Greg Spotts on his final day as SDOT Director as he travels through the city with community members and friends. Photo: Greg Spotts Blog stats: 1,000 words | 5-minute read
Today is Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Director Greg Spotts’ final day on the job. Director Spotts was appointed to the role in September 2022 and led the department to increase the pace of construction during the final years of the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle, advanced new Vision Zero efforts, finalized the Seattle Transportation Plan, and celebrated the success of the 2024 Transportation Levy which voters overwhelmingly approved in November. Deputy Mayor Adiam Emery will become the SDOT Interim Director on February 4.
“I am excited to pass the baton to the next leader of SDOT, an agency which now has the plans and the resources to maintain and modernize Seattle’s streets and bridges,” said departing SDOT Director Greg Spotts. “I depart the Puget Sound with great enthusiasm for Seattle’s future, and profound gratitude for the opportunity to serve a dynamic, innovative and fast-growing city with unlimited potential.”
Director Spotts stepped into the role and immediately made safety his top priority. On his first day on the job he issued a call to action to create a Top-to-Bottom Review of SDOT’s Vision Zero Program to end traffic deaths and serious injuries. It led to the Vision Zero Action plan which established 22 broad strategies and over 80 concrete actions to prevent serious crashes.
During his first six months on the job, Director Spotts participated in more than 100 community-requested walks, bike rides, and transit rides to understand what was working well and what needed improvement. Throughout his tenure, Director Spotts continued to meet Seattleites in their communities and visit SDOT crews working all over the city, typically arriving by public transportation.
Director Spotts led the department to increase the pace of project design and construction under the “fast and flavorful” theme, breaking ground on more than 180 projects to maintain and modernize streets and bridges during his tenure. Spotts streamlined the scheduling of the smaller projects delivered by SDOT crews and enhanced accountability systems to keep large capital projects on track. In 2024, SDOT started construction on over 30 large contracted projects, over 2.5 times as many as recent years before his appointment.
Spotts oversaw the development of the Seattle Transportation Plan which was unanimously approved by the Seattle City Council in 2024. The plan detailed Seattle’s 20-year vision for transportation based on years of public input and engagement. Incorporating all travel modes and uplifting people streets and public spaces, the Seattle Transportation Plan serves as a guiding document for equitable, climate-smart investments in the street network over the next two decades.
Spotts conducted additional listening tours during the development of the 2024 Transportation Levy, the eight-year $1.55 billion funding package to enhance the city’s transportation infrastructure including building sidewalks, paving streets, repairing bridges, and improving transit connections. In November 2024, Seattle residents approved the Transportation Levy with over 66 percent of the vote, a result of the broad-based supportive coalition assembled over the previous year.
SDOT Accomplishments Under Director Greg Spotts’ Leadership:
- Launched program to distribute free ORCA cards made available to more than 10,000 Seattle Housing Authority residents.
- Completed life cycle assessments of all bridges owned by SDOT and accelerated bridge seismic retrofit program. Completed several projects to renovate the electrical, hydraulic and mechanical systems that operate the Spokane Street Swing Bridge.
- Appointed SDOT’s first Chief Climate Officer and published the Climate Change Response Framework to reduce transportation emissions in Seattle.
- Launched an initiative to ‘Right Size, Then Electrify’SDOT’s fleet and advance fleet electrification with the City’s Finance & Administrative Services as a part of the City’s overall climate goals.
- Secured roughly $185 million in federal, state, and regional grants including $26 million for street safety projects.
- Published 2024 update to SDOT’s Vision Zero Action Plan to detail concrete actions to enhance transportation safety on Seattle’s streets over the next three years.
- Added No-Turn-On-Red safety enhancement at 130 more intersections around Downtown Seattle and other high-priority locations, exceeding the commitment made in the Vision Zero Action Plan. Created a new policy to make this a more standard practice citywide.
- Installed pedestrian-first walk signals (leading pedestrian intervals) at over 100 new intersections in 2024. These proven safety upgrades are now activated at 80 percent the traffic signals in Seattle.
- Prioritized advancing bicycle and pedestrian safety projects in South Seattle including the MLK Jr Way Safety Project, Beacon Ave S and 15th Ave S Safety Project, Georgetown to Downtown Safety Project, and Georgetown to South Park Safety Project.
- Installed Seattle’s first protected bike intersection and created an Even Better Bike Lane pilot program to upgrade paint and plastic-post bike lanes with concrete protection.
- Built over 50 new sidewalk blocks and prioritized repairing sidewalks without damaging mature healthy trees.
- Reached a major milestone for Safe Routes to School, completing one or more upgrades at every public K-12 school in Seattle during the Levy to Move Seattle.
- Broke ground on over 180 construction projects. This included over 30 projects in 2024, roughly 2.5 times the typical previous pace of construction.
- Created music venue parking and loading zones for performers and established a permanent program for outdoor dining, vending, merchandise display, and street closure permits.
- Published the full Seattle Transportation Plan, which was unanimously approved by the Seattle City Council, detailing the City’s 20-year vision for transportation in Seattle based on years of public input and engagement.
- Developed the 2024 Seattle Transportation Levy in partnership with incoming Interim SDOT Director Adiam Emery, which was proposed by the Mayor, sent to Seattle voters by the Seattle City Council, and overwhelmingly approved by 66% of voters in November 2024.
- Helped launch the Mayor’s Downtown Activation Plan, and supported projects to revitalize the city center with lighting along 3rd Avenue and marvelous murals in and around Downtown Seattle, from Belltown to SODO to the Chinatown-International District.