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A Vibrant Seattle Through Transportation Excellence.

New Mobility Action Plan for Getting Around North Downtown

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Seattle waterfront - Olympic Sculpture Park, Space Needle, Pier 70, Pier 69

Seattle waterfront – Olympic Sculpture Park, Space Needle, Pier 70, Pier 69

North Downtown Seattle is changing, & we have a plan to keep people moving.

 

There’s a lot changing in North Downtown Seattle. It’s anticipated that 15,000 new households and 20,000 new employees will be added to the area by 2035. On top of that, the new arena at Seattle Center that’s currently under construction is expected to draw crowds for events up to 250 days of the year! This means a lot more people will be moving through and around Belltown, Uptown, and South Lake Union.

 

In anticipation for these changes, we launched the North Downtown Mobility Action planning process in Autumn 2017.

 

We proactively worked with community members, neighborhood groups, and developers to determine transportation improvement priorities that will support access and livability of these North Downtown neighborhoods in the coming years.

NODO Map 10-Year Investments

NODO Map 10-Year Investments

The final North Downtown Mobility Action Plan is now available!

 

This plan outlines the first ten years of transportation projects for Belltown, Uptown, and South Lake Union (see map above) that will be funded in part by the development agreement of Seattle Center’s new arena. The North Downtown Mobility Action Plan looked at existing community plans and planned projects, identified ways to improve how we move, connect, and experience our streets and public places, and evaluated and prioritized potential projects.

 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the process. You can keep up with the projects and the schedule for delivery on our website.

 

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Moving Forward with Scooter Share Pilot

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People riding scooters. Photo by Portland Bureau of

People riding scooters. Photo by Portland Bureau of Transportation.

As 2019 draws to a close, we’re excited to share what we’ve done in preparation for the scooter share pilot launch coming this spring. Visit our scooter share page to find detailed summaries of our outreach and engagement efforts and pilot framing in our year end update.

 

Following Mayor Durkan’s announcement that scooters would be coming to Seattle, we began preparations for the pilot.  Our goal is to make sure that the program works well for everyone in Seattle, so that scooter share will be safe, equitable, and not become a barrier to other people walking or rolling in our city.  

 

Over the summer, we researched scooter share pilots and programs in peer cities, and reached out to our colleagues in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and many more across the county. We began a 3-phased approach to prepare for a spring scooter share pilot launch.  

Phase 1 Q3: 2019 Outreach and Engagement Pilot Goals, Scope, Scale Conduct Environmental Review Finalize Pilot Framework PHASE 2Q4: 2019 - Q1: 2020 Outreach and Engagement Permit Features Finalize Permit Post Permit Applications PHASE 3Q1/Q2: 2020Outreach and Engagement Observations and Experiences Launch Scooter Pilot Program Ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation

Where We’ve Been – Phase 1

 

Our first phase of pilot development focused on generating and evaluating ideas for the scooter program.  We initiated outreach and engagement, conducted an Environmental Review, and developed a draft pilot framework that we’ll use to refine a permit. 

 

OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT

Over the last several months, we worked with stakeholders and the general public to solicit ideas and understand priorities for the scooter program.  

Stakeholder meetings focused on some of the key issues we know are critical to the success of the scooter share program: Riding Location, Parking, Overall Safety, Education & Enforcement, Equity & Accessibility. 

 

Riding location and parking feedback focused primarily on pedestrian, including people with disabilities, and rider safety. Education and enforcement feedback focused on equitable enforcement and effective education. Equity and Accessibility feedback addressed equitable geographic distribution and low-income access plans. 

 

Public feedback was gathered in surveys and via open comment. The survey asked Seattleites to rank the following factors in evaluating the success of the scooter share pilot: Safety, Rider Behavior, Connection to Transit, Replacement of Car Trips, Access to All, Positive Experience, Volume of Trips. A more detailed look at the results of stakeholder and public engagement is shared in the year end update. 

SDOT Scooter Share Public Forum

SDOT Scooter Share Public Forum

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

This review examined potential environmental impacts of a scooter share pilot on the public right of way, including air, water, vegetation, and other aspects of the environment. Open comments will be accepted until December 23, 2019.

