Mayor Bruce Harrell, SDOT Interim Director Adiam Emery, project partners, and SDOT staff at a ribbon cutting event in Seattle on August 1, 2025. Photo: SDOT Blog stats: 1,800 words | 9-minute read
At-a-glance:
- The Alaskan Way Safety Project is officially complete!
- Today, Mayor Harrell, SDOT Interim Director Adiam Emery, representatives from the Port of Seattle, Cascade Bike Club, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and other supporters marked the milestone with a ribbon cutting event and community bike ride.
- We’ll be unveiling and celebrating new and upgraded bike routes across the city throughout the summer. You can learn more here about our “Hot Bike Summer” celebrations and how to participate!
- The Alaskan Way Safety Project features a new protected bike lane on the west side of Alaskan Way and other upgrades to help people safely and comfortably travel along the north end of Seattle’s central waterfront, a busy area near Port of Seattle cruise terminals.
- Construction of the project began last December, and the upgrades support the City’s overall goals to reactivate downtown and help people to enjoy everything Seattle has to offer, while continuing to expand the Center City Bike Network.
- Learn more here about the waterfront’s many new features.
- Thank you to everyone who was involved in the planning, design, and construction of the project, and for your continued support as we completed the construction. This project was funded by the voter-approved Levy to Move Seattle.
The Alaskan Way Safety Project is now complete, a major milestone that extends a continuous all ages and abilities bike facility along Seattle’s central waterfront! Read on to learn more about the project’s top features, check out photos of the recently completed upgrades, and find out what’s ahead.
Key Features
- Protected Bike Lane: A 0.6-mile, two-way protected bike lane on the west side of Alaskan Way, between Virginia St and Broad St, providing a safer route for people who bike.
- Safer Traffic Design: This section of Alaskan Way is reduced to two lanes (one in each direction), aligning with SDOT’s Vision Zero goals to reduce speeding and improve safety for people who walk and bike, while maintaining necessary freight access.
- Intersection Safety Upgrades: Modifications include pedestrian head start walk signals, bike-specific signals, No Turn on Red signs, and improvements to pedestrian crossings to enhance safety and visibility.
- Improved Accessibility: Sidewalk repairs and new ADA-accessible curb ramps to improve access for people who walk and people who use mobility devices.
New Public Artwork
We recently installed new public art in the project area. This includes a series of Tongan design motifs created by artist Toka Valu, which are integrated into the protected bike lane buffers through stamped concrete, steel inlays, and a thermoplastic crosswalk (to be installed at a later date). You can learn more here about Toka Valu and his work.
The new artwork is based on the “Fale Tonga” or the architecture of the Tongan house. The Fale Tonga is significant to Tongan culture because it’s where life for the Tongan identity begins, is founded, and is molded. The different segments throughout its architecture denote a different kind of hierarchy tied to its use in the everyday life of the family.
For example, the rafters segment is considered a divine space reserved for storage of items of value or heirlooms while the living space is considered chiefly since this is where values are taught, dinner is served, etc. The home is a sacred place of refuge and origin for the Tongan family, and Seattle has become a beloved home for the many Tongans who now reside in the Pacific Northwest.
“‘May henne’ is a transliteration of the Tongan phrase Mei heni, or ‘from here’ honoring both the ancestral knowledge we carry in the places we now call home. The work draws from the architecture of the Tongan fale/house, reimagined across the waterfront as a visual embrace of identity, movement, and belonging. As Tongans and other immigrant communities navigate new landscapes, the protected bike lane becomes a pathway through which identity and presence are made visible in the city. I offer this piece as a gesture of welcome and rootedness here on Duwamish land, where Seattle continues to grow.” – Toka Valu, Artist
Map
This project was made possible with funding from the voter-approved 2015 Seattle Transportation Levy (the Levy to Move Seattle). Thank you, Seattle! Additional funding was provided by the Federal Highway Administration and Washington State Department of Transportation. Thank you to our funding partners.
What’s Next
Along the waterfront
- We’re one step closer to a more connected city that’s safer and easier for everyone to travel in.
- Nearby, the privately funded Elliott Bay Connections Project continues construction on a multi-use path on the east side of Alaskan Way, which will complement the new bike lanes that just opened, and the project is improving pedestrian and bike trails in Myrtle Edwards and Centennial Parks.
- We encourage everyone to come down to the waterfront to enjoy Waterfront Park’s many new features and attend events hosted by Friends of Waterfront Park.
Across the city – “Hot Bike Summer” events
- We invite you to join us for a Hot Bike Summer! It’s a series of celebrations for new bike lanes and safety improvements across Seattle, from the waterfront to South Seattle.
