If you’re interested in being on the city’s new Transit Advisory Board, it’s time to make your move, since the City Council officially approved its creation with a vote this afternoon. Ahead, the announcement, including how to apply:

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(WSB photo: SDOT director Scott Kubly at podium, next to Mayor Murray)
12:30 PM: At a media event in Ballard, Mayor Murray is officially unveiling “Move Seattle,” the city’s transportation focus for the next decade. It includes 24 major projects citywide; those listed as priorities for the next decade in West Seattle include:

FAUNTLEROY WAY/CALIFORNIA TRANSIT CORRIDOR – projected to cost at least $70 million
*Transit improvements including a “full transit station on Fauntleroy Way near the West Seattle Bridge
*Also described as “add(ing) real-time arrival information at all bus stops and transit centers” and “link(ing) discontinuous bus-only lanes along the corridor to complete the transit-priority system
(added) *Page 62 in the PDF

FAUNTLEROY WAY SW BOULEVARD – projected to cost at least $13 million (separate from the cost of undergrounding, as has been discussed recently)
*This project is now at 60 percent design, but funding hasn’t yet been discussed/identified
(added) *Page 63 in the PDF

DELRIDGE COMPLETE STREET – projected to cost at least $38 million
*This is described as adding “transit lanes and improv(ing) transit speed and reliability”
*”Includes protected bike lanes, sidewalk improvements, and amenities for walkers and transit riders along the corridor”
*”Streamlines traffic operations and improves multimodal connections between transit, freight, people who walk, and general-purpose vehicles”
(added) *Page 47 in the PDF

All three of those projects are described as likely requiring “Bridging the Gap replacement funding” to happen. Also of major interest to our area:

LANDER GRADE SEPARATION/RAILROAD CROSSING – projected to cost at least $100 million
*This is a long-shelved project that West Seattle leaders have targeted as vital to mobility between West Seattle and SODO/downtown

1ST AVENUE/1ST AVE. S. CORRIDOR – projected to cost at least $10 million

EAST MARGINAL WAY CORRIDOR IMPROVEMENTS – projected to cost at least $40 million

In a briefing before the mayor’s announcement, SDOT director Scott Kubly discussed the plan with reporters – his topline, “It’s not about doing a new plan, it’s about integrating the plans we have.” He started with trends, including the decline in driving, particularly among millennials, quoting a study as saying that up to a third of that generation doesn’t want to own a car. He segued from there into principles starting with safety.

With a nod to the city’s recently unveiled “Vision Zero” strategy, Kubly reminded, “Speed kills.” While the number of crash-related deaths has dropped – 40 deaths a year a decade ago, down to 15 a year now – more needs to be done, he said. Another principle: The city is working to “re-orient to a multi-modal system … one that works for everybody.” That includes bringing transit service within walking distance of as many Seattle residents as possible, and making city streets safer for bicycle riders of all ages and abilities – Kubly used City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw (who rode in Delridge as the greenway project was getting under way) as an example of the atypical bicycle rider. Freight mobility is a key value for SDOT too, he said, as is affordability – including “lower out-of-pocket transportation costs” for people. The average household spends 17 percent of its budget on transportation, he said. Affordability also relates to the city budget, he noted, so the city will do more repair/maintenance work, including microsurfacing, which has been done extensively in Arbor Heights.

Kubly also said the city intends to “innovate in how we reach people,” saying the traditional public meetings held regarding proposals and projects only reaches a narrow slice of the population. And he discussed an intricate prioritization process, starting with overlays of the city’s various transportation-related plans, to see where priorities intersect. That’ll be the role of a new Project Development Division, he noted, as part of an intradepartment reorganization.

We’re now listening in on the mayor’s part of the briefing, and will add details here afterward, including weblinks with more details.

1:13 PM UPDATE: The mayor’s briefing, outside Swedish Hospital in Ballard and alongside busy Market Street (used as a backdrop to emphasize the city’s continued growth), is over. No additional details on the specific projects as mentioned above, but he did say that details of the proposed funding – ostensibly a ballot measure – will be made public within a few weeks. Full video of his briefing should be on Seattle Channel‘s website a bit later, and we’ll add the video here when we find it. The official webpage for Move Seattle is here; the full document with details on the projects mentioned above (and others around the city) is here, as a PDF.