Next month is a big one in the journey to a “preferred alternative” for Sound Transit‘s West Seattle and Ballard light-rail extensions. But you have opportunities to catch up this month, too.

First: ST reps will be in West Seattle twice next week.

‘DRINK AND LINK’: Ounces (3809 Delridge Way SW) is hosting a briefing (Link is the official name of ST’s light-rail service) at 7 pm next Wednesday, August 8th. All welcome.

DELRIDGE DAY: ST will have a booth at the Delridge Day festival, 11 am-3 pm Saturday, August 11th, at Delridge Community Center park (Delridge Way SW/SW Genesee).

WATCH JuNO BRIEFING: Before then, you can catch up by watching the briefing Sound Transit’s Andrea Barnett and Stephen Mak presented to the Junction Neighborhood Organization‘s quarterly meeting:

We recorded the briefing during JuNO’s meeting one week ago.

WHAT’S NEXT: At its next meeting September 5th, the Stakeholder Advisory Group is scheduled to get evaluation information – such as technical points, cost, visualizations, etc. – on the proposed alignments, which include five options in the West Seattle area. That information is supposed to be available for community members at the next Neighborhood Forum in West Seattle (9 am September 8th, Seattle Lutheran High School gym, 4100 SW Genesee). Then the SAG makes its next round of recommendations September 26th regarding which alignment(s) should advance to the final level of review before the “preferred alignment” is chosen for environmental study.

(WSB photo, March 2018)

A question from Kirsten led us to ask the King County Water Taxi team about plans for the upcoming Pearl Jam concerts at Safeco Field, and while we were asking, we inquired about the reported plans to add service for SPF30, the Sub Pop Records 30th anniversary extravaganza at Alki. Here’s what we found out from Water Taxi spokesperson Brent Champaco:

PEARL JAM AT SAFECO FIELD, AUGUST 8 & 10: “We are not planning to operate extended evening service for the Pearl Jam concert Wednesday, Aug. 8; however, on Aug. 10 we will be operating on our regular Friday schedule for West Seattle, which already has extended sailings. We typically do not run extended service for special events other than evening home Mariners, Seahawks and Sounders FC games.”

SPF30 AT ALKI, AUGUST 11: “We have been working directly with Sub Pop Records … On Saturday, Aug. 11, in addition to the MV Doc Maynard running its regular Saturday service, we plan on running an extra boat (the MV Sally Fox) on the West Seattle route from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again from 7:30 p.m. 11:30 p.m. These times are when we expect most people to be traveling to, and returning from, the event.” (Sub Pop has promised full transportation details soon.)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Plenty of questions for City Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Teresa Mosqueda at this month’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting.

In introductory remarks at Thursday night’s meeting, both described themselves as Metro bus riders at least part of the time; Mosqueda said she also rides a bicycle sometimes. “I show up at work after I get off my bike with a smile on my face,” she said.

First question for the two: What’s the biggest issue that they see affecting West Seattle commuters?

Herbold: “The upcoming ‘period of maximum constraint’ (downtown projects converging) … there’s a lot we have to do to get the buses ready for that … in that vein, the council passed out of Transportation Committee last week a Downtown Bus Network plan.” She said she plans to be sure that key steps are put into place to help with the “maximum constraint” time. She added that her “vision for SDOT funding” is that District 1 funding will flow here in a way that recognizes the “special position” West Seattle has regarding getting to and from the peninsula. Herbold also mentioned the quest for a roundabout in Highland Park and that gateway to West Seattle’s increasing use and importance. She said there’s high hope the state will grant money to the project on the next try.

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In addition to the film-crew alert in effect in the Don Armeni Boat Ramp/Duwamish Head area right now, two for Saturday:

ADMIRAL WAY RAMP CLOSED: As announced by SDOT, the Admiral Way ramp from the bridge is to be closed during the day Saturday for landscaping-related work. Two documents – here and here – show exactly where.

HARBOR AVE PARKING RESTRICTIONS: Much of Harbor Avenue’s southernmost stretch has “No Parking” signs up for 2-10 am Saturday. Notices attached to some of the signage indicate this is because of the annual pre-Torchlight Parade float storage (usually at Terminal 5).

P.S. And remember the NB Viaduct will be closed for Saturday night’s Torchlight Run, 4:30-7:30 pm.

(WSB photo: C Line bus along westbound SW Spokane this morning)

“Amazon will fund 12,000 hours of increased bus service over two years on six of King County’s most traveled routes to downtown and South Lake Union,” according to a county announcement today that says the C Line is one of those routes:

… Amazon’s investment will provide 22 additional weekday trips for two years across some of Metro’s busiest routes serving West Seattle, Shoreline, Ballard, and Capitol Hill. The additional service provides room for roughly 1,700 weekday boardings, and includes the RapidRide E Line and C Line, and Routes 8, 40, 62, and 63. …

Amazon is paying Metro $1.5 million for those extra trips, which will start with the September Metro “service change” (on September 22nd), according to the announcement, which also says:

This September, the Seattle Transportation Benefit District will pay for about 20,000 hours of increased Metro service on 12 routes. This includes improving the Routes 41 and 70 to 10-minute service, adding peak period capacity on Routes 8, 17, 18, 40, 56, and RapidRide C, D, and E Lines, and adding late evening trips on Routes 7 and 106. In total, this will add more than 50 weekday trips to some of the busiest routes in Metro’s system, providing capacity for more than 4,000 additional weekday boardings.