 

PILOT FRAMEWORK

The foundation of the scooter share pilot incorporates learnings from the Phase 1 Outreach and Engagement process and is framed by the Mayor’s key objectives of creating a safe, equitable and well–managed program. The key strategies we’re thinking about deploying in our scooter pilot are summarized in the year end update. 

 

Where We’re Going- Phase 2 

 

We’re now underway with the second phase of our process, where we’re bringing together all the feedback we’ve received into a permit application.  The conversation isn’t ending though—we’ll continue to work with stakeholder groups and neighborhoods to ensure this program reflects Seattle’s goals. 

 

In early 2020, we will post a scooter share permit and invite companies to apply for a Spring 2020 launch. The City will evaluate and score these proposals and provide a limited number of permits to operate in the City. 

 

We look forward to continuing our work with stakeholders in approaching the permit and welcome all public comment at scootershare@seattle.gov. 

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See What’s Moving in Seattle: Dec 18- Dec 22

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Street with blurred lights and lines to depict movement

Photo by Cris Ovalle on Unsplash

 

Enjoy the Ballet? Been looking forward to holiday night markets? Check out this week’s events  and #FlipYourTrip on the way!

 

W E D. D E C 18

 

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performance at 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000.

 

 

T H U R S. D E C 19

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performance at 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000.

 

Deadmau 5 / CUBE V3 – 2019 Tour: Concert at WaMu Theater.  Show times: 7:30PM – 10:30PM.  Doors at 6:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 7,000.

 

 

F R I. D E C 20 

 

Winter Solstice Night Market: At Magnuson Park’s Hanger 30.  Market hours: 4PM – 10PM Friday, and 12PM – 9PM Saturday.  Estimated attendance: 2,000.

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performance at 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000.

 

 

S A T. D E C 21

 

Winter Solstice Night Market: At Magnuson Park’s Hanger 30.  Market hours: 4PM – 10PM Friday, and 12PM – 9PM Saturday.  Estimated attendance: 2,000.

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performances at 2:00PM and 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000 per performance.

 

REZZ: Beyond the Senses Tour: Concert at WaMu Theater.  Show times: 8PM – 11:30PM.  Doors at 7PM.  Estimated attendance: 7,000.

 

 

S U N. D E C 22

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performances at 12:30PM and 5:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000 per performance.

 

Seattle Seahawks vs. Arizona Cardinals: At CenturyLink Field.  Kickoff: 1:25PM.  Estimated attendance: 70,000.  Go Hawks!!

 

 

O N G O I N G   E V E N T S 

 

Enchant Christmas – Mischievous: Includes a Christmas Light Maze, Christmas Market, and more!  Event dates: December 3 – 29.  Show hours are 4PM – 10PM Monday to Thursday, and 4PM – 11PM Friday to Sunday.  Estimated attendance: 5,000 – 10,000 per day.

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Pedestrian Master Plan Implementation: Improving Walkability One Step at a Time

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This week, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced four steps to make our streets safer and achieve our Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030. We’re stepping up our efforts to make street crossing safer.

 

We also launched the effort to reduce speed limits to 25 mph city-wide. because we know slower speeds save lives!

 

As more people continue to choose to walk, we’re committed to achieving our vision of becoming the most walk-able and accessible city in the nation. This vision was established in Seattle’s 2017 Pedestrian Master Plan and guides efforts to improve the city’s pedestrian environment.

 

To advance the vision, we just released the draft 2020-2024 PMP Implementation Plan. The plan lays the framework for pedestrian projects and pedestrian-related initiatives we’ll implement.

 

The plan not only establishes our 5-year project list for new sidewalks and crossing improvements, but it also reports on how far we’ve come in developing our pedestrian network and making Seattle safer, more comfortable, and more accessible for all types of pedestrians.

 

The 2020-2024 project list includes 163 blocks of new sidewalks and cost-effective walkways and 147 intersections that we’ll evaluate for new crossing improvements. These efforts build on the 50-56 new blocks of sidewalks and walkways being installed in 2019 and the 85 blocks we completed over the past 3 years!

 

In addition to new infrastructure, the plan also directs us to advance policies and initiatives that benefit people who walk in Seattle. For example, we have recently adopted a new policy to encourage leading pedestrian intervals at traffic signals and have reduced speed limits within urban villages and key corridors, which we will continue in the coming years.

