East Marginal Way project fully funded with new federal grant, city says

The long-in-the-works East Marginal Way South Corridor Improvement Project is finally fully funded. It’s not in West Seattle, but it’s on a transportation corridor for many traveling between here and the downtown waterfront, in modes from bicycling to trucking. Federal and city officials announced today that the project has received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) program. SDOT says this will enable it to start construction “at the end of 2022,” with completion “estimated for 2025.” The city’s announcement continues:

The grant funding will enable SDOT to do both the safety improvements and the road reconstruction at the same time. This means that there will be fewer disruptions to freight traffic during construction.

Currently, East Marginal Way S faces three primary transportation challenges along the corridor: 1) safety, 2) mobility and increasing demand, and 3) deterioration of pavement. The RAISE grant will now help improve operational and safety deficiencies by widening and strengthening the road to accommodate larger and heavier truck traffic, provide access to freight terminals at the Port of Seattle for the trucks that use the corridor each day, and helping to reduce congestion with improved traffic signals.

Below are some of the improvements in the East Marginal Way S Corridor Improvement project:

-Reconstructing the East Marginal Way S roadway and upgrading the route to Heavy Haul Network standards along a 1.1-mile segment from a point south of S Massachusetts St to S Spokane St to enhance efficient freight flow.

-Constructing a 2-way protected bike lane along a 1.4-mile segment between S Atlantic St and S Spokane St to increase visibility, protect the approximately 1,000 people who ride bikes on this corridor each day, and work toward our Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

-Rebuilding the sidewalk on the west side of East Marginal Way S adjacent to the roadway reconstruction to provide a safe, accessible route for people walking.

-Constructing new traffic signals that will work dynamically together to enhance safety and improve traffic flow at several of the City’s busiest freight intersections.

For more details on what’s planned, see this fact sheet. The city says the project funding also includes $7 million from the Levy to Move Seattle as well as from the port and state. Total estimated cost will be $43 million, according to page 19 of this document used in the application for the just-announced federal grant.

Transit curmudgeon November 16, 2021 (8:29 pm)

This is all great! But…(Pre-ducking the stones thrown by the cyclists) Do we really need more money spent on bicycle lanes? It’s a fantastic hobby and I love you all for your fitness regimes. But if you’re truly concerned with car traffic and its horrible consequences, why not just take the bus? You think it’s too slow or doesn’t meet your specific needs? Let’s pay for that to happen instead of more bike lanes for people who can afford expensive bikes + gear to get from WS to downtown.

Neighbor November 16, 2021 (10:09 pm)

I can ride my bike from my house on Beach Drive to my office in South Lake Union in about 40 minutes. On the bus that’s three transfers and an hour plus, if the bus shows up. On my bike I don’t use a seat on a bus or a space in a lane in my car at peak hours. Bus and rail transit is not a complete solution. We need multi-modal transportation. A bike lane allows cyclists to get out of their cars and free space for drivers *and* transit.Your narrow minded viewpoint is destructive and regressive. Please open your mind to the possibilities and the nuance of the real world.
bill November 16, 2021 (11:23 pm)

I’ll grant an expensive bike can cost more than a used car, but its operating costs are nil compared to a car. You don’t need an expensive bike to commute, and most cycling commuters are on frugal bikes (unfortunately in part because bike theft is not vigorously punished). Bikes don’t get stuck in traffic. I can dependably arrive on time anywhere in the city on a bike. The bike portion of this project costs peanuts compared to rebuilding and expanding roads for busses.
Jeepney November 17, 2021 (5:13 am)

Even though I am an avid cyclist and am the first one to complain when tax dollars are wasted on useless bike lanes, this improvement to East Marginal is sorely needed. I rode on that stretch in August and it was brutal, very rough for cyclists and pedestrians alike. There is literally no safe area on the west side of the street, and the sidewalk on the east side is crumbling and overrun with weeds.As long as the new bike lanes do not replace existing traffic lanes, this will be a great improvement.
Jort November 17, 2021 (7:12 am)

