Concerned about Route 8? Here’s our approach to supporting reliable travel

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Safe, reliable, and sustainable travel is a goal we all share, and making the Route 8 more reliable remains a top priority for us. We are working to develop solutions that ensure the entire street network remains operational, including for buses, freight, service providers, and people driving. This includes continuing to explore ways to expand bus-only lanes on Denny Way. Keep reading to learn more.

Route 8 is a high-ridership bus route traversing Seattle neighborhoods from Mount Baker in Rainier Valley, up to the Central District, through Capitol Hill, along Denny Way in South Lake Union, and finishing at the Seattle Center. It sees over 7,000 daily riders, making it a top 10 ridership route, and it’s seen continued growth in recent years.

It’s true – Route 8 has a challenging performance record, coming in significantly below average in terms of on-time performance, particularly during high-traffic weekday trips. One of the biggest “pain points” is along Denny Way in South Lake Union.

We’ve implemented changes to improve travel in recent years. These include:

• Installing an eastbound bus lane between Minor and Stewart streets (2018)
• Adding Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) signs on Denny Way (2021-2023)
• Repaving Denny Way, consolidating two bus stops and enhancing pedestrian travel safety (2025)

Why are we starting with a bus lane on just part of Denny Way?

• Last year, we hired a transportation engineering firm to document existing conditions and prepare a high-level assessment of traffic operations with a bus lane along Denny Way. You can read the full study here.
• Analysis shows that extending a bus-only lane east of 9th Ave (near Denny Park) to Fairview Ave could help with bus reliability and would cause severe traffic congestion in the area. This traffic congestion is expected to impact the ability of buses to access the bus lane and could result in backups in the bus lane itself.
• Overall traffic would likely be significantly worse along Denny Way, with estimates showing general purpose travel times nearly doubling during peak travel times. This delay is expected to affect the entire South Lake Union system and impact all travelers, including essential functions like freight, service deliveries, and transit on other routes.
• We recognize that ridership data and mode shift projections are tools to guide policy decisions. While this study did not include those elements, we are focused on how we can make meaningful transit investments in this constrained corridor.
• Our next step is to analyze ways to distribute traffic in the network and further develop transit improvement options for Route 8.

So what is SDOT doing to address travel reliability, both now and in the future? Here’s a quick summary of our plans, in a nutshell:

• Preserving Denny Way service in the near term: We’re committed to maintaining Route 8 service along Denny Way – an essential corridor serving major employers, the Seattle Center, and a future light rail station.

• Advancing near-term spot improvements: We’ll implement additional segments of eastbound bus lane near Queen Anne and passenger-focused investments at the eastern end of the corridor.

• Tackling congestion and partnering for solutions: We’ll prioritize strategies to reduce congestion on Denny Way, including alternate routing and wayfinding. We’ll continue working with large employers to encourage transit use (mode shift) and harness future Revive I-5 construction to test and learn from new traffic patterns.

• Identifying additional transit improvements: We’ll develop and evaluate additional transit supportive improvements elsewhere along the corridor, including expanding the bus-only lane on Denny Way and other safety and transit access projects.

Here are some concrete steps to help improve travel for everyone:

• In 2025, add a right turn restriction from northbound Westlake Ave onto Denny Ave (near Whole Foods).
• In 2026, add a transit turn-only lane from Queen Anne Ave to Denny Way (a couple blocks southwest of Climate Pledge Arena) and an eastbound bus-only lane on Denny Way between Queen Anne Ave and 2nd Ave (near the Pacific Science Center).
• In 2026, we’ll continue to assess and develop options to distribute some general-purpose traffic off Denny Way and explore ways to expand bus-only lanes, while engaging with WSDOT on impacts to I-5 access and partnering with large employers to reduce drive alone trips.

This work will inform a holistic approach to additional investments that deliver both transit benefits and sustain the overall functionality of the network.

You can also read this previous King County Metro Matters blog post for more information about plans to improve Route 8.

We appreciate everyone who’s engaged and shared their voices on this topic. We’ll continue to work closely with our partners at King County Metro and WSDOT, while listening to all stakeholders and keeping you informed along the way. Thank you.

Editor’s Note (September 23, 2025): This blog post has been updated for clarification and to add a Speed and Reliability Study.

Editor’s Note (November 12, 2025): We updated the map graphic to include average daily bus rider numbers.