PLANNING RAPIDRIDE H LINE: ‘New’ Delridge-area option – and meeting – added

(Front of postcard that SDOT is about to send)

4:10 PM: We’ve already reported on upcoming White Center and Burien meetings coming up to talk about the conversion of Metro Route 120 to the RapidRide H Line. Today there’s word a Delridge meeting has been added, and that an “online open house” will start this Friday. Along with the Delridge meeting comes word of a “third option” proposed for the route’s West Seattle segment. From the announcement:

Community feedback will help decide the preferred alignment options in Burien and White Center, all proposed H Line station locations, and “access to transit” improvements along the entire route that would make getting to the bus by foot or by bicycle easier. Riders can share their views and priorities with Metro and learn how SDOT is incorporating feedback on redesigning Delridge Way SW at upcoming open house meetings and via an online open house.

· Wednesday, Jan. 10: 5-8 p.m. at the Burien Community Center, Shorewood Room, 14700 Sixth Ave. SW

· Thursday, Jan. 11: 5-8 p.m. in White Center at Mount View Elementary School, Cafeteria/Multi-purpose Room, 10811 12th Ave. SW.

· Wednesday, Jan. 17: 5-6:30 p.m. at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW. Give input on a NEW option for improving Delridge Way SW and share stories with the artists hired to create project art.

· Online Open house: From Jan. 5-15, to be available at Metro’s RapidRide page or online at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/hlinefeedback

· Community interviews: Metro will be working in the community in coming weeks to interview people in person, and will have translated survey materials available in Vietnamese, Somali, Spanish and Khmer.

According to SDOT – which is a partner in RapidRide with the county – the “new option” is still being refined, so the link in the postcard graphic atop this story won’t show it to you yet; we’ll have a followup when it’s available. Also note that the January 17th Delridge meeting is described as “drop-in.” And if you haven’t answered the current survey – it’s still open.

ADDED 7:24 PM: Delridge Neighborhoods District Council co-chair Mat McBride has more to add about the newly added meeting in that area. He explains it’s “a co-production with the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council. Immediately-ish following the drop-in session, the DNDC will do a more in-depth vision and design meeting with Metro and SDOT concerning the H line. This will consume the DNDC meeting for the month of January. As always, the public is welcome and encouraged to attend and participate in any DNDC meeting. This one happens to be particularly important for transit consumers in the Delridge corridor.” So it’s a RapidRide doubleheader that night (January 17th) at Youngstown.

13 Replies to "PLANNING RAPIDRIDE H LINE: 'New' Delridge-area option - and meeting - added"

  • Jort January 2, 2018 (5:08 pm)

    Oh cool! Perhaps Metro is finally considering my “eliminate all private vehicles from Delridge” proposal!

    • Angie P January 5, 2018 (11:41 am)

      That would certainly make it fun for some of us who live off Andover to get home. ;)

  • TJ January 2, 2018 (5:10 pm)

    “Redesigning Delridge Way”…probably means bike lanes of some kind, bus bulbs, and less car capacity. I don’t use Delridge, but I know traffic has gotten a lot worse there as well. This won’t help at all.

    • Amy January 2, 2018 (8:17 pm)

      Funny how adding bike lanes of some kind get blamed for making traffic worse. Hey less cars on the road is a good thing right?

      • Jort January 3, 2018 (11:31 am)

        Yes, it is. For a variety of reasons:

        Cars are responsible for one of the leading causes of death and injuries in the United States (but not other developed countries. Just us.)

        The transportation sector is one of (and often the) leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in America. 

        There are more reasons — several more — but, yes: the goal is to get more cars off the road. They’re dangerous, they pollute, and there isn’t enough space to accommodate them all anymore. Time to move on.

        • Question Authority January 3, 2018 (4:07 pm)

          Nor can a bicycle haul an entire family with groceries and a 24 pack of TP, and Grandma from out of town. Not going to move on for you because this is neither Stockholm or Bangkok and we just don’t care.