 

 

Seattle's Priority Investment Network

Seattle’s Priority Investment Network

The 5-year project list is prioritized based on the availability of funding and the Priority Investment Network (PIN) established in the plan. The network sets connections to frequent transit and public schools as the basis for our investments in pedestrian facilities. Projects are also scored based on safety, health, equity, and “age-friendly” factors, as well as their proximity to Seattle’s urban villages. We use this scoring to inform our final selection of new sidewalks and crossing improvements.

 

As part of the plan, we also track a series of metrics to see how our pedestrian system is performing. Seattle has so far seen an uptick in pedestrian crashes in 2019, which reinforces our need to build safety-focused sidewalks and crossings. These projects are critical for Seattle to achieve its Vision Zero goal.

 

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See What’s Moving in Seattle: Dec 9 – Dec 13

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Holiday foliage on a plain background

Holiday foliage. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

 

Hey, Seattle. Grab a friend and head to one of these ~ holly jolly ~ events and #FlipYourTrip on the way!

 

 

T H U R. D E C 10

 

Deck the Hall Ball 2019: WaMu Theater.  Show times: 5 – 11 PM.  Doors at 4 PM.  Estimated attendance: 7,000.

 

W E D S. D E C 11

 

South Lake Union Winter Market: At Amazon’s Van Vorst Plaza (426 Terry Ave. N.).  Market hours: 10AM – 6PM.  Estimated attendance: 750.

 

T H U R S. D E C 12

 

South Lake Union Winter Market: At Amazon’s Van Vorst Plaza (426 Terry Ave. N.).  Market hours: 10AM – 6PM.  Estimated attendance: 750.

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performance at 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000.

 

F R I. D E C 13

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performance at 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000.

 

S A T. D E C 14

 

Renegade Craft Fair: At Magnuson Park’s Hanger 30.  Fair hours: 11AM – 5PM.  Estimated attendance: 2,000.

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performances at 2:00PM and 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000 per performance.

 

Green Lake Pathway of Lights: Annual holiday event at Green Lake.  The circuit, paths, and docks around the lake will be lit with thousands of twinkling candles.  Local musicians will perform at four sites around the lake.  Weather depending, hot air balloons may also be set up.  Event hours:  4:30PM – 7:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 20,000.

 

Equinox Studios – Very Open House: Event to celebrate the 13th anniversary of Equinox Studios.  Festivities include browsing of wares, music, poetry, dance, demos, food trucks, and more!  Open studios 6PM – 10PM, festivities 10PM – 2AM.  Event will close 5th Ave. S. between S. Michigan St. and S River St. in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood.  Estimated attendance: 2,675.

 

S U N. D E C 15

 

Renegade Craft Fair: At Magnuson Park’s Hanger 30.  Fair hours: 11AM – 5PM.  Estimated attendance: 2,000.

 

Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker: At McCaw Hall.  Performances at 12:30PM and 5:30PM.  Estimated attendance: 3,000 per performance.

 

ONGOING EVENTS

 

Enchant Christmas – Mischievous: Includes a Christmas Light Maze, Christmas Market, and more!  Event dates: December 3 – 29.  Show hours are 4PM – 10PM Monday to Thursday, and 4PM – 11PM Friday to Sunday.  Estimated attendance: 5,000 – 10,000 per day.

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We’re stepping up our efforts to make crossing the street safer.

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Caption: Preschool children using a brand new traffic signal in Fremont. Photo courtesy of Fremont.com and Fremont Chamber of Commerce.

 

Of all the things we do to keep Seattle moving, public safety is by far our absolute highest priority. 

 

Mayor Jenny Durkan has announced four steps on December 10 to make our streets even safer and achieve our Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030. Along with lowering speed limits, one critical step is enhancing safety for people walking and rolling as they cross the street by installing leading pedestrian intervals.  

 

An alarmingly high number of serious crashes take place at crosswalks when people turning in cars hit people crossing the street. 

 

Installing leading pedestrian intervals (the technical term for re-timing traffic signals to give people a few seconds head start to begin walking across the street before people in cars get a green light) is one way to enhance safety. People in the crosswalks become more visible to people driving and this method has proven to reduce crosswalk collisions by 60%.  

 

Preventing crashes with a few seconds head start for a pedestrian.  