The added service on Route 56 was announced by City Councilmember Lisa Herbold two months ago. Meantime, you can see Metro’s full announcement about these (and non-West Seattle) additions by going here.

That group walking through the West Seattle Junction/Triangle today was tasked with looking 12 years into the future.

The task: Help evaluate potential Junction and Avalon station locations for the future Sound Transit West Seattle light-rail line. The section of the tour for which we went along was looking at five possible Junction sites, three of which would be “cut and cover” underground, two elevated. This is from one of the brochures provided to the participants:

As reported here last night, the year-plus process of deciding on a “preferred alternative” for the West Seattle (2030) and Ballard (2035) extensions – so it can go through environmental study – is at the midpoint. The working groups that will decide this fall what goes to the next level were promised “evaluation” information about the options on the table in the current second level of the three-level review, and while much of that will come from Sound Transit, some will come from community members such as those who gathered for today’s walking tour, a prelude to a design charrette tomorrow. (There was one last Friday for the Delridge station area; we were unable to cover that.)

Along with Sound Transit staffers and consultants, the walking tour included representatives of neighborhood and transportation/mobility advocacy groups – the Junction Neighborhood Organization, West Seattle Bike Connections, Feet First, and the West Seattle Junction Association – plus Metro reps and a legislative assistant from City Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s staff. The mission was to walk to each potential station location for The Junction and Avalon, and consider both challenges and opportunities. We went along for the first hour of the tour.

It began at Junction Plaza Park, near the possible elevated SW Alaska station site. If an elevated station were located there, ST reps said, the track would be about 50 feet above the street – other station features would be higher up – and would have to straddle SW Alaska, which would mean supports on both sides of the street. How would that affect the sidewalk, the park, buildings? These are all questions factoring into the evaluations.

Or – that area could have an underground station beneath the 42nd/Alaska intersection. If so, where would the entrances be?

Sloan Dawson, whose planning work with ST focuses on station areas, noted also that the same section of 42nd is planned as part of the West Seattle Neighborhood Greenway – so how would that factor in?

The tour went north on 42nd to Oregon, a street that factors into two routing alternatives that are being considered – elevated and tunnel. If elevated, the tour leaders said, at that point the track would be about 45 feet above the roadway, and instead of a “straddling” support, it might be on columns down the middle of the road

After walking west on Oregon, the group turned down 44th and proceeded to the Junction parking lot behind KeyBank to consider the options there – possible elevated and tunnel options “east of 44th.” Among the points brought up there – less density on that side of the heart of The Junction, and the community’s concern about the parking provided in that lot.

We had to move on after that. The goal of the tour was to prime the pump for tomorrow’s charrette, rather than to reach conclusions, but it also shone some light into how ST is conducting evaluation. We’re told the information from the charrettes will be included in what’s presented not only to the next Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting September 5th, but also at the West Seattle neighborhood forum three days later (9 am September 8th, Seattle Lutheran High School gym, 4100 SW Genesee, open to all). All the resulting feedback will be available for the SAG and Elected Leadership Group to mull in recommending in late September/early October what moves to the last level of review before that “preferred alternative” is finalized for study.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

No midsummer slowdown for the West Seattle (and Ballard) light-rail planning process.

We have several things to report. First – the date is set for the next West Seattle “neighborhood forum” – Saturday, September 8th, 9-11:30 am, Seattle Lutheran High School gym (4100 SW Genesee). That’s open to everyone.

ST has been conducting some by-invitation events in the meantime, all-day design charrettes for the future station areas, including one last Friday in Delridge and another coming up this Tuesday in The Junction.

And soil sampling continues in Pigeon Point.

We reported last week on that site at 19th/Genesee; ST tells WSB that the crew will continue work there through Tuesday, and then move to a site described by ST as “20th Ave SW and the end of the cul-de-sac north of SW Charlestown Street” for work on Wednesday and Thursday.

Also this past week, both working groups for the project met. We covered the Elected Leadership Group meeting at the ST board room downtown on Thursday. Here’s how that went:

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Will the West Seattle Junction area get a Restricted Parking Zone (RPZ)? The most-recent briefing was at April’s Junction Neighborhood Organization meeting (WSB coverage here) and now it’s time for the next steps – SDOT is asking for your feedback. A mailer is arriving later this week in residential and business addresses in the area, but even if you don’t receive it, you can comment via an online survey, e-mail, or two upcoming drop-in events. From SDOT’s project team:

SDOT received a request to evaluate residential streets near the West Seattle Junction for eligibility for a new RPZ. The orange-lined blocks shown on the map below meet the requirements for a new RPZ, which would prevent all-day parking by commuters on these streets.