          • WSB January 3, 2018 (4:22 pm)

            This is where in theory the car-sharing lifestyle comes in – no privately owned car but when you have the family, the groceries, and Gramma, you get Uber or Lyft (or a larger shareable car). They do have a congestion side effect, apparently, as discussed:

            https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/12/how-to-fix-new-york-citys-unsustainable-traffic-woes/548798/

            A Seattle version of that story, from earlier in the year:

            https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/do-uber-lyft-worsen-seattles-traffic-congestion/

            Obviously not applicable to all uses (trying to get an Uber to take us to the subject of the original story above would not likely have worked well). – TR

          • Question Authority January 3, 2018 (5:49 pm)

            Uber and Lyft are at the whim of a reliable GPS signal, without any none of the drivers know how to get anywhere because none of them are from here as a rule.  I personally favor taxis because they played by the rules and have a license to prove it, none I’ve used follow a online map to get me where I need to go.  When the 99 tunnel opens no Uber or Lyft driver will want to enter for fear of losing the signal and then won’t know how to get to the other end.  Back to Delridge, fine just turn it into bikes and buses only and force the cars to travel along Longfellow creek or up and over Pigeon point.  It’s a no win no matter what.

        • Mike January 3, 2018 (9:07 pm)

          Ah yes, the urbanite who has no life outside the city.  Never mountain bikes, never goes out boating, never goes fishing, doesn’t backpack in the wilderness… Yes, EVERYONE should ONLY bike.  What a way to live, stuck in a little bubble with no clue how anything outside a tiny city is like.  Yup, we should haul construction equipment behind bicycles too, along with cement, we should definitely be hauling rebar behind bicycles.  Costco… pshhhhh, use a bike.  Got two kids and a grandma with one foot… no worries, bicycle.  The answer is always bicycle.

          BTW, I commute to work on my bike more than 75% of the time.  The other 25% I hassle with the c-line which is a train wreck.  And for Uber or Lyft or Car2Go, etc… they come in very very very limited use cases for those that don’t have cars or need a quick transport to the airport and back.  They are horrible if you want to haul 4 people to the mountain with mountain bikes with gear and a dog or two.

    • AMD January 3, 2018 (8:44 pm)

      How often you travel on Delridge, TJ?  This is the second time in recent memory you’ve posted complaints referencing Delridge that clearly demonstrate how little knowledge you have of the area. 

      There are already bike lanes along a lot of Delridge.  And SDOT has been making improvements to the greenway very recently, because that’s where they prefer bikes travel. 

      There is not room for bus bulbs in a good stretch of the road (the buses stop in the traffic lane as it is) and another stretch already has a bus only curb lane during peak hours.  Who needs curb bulbs when you have an entire curb lane? 

      The whole length from the bridge to White Center is one lane each way and has been for a long time.  I’m not sure what you think they’re going to take away that will reduce car capacity.

      I’m looking forward to increased transit along this corridor.  My long-term goal is to be able to get rid of my car entirely, so any expansion of service is good in my opinion.  Even better when there’s a light rail at the end to connect to.

  • Question Authority January 2, 2018 (8:21 pm)

    I once had the unfortunate last minute choice to temporarily live on the upper end of Delridge, luckily I never had my truck broken into or sideswiped like so many others there on a daily basis.  Any change for the better would be positive given the overall mess it’s been and continues to be.

  • Don Brubeck January 2, 2018 (10:39 pm)

    It might be good to actually look at the coming proposals before jumping to conclusions.  One of the two  options presented last year would remove existing bike lanes, not add them. It would also be good to realize that buses and bikes are transporting people, too.  One bus equals at least 40 cars but takes much less space on the road. Buses reduce traffic congestion.  Bikes take less space than cars and are less dangerous to other road users.  25% to 49% of households in some neighborhoods served by Delridge do not own a car.

    [Car ownership is mapped in SDCI‘s recent Neighborhood Parking Report, September, 2017]

  • anonyme January 3, 2018 (5:49 am)

    Would this route still run through Westwood Village?  If so, and that will be the layover point, where will these buses land?  The park side lineup is already full, and this ‘transfer point’ is already very difficult for older people to navigate.

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