FOLLOWUP: Highland Park Way hill lane-conversion project goes out to bid

| Highland Park | Transportation | West Seattle news

SDOT‘s project to convert a driving lane to rolling/walking space on the downhill side of the Highland Park Way hill is proceeding. The project has now gone out to bid, summarized this way on the city’s site:

Project Description: Improve bicycle and pedestrian connections by widening existing asphalt path and installing downhill protected bicycle lane with concrete barriers, including channelization, landscaping, paving, drainage, and curb ramps. For the purpose of the Bidder/Subcontractor list, this project includes Electrical and Rebar installation.

Engineer’s Estimate: $1,700,000 to $1,800,000

Project Location: Highland Park Way SW between W Marginal Way SW & SW Holden St

You can see the plans here. Bids are expected to be opened on Wednesday, November 4. SDOT revealed the “final design” three months ago; SDOT said at the time that construction will “begin as soon as February 2027.” The idea of removing a driving lane to install a bicycle lane dates back six years, though at the time it was proposed for the uphill side; it was eventually shelved, but resurfaced in a proposal for federal funding in 2022.

Classic Seattle October 21, 2026 (9:00 pm)

$1.8 million dollars. For the safety project where there aren’t any problems relative to “the spot”. We have a “spot” that as soon as we have some moisture is going to cause more than an accident a day. But instead of fixing real problems, we’re manufacturing this one.

I also can think of 1000 other things that need $1,800,000 more than this does.

Classic Seattle.

Actualperson October 22, 2026 (6:11 am)

Another shining example of SDOT’s willingness and eagerness to fix problems that don’t exist and ignore problems that actually exist. Great stewards of our tax money………

Kyle October 22, 2026 (7:26 am)

Highland Parkway saw 24 crashes or about 6 per year over the past 4 years, mostly rear ends. This will probably have a negligible effect given the low crash volumes.

DRW October 22, 2026 (11:13 am)

Please consider to widen the existing sidewalk. It would be safer for the hundreds of bicyclist that ride up and down the hill everyday.

Platypus October 22, 2026 (12:29 pm)

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Their plan repaves the “existing” sidewalk which will not be for pedestrians and uphill bikes, and adds a new downhill lane. This will eliminate conflicts and make it a more viable biking/walking route.
- Kyle October 22, 2026 (10:36 pm)
  
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  The repaved section is only for the last 600 feet or so per the drawings. The rest will be left to rot, and the street used as the new path.
Foop October 22, 2026 (2:12 pm)

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They’ve addressed this idea in one of their many outreach sessions. Widening the sidewalk on that slope would be prohibitively expensive.

Looking forward to this change.
- Kyle October 22, 2026 (10:34 pm)
  
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  Please site a source for “prohibitively expensive”. besides hot air I’ve never seen an actual estimate. Can’t be that much more than the $1.8M earmarked here.