Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, Mayor Bruce Harrell will lead a ceremonial groundbreaking for the many-years-in-the-making East Marginal Way Corridor project. It’s just east of West Seattle, but important to many people on the peninsula because it’s a key route to/from downtown, particularly for bicycle riders. Work on the north section of the three-phase project has actually already begun, and SDOT’s project manager attended last Thursday’s online meeting of the West Seattle Transportation Coalitionwith an overview and Q&A opportunity.

Project manager Joey Aitken said the north-section construction is starting with water-line work, but will include full reconstruction of the street in concrete, from South Massachusetts to South Spokane, as well as the long-anticipated two-way protected bicycle lane from Spokane to the “port trail” connection, plus pedestrian- and freight-geared improvements. All that will take about two years, Aitken said. Here are the key points he presented:

One of the factors in the long planning period has been “working with railroads,” and that’s not complete yet, Aitken explained, while saying the railroads have “agreed to relocate some tracks.” In addition to the current detours related to the water work, the full northern stretch between Massachusetts and Spokane will be closed to through traffic during the entire two years of work. “We should be done before the World Cup,” he said. You can get project updates by email (register on the project webpage), or by text – to sign up, text eastmarginal to 206-222-0105.

The WSTC’s other guest was Heather Marx, the West Seattleite who serves as policy adviser to District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka, who chairs the Transportation Committee. Major issues coming up for the committee include continued consideration of the Seattle Transportation Plan, for which amendments will be considered when the committee meets tomorrow at 9:30 am (linked from the agenda), with a possible vote two weeks after that. The committee soon will start its consideration of the proposed transportation levy renewal, too. Marx said they’re expecting the mayor to share a draft this week, with the legislation continuing its actual verbiage likely to be out by month’s end. The first discussion will be in early May, and the levy proposal – expected to span eight years (compared to the expiring levy‘s nine years) – is likely to be the focus of five committee meetings. An evening public hearing is expected too. One other quote of note – Councilmember’s oft-repeated quest to be the “king of potholes” isn’t just about potholes, she verified. He intends it to encompass all maintenance matters (among other things).

NEXT MEETING: The WSTC continues meeting every other month, 6:30 pm, usually fourth Thursdays, but watch for the announcements. And if you’re interested in joining the board, it’s got another opening. info@westseattletc.org to find out more.