Are you seriously comparing the costs of owning and operating a car to those of a bicycle and saying that the bicycle is somehow an elitist choice?! Do you have any idea how expensive owning an automobile is?! Furthermore, the bike lane is the least expensive part of this project, which is primarily designed to facilitate easier heavy freight movement through the area. It’s much like the Lander Street Bridge rebuild, which also used “Move” Seattle levy money, but is a project that primarily benefits cars with a crappy shared sidewalk/bike lane tacked on to one side of it make it eligible for additional funding. This is what we call the “SDOT Special,” like the Delridge Road Repaving Project that primarily benefits cars. Lastly, if you think people are riding bikes to downtown primarily because they are “hobbyists” who are doing “fitness regimes” (????????) you need to talk to some actual people cycling. Actual cyclists — not the imaginary caricature you’ve built up in your head. How can one comment get so much wrong?
bikerep November 17, 2021 (7:32 am)

very narrow minded view. pretty easy and quick bicycle ride for many from west seattle island to downtown on a bicycle, and one many many more would get out and do if it were safer and easier. Doing something here to protect cyclists along Marginal would really help this. And to mention a very good benefit for ones health, (physical and mental) a lot less cost, oh and helping traffic congestion for those when we do need to drive. Get out and ride a bike and maybe use one to go get groceries some day or have a sandwich or even pedal to and from work.. trust me, you’ll probably be SMILING a bit more!
JVP November 17, 2021 (9:16 am)

With ebikes becoming ever more common, the timing on your comment is out of phase. Tons of “regular” people can now ride bikes, and the ebikes remove hills and sweat as barriers. And yah, this project is mostly upgrading the crumbling road to heavy freight standards.
Another One November 17, 2021 (11:31 am)

Most cyclists are not expensive hobbyists, most are low-income people trying to get to their jobs. https://kinder.rice.edu/2015/10/20/memo-to-cities-most-cyclists-arent-urban-hipsters

Flivver November 16, 2021 (8:57 pm)

Will be a great and needed upgrade. Let’s hope SDOT is up to the task of actually producing real results. And no, i’m not holding my breath.

cheeseWS777 November 16, 2021 (8:57 pm)

This road desperately needed this, then again, 80% of these roads need the same treatment

Don Brubeck November 16, 2021 (9:26 pm)

Yay! Much needed for traffic safety, jobs, resiliency, and that supply chain we are hearing so much about this year. Success with this grant is due to lots of stakeholders pulling together over many years, including the Port of Seattle, industries, shipping companies, bike advocates, BNSF and the City.

mark November 16, 2021 (9:43 pm)

will this also put the utilities underground? car-pole collisions have shut down traffic several times recently.

on_board November 16, 2021 (10:44 pm)

Finally some good news. Unfortunately these things take literally decades to happen. Thinking today about Lance David and his family. He would likely still be here today were it not for negligent street design such as East Marginal Way. WSB covered this well back in 2013.https://westseattleblog.com/2013/05/followup-bicyclist-identified-as-lance-david-crash-resurfaces-safety-concerns/

bolo November 17, 2021 (12:54 am)

I’ll be happy if they can simply repave correctly to circumvent the unavoidable large persistent standing large puddles of water, and get the (nearly) all the streetlights on that stretch to function.

About the sidewalk: I never could figure out why they spent all that money and effort for a nice sidewalk (it’s not even that old) and put the fire hydrants and trees right in the middle of it! Right in the middle of the sidewalk. What were they thinking?

About the cars vs. bikes somebody brought up earlier:
Yep since the bridge closure I have been biking for well over 90% of my transportation needs, into town and cross-town. Rain or shine, cold or hot. Am I helping our environment? Am I freeing up more space for you in your car or SUV? (You can thank me.)(And I will thank you for giving me a wide berth when you pass me.) The bus schedule does not align with my schedule.

Yes I know most cannot or will not make the sacrifice. But with better infrastructure, more will.

P.S. Not a big fan of the 2-way protected bike lane. It’s dangerous for the cyclist riding it in the counterintuitive direction. Motorists do not look in the “wrong” direction when planning to cross it at intersections or driveway cuts. Evidently SDOT overlooks this problem.

bill November 17, 2021 (7:52 am)

I too dislike two-way bike lanes in the road “protected” only by plastic wands. However, this project should be different. In the draft plans I saw one or two years ago the bike path is fully separated from the road by a berm. The depiction in the fact sheet appears to show jersey barriers, which is still better than plastic poles although it places bikes closer to noisy trucks. We’ll see what actually makes it through design when detailed plans are published.
- Jort November 17, 2021 (9:13 am)
  
  With Peter Steinbrueck losing his Port Commissioner position primarily because he irrationally and stubbornly chose to be an anti-bike supervillain, perhaps it won’t be monkeyed with too much. But who am I kidding? Has the city solicited feedback about the project by mailing a physical postcard to every resident within 250 miles of the project? Surely there’s plenty of time for people to raise baseless, stupid objections that SDOT will slavishly use as excuses to reduce road safety in favor of automobile expediency.