- Throughout August and early September, we’re marking the opening of five new routes with ribbon cuttings, rides, and community festivities – giving everyone a chance to explore our growing bike network. We hope to see you at these events!
What People Are Saying
“The City of Seattle is proud to celebrate the completion of this vital project—an outstanding example of our shared One Seattle vision, made possible through strong collaboration with the Port of Seattle, Cascade Bicycle Club, and dedicated public and private partners. As our city continues to grow, new bike lanes along Alaskan Way will enhance access and safety for the increasing number of people visiting our iconic waterfront. This project marks a transformative milestone in the ongoing reimagining of Seattle’s waterfront, creating seamless, safe, and accessible connections between neighborhoods and public spaces for all to enjoy.” – Mayor Bruce Harrell
“The Alaskan Way Safety Project represents a critical investment in Seattle’s commitment to a safe, efficient, and equitable transportation network. As we reimagine our city’s streets to better serve all people, this project delivers a vital, protected connection along our iconic waterfront—making it safer and more intuitive for people walking, biking, and rolling. By expanding accessible travel options and enhancing connections between neighborhoods, transit hubs, and public spaces, we’re creating a more resilient, people-centered transportation system that reflects the values of our growing city.” – Adiam Emery, Seattle Department of Transportation Interim Director
“Creating this safe connection on the waterfront fills a critical gap in the bike network. I’m so excited to see this come together at last and to see how it reshapes how people move around the city.” – Julia Reed, Washington State Representative
“Seattle isn’t just a city with a port – we’re a port city. And at the Port of Seattle, we work hard to find a balance that enables commerce and community to coexist on our working waterfront. The construction of the new, protected bicycle lane on Alaskan Way at Bell Street Pier Cruise Terminal is the latest example of that work. Thank you to the city, ILWU, our terminal operators, and the cycling community for working together on this effort. Partnerships like this are what make such complex projects successful.” – Fred Felleman, Port of Seattle Commissioner
“The new extended bike lanes north of Pier 62 provide a vital link for daily commuters and weekend riders connecting Myrtle Edwards and Olympic Sculpture parks to the full 1.2-mile stretch of the protected bike lane along the waterfront, where we’ve already seen a huge increase in riders since we opened it last March. The continuity of these bike improvements will make it even easier for people to experience everything Waterfront Park has to offer and brings us one step closer to a more connected bike network throughout Seattle.” – Angela Brady, Office of the Waterfront, Civic Projects and Sound Transit Director
“Today marks another important step toward a more connected and welcoming central waterfront. The Downtown Seattle Association congratulates the Seattle Department of Transportation on delivering a vital protected bike lane along the west side of Alaskan Way. We look forward to next summer, when the Elliott Bay Connections greenway trail, funded entirely by private philanthropy, will open on the east side of Alaskan Way. This new trail, together with the protected bike lane, will connect 50 acres of parks along 3.5 miles of Seattle’s waterfront.” – Jon Scholes, President & CEO, Downtown Seattle Association
“Cascade Bicycle Club would like to thank the Seattle Department of Transportation, the mayor’s office, and the Seattle Port Commissioners for listening to the community and creating a two-way waterfront bike path that is a crown jewel of the expanding Seattle Bike Network. This project shows that everyone benefits when policymakers and government agencies collaborate with community groups and bike advocates. We spent more than a year and a half working with the Port and City to create a final design that allows people to bike on a continuous path along the waterfront side of Alaskan way for the majority of the year–detouring to the east side of Alaskan Way only during active cruise ship loading and unloading. SDOT, the Mayor’s Office, and Port Commissioners deserve credit for collaborating with citizens and taking feedback from the community to create a Waterfront bike path that is worthy of a world-class city like Seattle.” – Lee Lambert, Cascade Bike Club Executive Director
“This vital bike route closes a key gap in Seattle’s citywide bike network, making it safer and more convenient for people to bike and scoot along the iconic new waterfront. The protection with bollards and concrete will make this bike connection feel comfortable for families, people who are new to biking, commuters, and visitors alike.” – Clara Cantor, Community Organizer, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways
“The Elliott Bay Connections (EBC) project is building a pedestrian and bicycle greenway trail on the east side of Alaskan Way funded entirely through private philanthropy. With lush landscaping, new trees, and other amenities, EBC’s new greenway trail will complement the Alaskan Way Safety Project’s new two-way protected bike lane. When the EBC project is complete in time for the FIFA World Cup™ in June 2026, Seattle will enjoy 50 acres of connected parks and public spaces spanning three and a half miles along Elliott Bay. Learn more by visiting the EBC project website and sign up for monthly construction updates to stay informed.” – The Elliott Bay Connections team