Will Metro Route 120 be improved or damaged if it’s turned into a RapidRide line? That was arguably the biggest topic of Monday night’s meeting on the West Seattle Bridge-Duwamish Waterway Corridor “action report.” The meeting at the Sisson Building in The Junction followed up on the report’s September debut, which in turn fulfills a promise made by City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen in his final year of office, and responds to a push from the West Seattle Transportation Coalition in its priority-setting.
The “action report” includes 27 possibilities envisioned to improve getting around in the corridor. You can read through them here:
On Monday night, SDOT’s Bill LaBorde presented them to the light turnout, fewer than a dozen people, who as a result had time to ask questions as the presentation went by. Big questions about transforming Route 120 – a short-term priority (see page 8) – included whether stops would be consolidated as with other RapidRide routes – Route 54/55 to the C Line, for example. Also: Would the stops include curb bulbs, like the ones in Morgan Junction that lead to backups. And, with the narrowness of Delridge in some spots, will the big RapidRide buses really work? LaBorde said most of the project’s $43 million cost would go to street improvements; he believed bulbs would be studied carefully before any implementation, and he didn’t envision much stop consolidation beyond what already has happened on Delridge.
Another big topic: Low-bridge openings during commute times, and the city repeatedly getting turned down in its requests to find ways to at least limit them. The city is continuing to talk to the U.S. Coast Guard, said LaBorde, while pointing out that some sailings are tide-dependent and the tides are when they are. The city is looking at operational efficiencies for bridge openings, though, including ways the bridge itself might be able to get the job done more quickly. A study would be needed, he said.
Speaking of the low bridge, the five-way intersection at Spokane/Marginal at its west end, and the one at the bottom of the eastern Admiral Way hill, both came up. The former is in the action plan, the latter is not. And to the east, the need for the Lander Street Overcrossing – still on the drawing board, years after it was expected to be built – was stressed.
Along with the plan’s potential projects, Councilmember Rasmussen pointed out the city’s traffic-incident-management changes, forced by the fish-truck-crash debacle, and intended to ensure that traffic blockages in corridors like this one are dealt with as swiftly and efficiently as possible.
Some of the “action plan” items are tied to the Move Seattle levy on the November 3rd ballot. What happens if the levy is rejected? Rasmussen was asked. At the very least, he said, the projects would be sequenced in a slower rollout – if you want improvements, he said, there has to be money for them.
P.S. For an update on #26 on the list – possible light rail for this area via the future Sound Transit 3 ballot measure – come to the WSTC’s meeting tomorrow night (Thursday), 6:30 pm, at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center (6400 Sylvan Way).
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