Kevin on Delridge November 17, 2021 (1:24 pm)

The reactions to bike lanes never fails to shock me.

Replace your hobby and fitness regime with… the bus? Bikes are expensive? Spending money on bike lanes is a waste of money?

No amount of money spent on car infrastructure can satiate car dependency. The numerous complaints about bikes lanes is entirely manufactured.

Complain about bike infrastructure plans.
City relents, uses sharrows or plastic bollards.
Drivers see bike lanes aren’t being used (because they are not safe).
Complain about wasting money on bikes lanes that aren’t used.
Repeat.

There is a conversation that needs to be had about transportation. That conversation simply cannot and will not happen as long as we have a significant portion of our city reacting with incredulity at any investment in bike infrastructure. Investments in sensible, protected bikes lanes will result in more people using bikes leading to reduced car traffic and improved public transportation times.

Rob November 17, 2021 (4:29 pm)

I’ve been taking that route on a bicycle regularly for 10 year.While the paving on the existing bike lanes is abysmal, I fail to see any safety issues. The trucks are going slow if they are moving at all, it’s a completely straight line, good visibility aside from broken street lamps. The two-way bike lanes are idiotic. They slow down bike traffic at intersections, prevent overtaking slow cyclists and are completely backwards in times of e bikes. All this for a perceived increase in safety. Glad we are also including a new sidewalk there. In my 10 years I have seen exactly one single person regularly walking on that stretch, aside from the coast guard using the side walk to exercise.

Kathy November 17, 2021 (6:47 pm)

You mean no safety issues aside from the death of Lance David and countless close calls not documented in news articles? I always ride the sidewalk because the street is a mess and too close to speeding traffic. Today a car passed on E. Marginal going at least 65 mph. I rode home from work on the sidewalk the day of the Nisqually earthquake (February 2001) when it was all buckled up and the bridge impassable for nearly an hour. I am sorry you only saw one pedestrian on the E. Marginal sidewalk, maybe you are not using it enough? I have seen many people walking, jogging and biking there and respectfully share the sidewalk with them. For those complaining about constructing bike lanes, are you still using a vehicle that runs on fossil fuels? If so, what is your excuse? You are just the enabling the oil and gas industry to make our environment dangerous and unliveable. You are the reason we are facing a climate crisis. The industry only exists to support your habits.

Mj November 17, 2021 (5:59 pm)

I sometimes wonder if the people designing bike lanes actually ride. For example, for SB bicyclist riding on 2nd Avenue it is way faster to ride with traffic and not get stopped at every other signal!

Mj November 17, 2021 (10:08 pm)

Kathy – riding a bike on a sidewalk, especially one with lots of driveways, is far more dangerous than riding on a street with the flow of traffic. This danger is exacerbated if the bicyclist is riding on the sidewalk contra flow to the adjacent street traffic. A typical bike rider travels at two to three times a pedestrian walks at and approaching driveways from a contraflow direction is extremely dangerous.

Reed November 18, 2021 (7:00 am)

In this case you are wrong. When it rains the SB bike lane develops several lake-size puddles that cover all the tire cutting or throw you over the handlebars debris that falls off trucks. You wouldn’t know this of course because you don’t ride in the rain.
bill November 18, 2021 (9:29 am)

MJ — Familiarize yourself with the road before offering uniformed advice. There is only one genuinely active driveway on E Marginal north of Spokane, and a handful of little-used others. The chief hazard is navigating around the fire plugs and lights SDOT placed in the sidewalk.

Mj November 18, 2021 (1:55 pm)

Bill – I know the corridor very well. My sidewalk analysis was generic, very correct. I realize this sidewalk does not have numerous driveways but many other sidewalks do and a bike rider riding on a sidewalk Contra flow to the adjacent street traffic is a great risk of being in an incident!

Kathy November 18, 2021 (8:32 pm)

MJ, what did your parents tell you when you were little? Look both ways. Look left, look right, left again and then carefully cross the driveway or street. Problem solved. Maybe you are riding at a speed where this is impractical for you. If so, you belong in the street with the cars that are hopefully for you not going 65mph. I have been riding this corridor since 1996. I used to ride in the street, but as the street detriorated and traffic increased, I began to see the wisdom of riding elevated on that pretty wide and well drained though bumpy sidewalk instead. When the PBL is installed on the east side, there will be no driveways to contend with, but we will have to cross all lanes of East Marginal/Alaskan Way to connect the trail from West Seattle to the Elliott Bay trail. Hopefully the design will make this crossing safe.