Specifically, an RPZ in the West Seattle Junction would:

*Limit vehicles without an RPZ permit to 2-hour parking, 7 AM – 6 PM, Monday – Saturday, on RPZ-signed blocks.

*Allow residents in the orange-shaded area to purchase RPZ permits to park longer than the posted time limit on RPZ-signed blocks. Permits are currently $65 per vehicle for a two-year cycle. One hangtag guest permit is available per household. A $10 low-income permit is available.

*Not allow employees to purchase permits. RPZ signs would not be installed adjacent to businesses, and existing time limit areas near businesses will remain.

Depending on feedback, a formal RPZ proposal will be released to the community in fall 2018 along with a public hearing. Unpaid time limit and individual space changes will also be finalized in fall 2018. See more information about this project on our website.

To submit comments or ask questions:

· Take this survey by August 19, 2018 or email us at WestSeattleParking@seattle.gov
· Visit SDOT staff in person at one of two informal drop-in sessions/tables:

o West Seattle Farmers Market on Sunday, July 29, 2018 from 10 AM to 2 PM
o Cupcake Royale at 4556 California Ave SW on Friday, August 10, 2018 from 10 AM – 11:30 AM

West Seattle currently has one RPZ, in the Fauntleroy ferry dock area.

11:56 AM: Thanks to Pete Spalding for sending a copy of that flyer circulated on Pigeon Point by Sound Transit. As it says, ST’s ongoing planning for West Seattle light rail will bring crews to PP for two to three days, starting as soon as tomorrow, for soil sampling. Options under consideration for West Seattle light-rail routing include either skirting around Pigeon Point or tunneling under it; ST reps talked with residents at the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council‘s meeting last month (WSB coverage here). At that meeting, asked where a Pigeon Point tunnel would end at the surface to the west, ST reps said “around Genesee/Delridge,” which explains the sampling location [map].

WHAT’S NEXT IN THE PROCESS: The project’s Stakeholder Advisory Group met again last night; most of the agenda was non-West Seattle-related. (Meeting docs are not yet online but if you’re interested, we’ve obtained the draft slide decks for the SODO alternatives [11 MB PDF] and Chinatown/ID alternatives [10 MB PDF] that comprised most of the discussion last night.) The SAG’s next scheduled meeting is September 5th; the Elected Leadership Group is scheduled to meet this Thursday, 2-4 pm, at the Sound Transit board room (401 S. Jackson). The recommendation for routes/station locations to advance to the third and final review phase is expected in fall.

ADDED 4:14 PM: The full presentation from last night’s stakeholder meeting – including slides from the technical briefing looking at issues with water crossings (such as the bridge that is to be built across the Duwamish River) – is now online.

(WSB file photo, part of Fauntleroy Boulevard proposed project zone)

Almost half a year has passed since SDOT announced the Fauntleroy Boulevard project was on hold while waiting to see if it would conflict with Sound Transit‘s light-rail plans. The question has lingered since then: So what will happen to the Move Seattle levy money (up to $18 million) set aside for Fauntleroy Boulevard? This SDOT announcement today says some decisions are approaching:

We’ve continued to hear strong community support for the safety and mobility improvements at the heart of the Fauntleroy Boulevard Project. In response, we’re exploring constructing near-term improvements to help improve predictability for people who walk, drive, and bike on Fauntleroy Way while Sound Transit continues to consider their preferred alignment. These near-term improvements will emphasize lower-cost methods in order to expedite construction and save costs, given the potential these improvements may have to be removed during Sound Transit light rail construction in the coming years.

Later this month, we’ll convene a roundtable of community representatives to discuss potential improvements, based on the original Fauntleroy Boulevard Project design. After that, we’ll share our near-term improvements proposal with the community. We anticipate constructing these near-term improvements as soon as spring 2019.

We remain committed to the goals of the Fauntleroy Boulevard Project. If Sound Transit’s light rail design for West Seattle does not impact Fauntleroy Way, we will move forward with the project as designed. If Sound Transit’s design impacts Fauntleroy Way, we will work with Sound Transit to implement streetscape improvements on Fauntleroy Way that align with the goals of the Fauntleroy Boulevard Project. In this case, we would also reallocate remaining Fauntleroy Boulevard Project funds to address other mobility needs in West Seattle.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at fauntleroyblvd@seattle.gov or call our project phone number at 206-727-3994.

Community reps who’ve been invited so far tell WSB that the “roundtable” is on July 25th at the West Seattle YMCA (WSB sponsor). If you’ve forgotten what the project detailed – you can see the design and other details here.