A press release from the Mayor’s office quotes McGinn as saying, “We have heard from the public that they want safety improvements on our roads.” To that end, Mayor McGinn is proposing to dedicate $3.25 million on projects on East Marginal Way, Westlake, lower Spokane Street, Rainier Avenue South, and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. “These improvements will help protect safety for people on these busy corridors whether they’re in their cars and trucks, on foot, or on a bicycle,” adds McGinn.
The haste in addressing East Marginal Way undoubtedly was spurred by the recent death of Lance David, who was killed while commuting on his bicycle, but these projects, like so many, have been mainly waiting for funding. The $3.25 million in this case comes from further savings on the four-year Spokane Street Viaduct widening project, completed last November.
Last month, McGinn had announced $11.75 million in savings to be directed toward improvements on Northgate Way and Lake City Way, implementation of the Pedestrian Plan, intersection improvements at Rainier Avenue South and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, a flashing pedestrian beacon at flashing beacon at 47th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Admiral Way in West Seattle, and a suite of safety improvements on Northeast 75th Street near Nathan Eckstein Middle School.
The release specifies that the new funds, bringing the total to $15 million, will be spent on:
Improvements to East Marginal Way in SoDo
- $700,000 for pavement maintenance, restriping, and exploring interim cycle track options to provide further separation of bicycles and auto traffic.
- $200,000 will be included for conceptual planning and pre-design for a permanent reconstruction to the road, which will also include a long-term design of separated bicycle facilities such as a cycle track.
Westlake Avenue Cycle Track
- $1.2 million for final design and construction of this project to improve separation between bicycles and vehicles and link the Ship Canal trail to South Lake Union. When combined with previous funding from the City and Puget Sound Regional Council, this project will have $2.3 million of funding which may be enough to build the facility depending on final design.
$500,000 for Lower Spokane Street Safety Improvements. Project elements will be developed with input from the community, the Port, and other stakeholders and may include:
- Improving pavement conditions along the pathway.
- Improving crossing at Port driveways
- Improving crossing for bicyclists at Chelan (5-way) intersection.
- Improving crossing for bicyclists from the path to SW Avalon Way/SW Admiral Way.
- Increase separation for bicyclists on SW Admiral Way.
- Improving Delridge to Andover connection to the bicycle path.
$400,000 for implementation of the Pedestrian Master Plan
$250,000 for transit-oriented design in multiple neighborhoods:
- Study at Rainier Avenue South and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South to identify alternatives, conduct a traffic analysis, conceptual design, develop conceptual cost estimates and conduct public outreach
- New transportation analysis near Roosevelt light rail station, assessing station area access issues including evaluation of the Roosevelt/11th one-way couplet
- Station access and transit-oriented design near Othello Station
