Do you travel along NE 65th St between NE Ravenna Blvd and 39th Ave NE? You’re safer after the redesign, says our new evaluation report.

People traveling along NE 65^th St needed improvements to enhance safety, and we delivered. Read the full report here.

After our redesign along the 1.5 mile stretch between NE Ravenna Blvd and 39^th Ave NE: 

• There were fewer collisions and injuries, and no fatal or severe injury collisions, in 2019.   
• People drove slower.
• There were more people walking and riding bikes overall.   
• Travel times were slightly longer.   
• The new, first-of-its-kind shared transit stop operated as intended, helping to streamline the experience of people walking, rolling, biking, and waiting for the bus around bus stops. 

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This project was  made possible thanks to you! Our work on NE 65^th St is a key example of your Levy to Move Seattle tax dollars at work. The NE 65^th Vision Zero project shows how your tax dollars, through the Levy program, are truly saving lives in Seattle.  

Approved by voters in November 2015, the 9-year, $930 million Levy to Move Seattle provides funding to improve safety for all travelers, maintain our streets and bridges, and invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city. The Levy provides almost 30% of our transportation budget! See our other Levy projects in our Workplan Report.  

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NE 65th St is an arterial street in northeast Seattle carrying thousands of people walking, rolling, biking, riding the bus, and driving every day. 

In 2021, the Northgate Link Extension and Roosevelt Link Light Rail Station will open, bringing even more activity to the corridor.  

Recently, significant traffic safety issues emerged along this growing corridor. From 2014-2018, four people lost their lives and five people were seriously injured in crashes on NE 65th St. More than 200 other crashes occurred during that period. 

Change was needed rapidly to make NE 65^th St safer, and we worked in partnership with the community and former Councilmember Rob Johnson to #Fix65th. 

Throughout 2017-2018, we held community forums and drop-in sessions for the NE 65^th Street Vision Zero Project, which supports Seattle’s larger Vision Zero goals to end traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030. 

Our goals for the NE 65^th St Redesign: 

Enhance safety for everyone by reducing crashes and injuries

Improve access to the future Roosevelt Link Light Rail Station for people walking, rolling, and biking 

Improve transit service and connections to the future Roosevelt Link Light Rail Station 

Ultimately, our project included: 

• Redesigning NE 65^th St: We made changes on the west end (from NE Ravenna Blvd to 20^th Ave NE), and on the east end (from 20^th Ave NE to 39^th Ave NE). 

• Making safety improvements: We lowered posted speed limits from 30 MPH to 25 MPH, installed pedestrian countdown timers and protected left turn phases at intersections with signals, added a new hardened centerline at Roosevelt Way NE, and repainted marked crosswalks.  

• Creating shared transit stops: We made four bus stops accessible to all ages and abilities while meeting the challenge of working on a constrained street.

• Improving transit travel times: There was consolidation of bus stops along the street. 

Our redesign focused on reducing the width and number of traffic lanes to accommodate other improvements, like adding protected bike lanes and center turn lanes.  

Before the project, there were a total of four travel lanes during peak hours (where two lanes served as parking during off-peak hours).

Now, along the west segment of NE 65^th St, there are two travel lanes, a protected bike lane in each direction, and a center turn lane.  

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We worked with King County Metro on a new shared transit stop design informed by guidance from National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) and what other cities have done.  

This balanced our need to make bus stops accessible to all ages and abilities with the challenge of working in a constrained street. The shared stops on NE 65th St were the first of their kind to be built in Seattle.  

The four shared stops are located along NE 65^th St at Oswego Pl NE, 8th Ave NE, 14th Ave NE, and 16th Ave NE. Here are the key features making it safer for both passengers and bikes: 

• Buses do not have to cross over the bike lane to make a stop
• The bike lane is raised to sidewalk level and located between the vehicle travel lane and sidewalk  
• Transit passengers board and depart (“alight”) the bus by crossing over the bike lane at designated places
• Bikes must yield to passengers boarding and alighting the bus 

The design and safety changes to NE 65^th St significantly reduced collisions and expanded access for people walking, biking, and riding the bus – which, among much more, shows that your contributions through the Levy to Move Seattle are making a tangible, positive impact in Seattle and to people’s lives.

We compared 2019 findings related to traffic, speed, collisions, and travel times to data from 2017 and earlier. 

There were fewer collisions and injuries, and no fatal or severe injury collisions, in 2019.	Notably, on the west segment of the project, there were no left turn collisions due to the addition of left turn lanes and protected left turn phases. Crashes involving pedestrians decreased by 67%, from 3 to 1 – also a result of the redesign and safety improvements.
People drove slower.	On the east segment of the project, average speeds were even below the new 25 MPH speed limit. Across segments, the proportion of people speeding (going over 30 MPH) was also lower.
There were more people walking and riding bikes overall.	The West segment with the new protected bike lane saw large increases in biking volume. The East segment saw decreases, likely because there was no bike lane, and the in-progress Wedgwood to Roosevelt Neighborhood Greenway is nearby on NE 68th St.
Travel times were slightly longer.	On NE 65th St between NE Ravenna Blvd to 25th Ave NE, travel times were about 1-2 minutes longer by transit and 0-1 minutes longer by car. Increased travel time for cars is anticipated and acceptable, as the improvements we made prioritized people walking, rolling and biking. Transit travel now takes slightly longer because buses and cars share fewer full-time lanes (from four to two during peak hours). There is also new full-time parking on the East segment, a revised Route 62 schedule, and protected left turn phases – all of which can slow things down a little.
The shared transit stop operated as intended.	There were no reported operational or safety issues (thanks to people walking, biking, and King County Metro!). Pedestrians mainly used the marked crosswalks to board or alight the bus, and didn’t wait or walk in the bike lane. Almost all people biking rode in the bike lane – not the travel lane – through the stop. We didn’t see a bus ramp or accessible lift deployed on video during our observation period, but we’re keeping a close eye on video to make sure this design is working well for people of ages and abilities.

This means we’re moving in the right direction. Not only have these improvements made people along NE 65^th St safer,  they’ve shown another tangible effect of the Levy to Move Seattle on the well-being of our community. They’ll help support increased numbers of people walking, rolling, and biking when the Roosevelt Link Light Rail station opens next year. We’ll be watching closely to see how the redesign is working then!  

In the meantime, the success of these changes complement and helps inform other safety efforts in the community. 

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• We’ve completed pedestrian-first crosswalk safety goal six months early and are advancing a new policy to create more automatic walk signals and give people more time to cross the street. 

• This year we lowered speed limits on 90 miles of major streets, creating a total of over 200 miles of major roads with a 25 MPH speed limit. We’ll continue moving forward to lower speed limits on the rest of Seattle’s major streets over the coming year.

• We’re working with WSDOT to make four intersection improvements to improve safety and mobility for pedestrians, bikes, and drivers along Lake City Way (SR-522). 

• There will be changes to and additional bike lanes to support travel across the Duwamish and mitigate the impact of the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge closure on people and communities. Recently, we refreshed bike lanes along East Marginal Way S.