16 minutes into that Seattle Channel video, the City Council Transportation Committee – chaired by District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka – hears SDOT recap the past eight years of the $930 million Levy to Move Seattle, which expires at the end of this year. (See the slide deck here.) This is a precursor to announcing the plan for the next levy, which Mayor Bruce Harrell said in his State of the City address today that he expects to do in spring. The SDOT contingent briefing the Transportation Committee today was led by director Greg Spotts and Francisca Stefan. They noted that the levy funding comprises almost a third of SDOT’s budget, and that this is the 18th year SDOT has had levy funding. They also noted the levy “pivot” for the pandemic, and then the later course correction to get back on track with its original intent. One program that’s getting back on track is seismic upgrades for bridges – though no new specifics were given, two are pending for West Seattle this year, the Delridge pedestrian overpass and the twin Admiral Way bridges over Fairmount Ravine. (A check of records shows that the contract for the former is about to be awarded, and bidding is still open for the latter.)
It was also noted that one major West Seattle project promised when the Levy to Move Seattle went to the ballot in 2015, known as Fauntleroy Boulevard, remains “paused,” as it has been for six years, since Fauntleroy Way became a possible path for the Sound Transit light-rail extension, which now seems likely to tunnel into The Junction instead. (The project actually was included in a revised version of the levy announced by then-Mayor Ed Murray, two months after the original proposal.) Not mentioned today, but also unfulfilled though it was expected when the levy was passed – Roxbury repaving. (Initial planning happened, but then in 2019 we discovered it was shelved until at least the next levy.)
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