Seattle’s Council sets a transportation vision with more bus, bike lanes

The Seattle City Council unanimously signed off on a 20-year transportation plan Tuesday. It’s an aspirational document meant to guide planners, but which lacks new dollars and specific timelines.

It imagines a city with slower speeds, more frequent transit and more modes of transportation on each road, even arterials. It proposes adding more bus lanes and building out a network of bike lanes. And it emphasizes keeping the city’s existing streets in good working condition.

The new blueprint combines what used to be separate plans for each mode of transportation — bikes, freight, transit, walking — into one central document. It was written over months and based on extensive outreach to the public.

The purpose is to set goals for the city. The heavy lifting of planning and funding transportation projects comes separately, in the form of voter-approved levies and budget deliberations in City Hall.

Its goals are broad and sorted into six groups: safety, equity, climate, mobility, livability and maintenance.

Though it doesn’t state exactly which projects should be built next, it does offer a list of more than 80 possibilities. Among those are improvements to downtown avenues, preparations for future light rail stations, upgrades to aging bridges and safety improvements on the city’s most dangerous corridors, Rainier Avenue South and Aurora Avenue North.

Some of the possible projects are unlikely to see the light of day. The long-debated downtown streetcar is included, despite political momentum for the project seemingly drying up.

The document was written following a lengthy outreach process. The public’s feedback was mostly to answer “yes” to everything — safer streets, more transportation options, additional space for bikes and transit, and better maintained streets, all while keeping traffic moving.

The reality of balancing those priorities could prove considerably more tricky than when laid out in theory.

The passage of the transportation plan dovetails with a proposed new $1.35 billion transportation levy that will go to voters this November. If passed, it could turn some of the theoretical projects into reality, such as improvements to 23^rd Avenue East, Elliott Way, Northwest Market Street, Rainier Avenue South, 35^th Avenue Southwest and more.

“Local government can’t solve every problem on its own, but when we put our mind to it, we can build world-class transportation infrastructure,” said Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth.

The council considered the proposed plan from Mayor Bruce Harrell over several meetings. Among the amendments was one from Councilmember Bob Kettle to roll back the proposed designation of Pike Place, the street running through the downtown market, as an “event street,” which could be closed to cars occasionally. Though transportation advocates have pushed for years to limit cars through Pike Place Market, Kettle was wary of language that could remove governing authority from the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority.

Instead, the plan sets up a “process for evaluating the future uses of Pike Place that ensures everyone has a seat at the table — from its residents, vendors, and visitors to first responders,” Kettle said.