Most of West Seattle’s arterials get shoutouts in the newly released Seattle Transportation Plan, billed as the city’s long-term vision for people will get around over the next 20 years or so.
We reported several times last year on comment opportunities for the draft version of the plan; today, Mayor Harrell officially sent his recommended final version to the City Council for consideration. The SDOT announcement describes the plan as the “20-year vision for the future of Seattle’s streets, sidewalks, and public spaces.” In addition to philosophy and goals, it includes a list of dozens of potential projects meant to help achieve those goals.(You can see them in the “implementation strategy” section – 103 pages into the plan with more project-by-project details in Appendix A.)
The plan does not address funding – that’ll be in the spotlight within a few months, when the next transportation levy proposal is unveiled. Nor does it include specific dates for the potential projects. But it does offer prioritization.
Two West Seattle projects are listed in the “highest tier” of prioritization – 35th Avenue SW and “Fauntleroy Boulevard.” The latter is a project that was supposed to be in the nine-year transportation levy that’s expiring this year, shelved because of the possibility that light rail would follow the same path and lead to relatively new roadwork being torn up. The former is of interest because 35th SW got a significant amount of attention, including partial rechannelization, last decade. The overview of this potential project (19 pages into Appendix A) says:
This project will improve a major street that connects many West Seattle neighborhoods. This could include:
• Repaving portions of the road
• Redesigning the street to better support transit
• Repairing sidewalks and making it safer to cross the street with elements like extensions of curbs and better crossings
• Adding bicycle routes for people of all ages and abilities
• Enhancing access to destinations like shops, businesses, restaurants, and cultural centers in the area
The “middle tier” of prioritization includes projects for California SW, SW Alaska, and the south section of Fauntleroy Way (separate from the Triangle-area section involved in the “Fauntleroy Boulevard” plan). The rest of the list includes possible projects for 16th SW, SW Orchard/Dumar, Highland Park Way, Roxbury, the Alki Trail, and an Admiral Way project that’s definitely many years down the line – redirecting the RapidRide H Line to Admiral/Alki once West Seattle’s light-rail extension opens (currently projected for late 2032).
Again, the projects are just part of the plan. SDOT says things will get more specific when they create an “implementation plan” for the Transportation Plan next year; meantime, the City Council will be accepting public comment before voting on whether to accept the plan – council@seattle.gov, and public comment during a council meeting on March 5 (watch for the agenda here).
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