Federal Highway Administration: Leading pedestrian intervals prevent 60% of car versus pedestrian crashes.

New York City Department of Transportation: Deaths and serious injuries dropped by 40%.  

 

We’re committing to double the number of leading pedestrian intervals next year to 250 locations. That’s 25% of the traffic signals in Seattle.

 

We’re excited to announce signal upgrades are going way faster than we announced earlier this year. So we set a more ambitious goal and are committing to double the current number of leading pedestrian intervals by the end of 2020.  

 

Chart showing that SDOT will add leading pedestrian intervals to 250 locations by end of 2020

We’ve been improving traffic signal safety at hundreds of intersections.

 

We prioritize safety upgrades where we’ve seen a concerning history of collisions, in urban centers, & near buildings like schools, hospitals, & community centers.

 

We also add leading pedestrian intervals every time we do other traffic signal maintenance work that creates the opportunity unless there’s a specific reason why it does not make sense in a particular location. 

 

We’ve added leading pedestrian intervals to 125 intersections so far.

Look out for each other. 

While we’re excited about increasing the number of LPIs across the city, we also want to take a moment to remind everyone that we all have a role to play in improving safety. 

As you’re traveling Seattle’s streets, look out for yourself and for each other. Recognize that every intersection is unique, so stay alert. If you’re driving, pay attention, slow down, and expect people are walking and biking in every part of the city at all times of day.  

With your help, and with changes big and small, we can get closer to our Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030. 

 

Safety is the top priority when we install new traffic signals. 

Building new traffic signals is another way we’re working to enhance safety by using city-wide collision data to help prioritize where signals are most needed.  

 

Some of the new traffic signals we’ve built this year include 1st Ave NW & NW 36th St in Fremont, the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91, and 35th Ave NE & NE 68th St in Wedgwood. Next year, we plan to build new traffic signals along high traffic areas in South Seattle, High Point, Bitter Lake, and Lake City. 

 

A traffic signal at Aurora Ave N & N 92nd St lets school children press a button to control when cars get a red light. Collisions in this area have dropped by 50% since this push-button signal was built in 2017. Photo courtesy of Dongho Chang

 

We’re also planning to keep on working on other ways to make traffic signals safer for people walking, rolling, and biking.  

In 2020, we plan to make updates to our traffic signal policy, including the guidelines we use to make sure people of all ages and abilities have enough time to get across the street safely.  

 

We’ll also be taking a look at how we use push-buttons to address frustrations we’ve heard. We don’t want to make you press a button if you don’t need to, and there are also some places where giving pedestrians control to stop car-traffic makes the most sense. So we want to make sure that we’re programming these buttons consistently with a pedestrian’s perspective in mind.  

 

The goal will be to balance the needs of all modes of transportation so that everyone can get where they need to go safely and conveniently.  

 

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Slower speeds save lives: a path to end traffic deaths & serious injuries in Seattle 

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Mayor Jenny Durkan has announced 4 steps to make our streets even safer & achieve our Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths & serious injuries on city streets by 2030.  

 

Along with making crosswalks safer, one step is reducing speed limits to 25 miles per hour (MPH) on major streets citywide. The speed limit on smaller neighborhood streets was already reduced to 20 miles per hour.  

 

Today we launched the effort by reducing speeds to 25 MPH along Rainier Ave S., which will now have a consistent speed limit for 3.5 miles south of S Alaska St. 

 

In 2020, we will begin lowering speeds on the rest of Seattle’s major streets, starting in Southwest and Southeast Seattle. We’re also working closely with our partners at WSDOT to lower speeds on state highways within our city, including Aurora Ave and Lake City Way.  

 

Traffic deaths & injuries are a serious epidemic, & reducing speed limits helps ensure everyone can travel safely.

 

Severe crashes are increasing all over the country. Even in Seattle, which is consistently recognized as one of the safest cities in the country, there are over 13,000 crashes a year. On average, 20 people die, and 150 people are seriously injured each year, and while the trend dipped in 2018, it has gone back up in 2019. This trend is not acceptable. We don’t want anyone to experience the tragedy of a friend or loved one being killed by a collision.  

 

Reducing speed limits has a proven safety benefit.

