ROAD-WORK ALERT: East Marginal Way project starting soon

The long-awaited East Marginal Way corridor project – including safety improvements for the bicycle riders who use the corridor to get between West Seattle and downtown – is finally about to start, more than two years after the city announced the project was fully funded. The first work will be on the north segment (map above). Here’s the announcement from SDOT:

We are excited to announce that construction on the North Segment of the East Marginal Way Corridor Improvements project will start as early as March 11!

We’re making improvements between S Atlantic St and S Spokane St that will benefit freight operations, reduce conflicts between people biking and trucks accessing the Port of Seattle, and increase safety and efficiency throughout the corridor. For more information about what to expect during construction, please visit the East Marginal Way Corridor Improvement Project website.

East Marginal Way S Closures and Detours

To complete our work as quickly and safely as possible, we are closing East Marginal Way S to general purpose traffic. Detour is not yet active and we will notify the community prior to the detour taking effect. When the detour is active, we will:

-Convert East Marginal Way S to one-way northbound and access will be limited to freight vehicles and Port of Seattle traffic only. See the above route map for freight and Port-bound traffic.
-Detour all non-Port of Seattle vehicle traffic to nearby streets
-Maintain access for people walking, biking, and rolling along East Marginal Way S using different routes to avoid active construction areas. Detour routes may change to accommodate project work.
-Detour routes for non-Port of Seattle vehicle traffic and for people walking, biking, and rolling may be in place before construction activities start in areas between S Atlantic St and S Spokane St.

You can send questions to EastMarginal@seattle.gov or call 206-257-2263.

13 Replies to "ROAD-WORK ALERT: East Marginal Way project starting soon"

  • Kyle February 28, 2024 (12:47 pm)

    Wow wasn’t really following this one. Used to take this way to downtown and pioneer square sometimes when traffic was bad. Guess it will be only for port vehicles now.

    • josh February 28, 2024 (1:06 pm)

      Kyle.  It is only going to be limited to port vehicles during construction.  And honestly any private vehicles that use this road will have little to no impact given how little the road is used by private vehicles.  This route is heavily used by cyclists though and this is great news as the surface and layout of the road are terrible considering how important the route is for moving into downtown from the peninsula and the exposure to freight traffic.  Im glad Mr. Good on Bikes Saka didnt scuttle this project given the immense value it adds for the West Seattle cycling community.

      • Derp February 28, 2024 (10:25 pm)

        Mr Good on Bikes Saka had nothing to do with this project. The article reads the funding has been done for Two years. Long before Saka was even around

        • bill February 29, 2024 (8:12 am)

          And let’s hope he keeps his hands off the project. It’s not to late for him to spike the bike component.

  • Aaron G February 28, 2024 (12:52 pm)

    Really excited to see this happen. I’ve been through here literally thousands of times. This will better connect West Seattle to all points east for those of us biking, walking, running, etc.

  • Benjamin February 28, 2024 (3:11 pm)

    Boo to Two-Way bike lanes.  I ride this every day and seems fine accept for the road condition.   

  • Luke BikeWalker February 28, 2024 (5:46 pm)

    Can anyone share details on the lighting plan freight, bikes and peds?I called in a few streetlight outages at the south end of this corridor earlier this month.  City Light responded that no repairs would be done since this project was close to starting.  There’s only one mention of “lighting” to improve efficiency.  Hope the project team is thinking safety, too.

  • Admiral-2009 February 28, 2024 (5:59 pm)

    Benjamin – agreed.  Bike lanes rolling in the same direction as the adjacent traffic lane are way better.  2nd Avenue when rolling SB it’s way faster to travel with car traffic versus getting stopped by the bike signal at every other light that is still green for SB car traffic 

    • Benjamin February 29, 2024 (1:47 pm)

      Be careful out there Admiral! I don’t go that way much any more but I always take the lane when riding north on 2nd ave, or any downhill really. I think downhill bike lanes are death traps. 

  • Amy February 28, 2024 (6:05 pm)

    Agreed Benjamin. What we need is repaving and truck-proof barriers on the existing bike lanes there.

  • bill February 29, 2024 (8:16 am)

    Benjamin, Admiral, Amy: The new layout will have a separated bike path on the east side. Scroll down to the detailed maps: https://seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/freight-program/east-marginal-way-corridor-improvement-project#northsegment

  • Admiral-2009 February 29, 2024 (1:22 pm)

    Bill yes but many seasoned riders prefer riding in the same direction of the adjacent street traffic.  The City layout on the east side means a SB bike riders are traveling contra flow to the adjacent street traffic and are adversely impacted by headwinds generated by traffic and are forced to cross the street to access and leave the facility.  And as iterated in my prior email these type of facilities can also be adversely affected by added signal delays.

  • ARPigeonPoint March 12, 2024 (11:06 am)

    Oops. This is (was?) my route to work. Thanks for letting us know! 

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