(Tuesday photo, 64th/Alki)

When SDOT announced a survey last week featuring three design concepts for the Alki Point Keep Moving (Stay Healthy) Street‘s future, it sounded a lot to us like the street’s closed-to-through-traffic status had been made permanent. Not so, says SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson: “We were not intending to indicate a change in overall project status. As you noted in your story, the language in our new survey is very similar to what we’ve said in the past, and we are also continuing to label the Keep Moving Street as a temporary closure in the project map on the front page of the survey. We are still working to secure funding for designing and building permanent changes on the street based on community input. In the meantime, Alki Point will remain a Keep Moving Street in its current form until spring 2022 or until we secure funding for permanent changes on the street.” He added, “At this point, we’re just exploring these concepts and it’s possible that the feedback we receive could lead us to explore new ways to combine popular attributes from each concept, or to reconsider if there is a strong trend of people saying that they don’t like any of the concepts.” If you have an opinion one way or another and haven’t replied to the survey, go here.

(WSB photo, Beach Drive “Keep Moving Street” in May)

SDOT has launched a survey asking what you think about the Keep Moving Street (aka Stay Healthy Street) that wraps around Alki Point – Alki Avenue SW and Beach Drive SW west of 63rd SW – and it includes three proposed concepts for the street’s future. The stretch was closed to motor-vehicle through traffic early in the pandemic. Most recently, the city said that semi-closure would remain in place until at least early next year, and somewhere along the line they’d decide whether to make it permanent. Today’s survey announcement sounds as if that decision has been made, though SDOT has yet to answer our followup question seeking vonfirmation of that:

We’re seeking your input! We’re looking for public feedback on a permanent design for the Alki Point Keep Moving Street. We’d like to know how you currently use Alki Point, what’s working and what’s not, and how you would like to see Alki Point function in the future.

Please take a few minutes to fill out our survey. In the coming weeks we’ll be meeting with stakeholders and community groups to expand our public engagement efforts. … We currently have funding for outreach and early design on this project and we’re working to secure funding for construction.

The wording is similar to the city’s update back in April. The survey itself includes the three proposed “concepts” for the street – two converting it to a Neighborhood Greenway, the third making it a one-way street with a new walking/biking path. Those were among the options the city listed in an update one year ago, but now, going back to the way it used to be is apparently off the list. Again, you can take the survey here – note that the concepts don’t come up until several pages in.

ORIGINAL WEDNESDAY REPORT: Some of West Seattle’s closed bus stops will reopen starting October 2nd. That’s the date announced today for Metro‘s next twice-yearly “service change,” and as we first reported two months ago, it includes the return of Route 22 through Gatewood and Arbor Heights. (The other route with bagged bus-stop signs, Route 37, will remain “suspended.” The full service-change plan, route by route, is here. Changes on routes serving West Seattle include:

Routes 56 and 57: One Route 56 AM trip, and one Route 57 PM trip will be deleted due to decreased STBD funding. (timetable here)

Route 60 – Several trips will be added to Route 60 to meet increasing demand due to the ongoing closure of the West Seattle Bridge. (timetable here)

Route 120 – Several trips will be added to Route 120 to meet increasing demand due to the ongoing closure of the West Seattle Bridge. (timetable here)

Route 125 – Two AM trips will be deleted due to decreased STBD funding. (timetable here)

Route 131 – Routes 131 and 132 will no longer be connected to Route 26X, which will be deleted. The existing connections with Route 28X will be maintained. To provide continued service through downtown Seattle, trips that are not connected to Route 28X will proceed to and from a new terminal at 3rd Ave and Bell St. (timetable here)

RapidRide C Line – On weekdays, several trips will be added to RapidRide C Line to meet increasing demand due to the ongoing closure of the West Seattle Bridge. On Saturday and Sunday, several trips will be deleted due to decreased STBD funding. (timetable here)

(STBD is the Seattle Transportation Benefit District, voter-approved funding that the city pays Metro for extra service.) The Metro overview also mentions deleted trips on Route 21 but it’s not on the service-change page, so we’re following up on that, as well as asking if a Route 22 timetable is available.

ADDED FRIDAY: First, here are the Route 21 changes:

We are planning to operate 12 fewer Route 21 Saturday trips starting Oct. 2 as we adjust service levels for STBD. That means instead of 104 trips on Saturdays, we will operate 92.

Also from Metro spokesperson Jeff Switzer, here’s the Route 22 timetable for its return – with weekday service – this fall. And note that as discussed in comments, Route 113 is returning too.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

This month’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting provided an opportunity to catch up on some of our area’s biggest projects.

WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE & VICINITY: Two guests from SDOT were there. Danielle Friedman recapped key points from the Community Task Force‘s most-recent meeting (WSB coverage here) – repair work starting this fall (she said “October or November”), Reconnect West Seattle projects continuing including the West Marginal/Highland Park Way intersection and temporary signal at Duwamish Longhouse “starting any minute now” (but that too will be primarily weekend work, she said).

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Many community organizations skip August meetings, but not the West Seattle Transportation Coalition – too much going on. WSTC will meet online Thursday (August 26th) at 6:30 pm, with guests scheduled on three topics: Sound Transit light rail, now that the “realignment” decision has been made (WSB coverage here); the West Seattle Bridge, as repair design continues (here’s our recent report from a visit to the bridge); and 16th SW safety, with a new community effort focused on speeding and other issues along that arterial.

All are welcome to attend WSTC meetings; we’re awaiting the Zoom link and will add it here and in our calendar listing when it’s available. (Added: Our calendar listing now has the viewing/participation link and call-in number.)

Our photo is from Saturday evening, as crews were wrapping up a day of repaving a section of SW Avalon Way just north of SW Genesee, work that reduced lanes and backed up traffic for much of the day. As we noted here after happening onto the work Saturday morning, despite Avalon’s status as a busy arterial – and despite the complication of SW Genesee’s concurrent closure west of Delridge – there was no public traffic alert about it. As promised, we followed up Monday with SDOT. No alert was required, explained spokesperson Mariam Ali today. For starters, it was not an SDOT project – it was a private project, road restoration that was required because nearby private development had cut into the repaved road: “Since Avalon Way had recently been paved, the contractor was required to restore a large area. This follows our Right-of-Way Opening and Restoration Rules which outlines the allowable exceptions for cutting into new pavement and establishes restoration requirements.” As for advance notice – the contractor provided that only to “residents and businesses within the project area,” Ali said, which is all that’s required, even when a street is used by many who don’t live or work in “the project area.” (The Genesee closure was also a private restoration project, but we found out about that in advance because Metro issued a reroute alert.)

The photos are from Conrad, who wondered about what appeared to be a stalled city project:

There has been at least six weeks of construction along the Delridge Way onramp to the West Seattle Bridge, requiring a detour onto a small portion of the onramp for bicyclists and pedestrians. It appears crews are installing safety bollards along the sidewalk and redoing the staircase into Pigeon Point.

This work is appreciated, but it is a bit confusing because there hasn’t been any visible work done on the area in weeks. It seems construction started and then stopped without being completed.

We asked SDOT spokesperson Mariam Ali – here’s the reply:

This is a Neighborhood Street Fund project that was working on the railing for the Delridge trail widening.

Below are all the updates for the construction of Delridge trail widening and railing:

-Core drill is done for the railing footing
-Asphalt paving is done for the shoulder area.
-RS Mechanical Group is scheduled to install railing around mid-August.
-Crews were mainly working on the stairs before and now should be able to focus more on our railing installation work.

Bottom line, work should resume soon.

SIDE NOTE: The aforementioned Neighborhood Street Fund, which builds community-proposed projects, may not solicit new ideas for a few years. The Levy to Move Seattle Oversight Committee was told earlier this month (see the memo here) that SDOT is proposing choosing 2022-2024 projects from the existing pool of suggestions.

If you have something to say before the final decision on an increase in Washington State Ferries fares, the state Transportation Commission – which sets fares – has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday (August 10th). Here’s the announcement:

A proposed 2.5 percent across-the-board ferry fare increase is the subject of a public hearing next week. The proposed fare increase was the option selected in a public input poll and is based upon budget requirements passed by the 2021 Legislature. If approved, the new ferry fare rate will be applied each October in 2021 and 2022.

The Washington State Transportation Commission will hold a virtual, final public hearing at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10. Due to COVID-19 limitations still in place for Washington state agencies, the meeting will be conducted using Zoom. The commission will take public testimony at the meeting. People interested in attending need to register on the commission’s website. Those wishing to testify are encouraged to sign-up ahead of the hearing, on the Commission’s website. The meeting will be broadcast live on TVW at www.tvw.org.

Fare recommendations are based upon the Transportation Budget passed by the 2021 Legislature. The budget requires $377 million to be generated from fares over the two-year timeframe, which results in a need for an additional $9.2 million in fare revenues. This equates to an estimated 2.5 percent fare increase if applied across-the-board to all fares. For more information on the commission’s ferry fare proposal, visit the commission’s web site at: 2021-2023 Ferry Fare Setting – Washington State Transportation Commission.

The commission is also proposing a policy change for how a vanpool is defined to ensure the policy matches current law. The proposal decreases the required number of people to be considered a vanpool from the current five people to three people, adjusting the fares accordingly.