 

 

A person walking, rolling, or biking is twice as likely to be killed if they are hit by a person driving 30 MPH than someone going 25 MPH. 90% of people hit by cars going 20 MPH are injured but survive. 

 

Chart showing that a person’s chance of surviving being hit by a car decreases drastically with faster speeds.

A person’s chance of surviving being hit by a car decreases drastically with faster speeds. Graphic: ProPublica. Data: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety report.

 

We’ve seen increases in safety everywhere we’ve reduced speed limits to 25 mph. 

 

  • Downtown & South Lake Union: 10% fewer crashes and 20% fewer severe injuries and deaths  
  • Greenwood & Phinney Ridge: Crashes were lowered by 34% 
  • Greenlake & Roosevelt: 44% reduction in collisions 

 

It’s not just Seattle. New York City dropped speed limits throughout their city to 25 MPH in 2014. From 2014 to 2018, they were one of the only major cities in the country to see a consistent drop in traffic fatalities. The World Health Organization has concluded that a 5% reduction in average speed can result in a 30% decrease in traffic fatalities.  

 

Slow & steady wins the race. Speeding causes collisions, & collisions cause 25% of traffic congestion.

 

 

We expect a negligible impact on how long it takes people driving to get where they’re going. Most trips will only take 20-40 seconds longer to drive a mile at 25 MPH than the current speed limit. About a quarter of the time we spend sitting in traffic is due to collisions, and lowering speed limits prevents about a third of them. It’s a win–win. 

  

Practicing the 3 E’s. Along with engineering, enforcement & education are both critical parts of our Vision Zero efforts. 

 

As we implement lower speed limits, we’ll be installing signs at more frequent spacing so drivers see the speed limit more often. And as part of Mayor Durkan’s four steps, in 2020, Vision Zero Street Teams will share information about lower speed limits at educational events throughout the city. Speed limit information and safe driving tips will be shared through print, social, and ethnic media.   

 

The City will also create a new Major Crash Review Task Force which will convene a panel of experts to analyze every serious and fatal collision in our City and provide recommendations to prevent similar incidents from happening again. The City will also launch Vision Zero Street Teams raise awareness around transportation safety issues and educate the public about lower speed limits and other infrastructure projects.

 

We work closely with our friends at the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to enforce the rules of the road and keep everyone safe, with a focus on warnings first to raise awareness. We’re working with SPD to develop further strategies to ensure traffic enforcement is equitable and does not disproportionally impact communities of color. We use data to inform focus areas to make sure to consider both collision trends and demographics to determine locations for enforcement. We take a high visibility approach to enforcement and inform people about our additional hours of enforcement through our network of dynamic message signs and media. After all, the intent of the added hours of enforcement is not to issue citations, but to change behaviors.  

 

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Traffic Advisory: Work at S Columbian Way and Beacon Ave S intersection

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Our signals, capital projects, and bike program teams have worked to design new safety enhancements at the S Columbian Way / Beacon Ave S intersection. These enhancements are the direct result of the feedback we have heard from commuters over the past couple of months about safety for people that ride bikes and clarity for drivers. We have also heard from neighbors about cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets.

 

If you are commuting through the area, respect your neighbors’ sense of safety and access and do not use side streets to avoid the intersection.

 

As for the work. We will be working the weekend of December 7 to make the safety enhancements at the intersection of S Columbian Way and Beacon Ave S. The intersection will remain open to traffic; however, there will be temporary lane closures and shifts for worker and commuter safety. This work is weather dependent and may be rescheduled to another weekend.

 

Here’s what you can expect during construction:

 

S C H E D U L E

The weekend of December 7 we will be making updates to the intersection of S Columbian Way and Beacon Ave S. This work is scheduled for a weekend to minimize traffic impacts.

