bikes (no new railings, no curb work). SDOT also plans no work on the 47th street greenway.
I guess we’ll see once they release the revised project-list; I think we just have the bullet-points, currently.
One issue that’s come up is that any overpass or underpass for I-5 is in WSDOT’s jurisdiction, and I I’m pretty sure it’s a job requirement for anyone working at WSDOT to have never gotten within 300′ of a pedalcyclemotive, or one of those large, regularly-running vehicles that can carry many smaller vehicles’ worth of people.
So, even if SDOT wanted to do work on I-5/99/520/522, it might not be their work to do.
They seem to think they can construct an I5 overpass at Northgate.
True. I can only assume because you can’t drive on it, it doesn’t even register as a “Transportation” project for them, just some random clutter that reduces headroom on the highway and maybe gives them something to attach another traffic-camera to.
It’s amusing that you’ll walk past the bridge on 45th in the attempt to establish the need for a bridge at 47th. Bikes might do that but pedestrians won’t, especially not to get to a Link station that has entrances at 45th and 43rd.
@steve You’re not wrong… The Bike Master Plan is far more developed than the Pedestrian Master Plan, which is rather aspirational, to look at the website (http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/pedestrian_masterplan/default.htm).
There’s somewhat different needs. Bikes need a safe, on-road & off-road network, preferably as flat as possible, though we’ll give up a bit of efficiency to get that.
Pedestrians need safe shortest-distance-between-two-points sidewalk or sidepath connections, which are similar but different to bike’s needs.
I have idea to address both the bike and pedestrian route issues raised by steve and jeff. How about a lid over I-5 between 45th and 50th. This will allow for diagonal crossings too, making route even more direct and safe for all types of carbon-free transportation. Further, the connection should not just be for getting to the transit station to access lightrail. It should also be to connect other elements of the two communities – apartment dwellers in UDistrict to get to the Guild 45; residents of Wallingford to get to the U District farmers market on Saturdays; etc. In fact, if the issue was simply to connect to the transit station, is not the easier/cheaper solution to simply run free shuttle buses or allow for free transfers between the bus and train for those that do not want to walk or ride on the busy thoroughfares that now exist? Further, a cap over this five block section of I-5 will add much needed public space. More area for kids to play and for farmers markets, etc.
A lid over I-5 in that stretch would require up zoning the properties on either side of the lid and then instituting a special tax on those properties. It’s a good idea, but an involved and complicated one that won’t be ready by light rail in 2021.
since jsis is no longer a neighborhood school, but an option school with slight preference given to some people who may live in the token geozone, I don’t seem any reason to invest more money to improve non-motorized transportation infrastructure to this school since the school district no longer supports it, and would prefer to have people drive their kids here. More improvements should be made to other neighborhood non-option schools like BF Day and Greenlake. There’s very little improvements scheduled to integrate non-motorized options for BF day, which has 99 as a barrier, yet has half of it’s enrollment zone across from it.
I hope that this forum recognizes that and can try to also support that connection in addition to trying to push for a pedestrian I-5 crossing.