 

I M P A C T S

  • Typical work hours are from 7 AM — 7 PM
  • Flaggers on site to help guide vehicles around the work area
  • Flaggers on site to help guide vehicles around the work area
  • Work to happen on the weekend to minimize traffic impacts
  • Work could take additional weekends to complete
  • On-street parking and lane restrictions near work locations
  • Temporary vehicle, bike, and pedestrian detours
  • Noise, dust, concrete and paint odors, and vibration
  • Access to businesses driveways and driveways to homes will remain open
  • Work is weather dependent, so timing of work may change if needed

 

I M P R O V E M E N T S

We are making these improvements to provide better clarity to drivers in the intersection and increase the safety and comfort of people on bikes up to and through the intersection. Improvements include:

  • New bike protection leading up to the intersection
  • New bike signals at the intersection
  • New road markings and paint on the ground to better distinguish travel lanes
  • Restricting left turns in the intersection to keep east/west traffic flowing and protecting people that ride bikes and drive cars from collisions

 

Columbia/Beacon Intersection Redesign

Columbia/Beacon Intersection Redesign

With the new left turn restrictions for drivers looking to go northbound and southbound, drivers now will need to turn right, then make 2 left turns to get to their respective northbound or southbound destinations. These are called Michigan Left Turns. Suggested turn around streets include S Alaska St and S Ferdinand St. We understand this will be a change for some drivers; however, it will improve the traffic flow in the intersection and protect cars and people that ride bikes from collisions.

 

 

 

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When It Snows, Shovel It!

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4 days. 7 days. 3 weeks.  

That’s how long it was before Bruce, Laura, and Neve could safely leave their respective homes after last year’s snowstorms. We partnered with Rooted in Rights to share their experience.  

 

Remember that old GI Joe life quote, “knowing is half the battle”? The other half is, now that we all know, what are we going to do about it? For many when it snows, using the sidewalks is the best way to get around. Everyone uses sidewalks but for people with disabilities, it’s crucial. If they’re not cleared. They’re stuck. 

 

We’re counting on everyone to help clear their sidewalks of snow & ice next to their homes, businesses, & job sites to help keep everyone in our communities safe & moving.  

 

In Seattle, it’s the legal responsibility of businesses, contractors, and residents to care for sidewalks and other elements of the right-of-way next to private properties and job sites in a timely manner. 

 

 

Man shoveling snow from sidewalk

Central District resident shoveling theirs and their neighbor’s sidewalks

 

If you haven’t already, now is the best time to buy a snow shovel, deicers, tire chains, & any other winter equipment you need. 

 

Last year, many residents were unprepared for snow, and stores sold out of shovels and road salt. Snow should be cleared within 12 hours after snowfall ends, and as the snow melts, you should keep an eye out for icy patches and other hazards that may form. Make sure that the cleared path is at least 36 inches wide so that people with mobility aids like wheelchairs can get around too. 

 

When you clear your sidewalk, make sure that the storm drains are clear of any snow and ice. If melted snow can’t drain, it can form puddles which can refreeze overnight. If you see a curb ramp that hasn’t been cleared yet, pitch in to help your community stay safe and moving. 

 

For more information on preparedness for winter storms and climate disasters, check out our Winter Weather Response,  Take Winter by Storm and What to do to Make it Through. Take a look at our blog post Winter is Coming, But You Can Take It By Storm for more preparation tips!

We can’t be everywhere at once. With over 2,400 miles of sidewalk in Seattle, we depend on the public to do their part & clear the sidewalks in front of their homes & businesses.

 

During a severe storm, our crews are working 24/7 to clear the city’s most critical streets for buses and emergency services. We’re also responding to public reports of hazardous sidewalk conditions and shoveling sidewalks that aren’t near privately-owned buildings including 30 outdoor stairways, dozens of pedestrian overpasses, and approximately 1,200 curb ramps.

Last February, Seattle experienced the worst snowstorm in 50 years. Around 350 city workers worked around the clock for nine days in a row to keep the roads & sidewalks clear.

 

We’ve learned a lot from those experiences, and we’ve included the lessons we’ve learned in our updated Winter Response Plan.

 

Our snow and ice plan includes keeping major streets open and passable—to the greatest extent possible—within 12 hours of a lull in a storm. Our goal is to ensure that the city is up and running as soon as possible following inclement weather, and we aim to secure access to important places like hospitals and grocery stores as quickly as we can.

 

Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to prioritize sidewalks, driveways, entryways, and parking lots, but these are important parts of the public right-of-way, so we need your help to clear them!

 

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Bike share sees record high ridership and improved bike parking

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Lime bike waits near the 2nd Ave protected bike lane @ Marion

More shared bikes have been parked correctly downtown

 

Seattle’s bike share program continues to provide communities around the city with a healthy and environmentally friendly way to get around. Our most recent bike share report shows that people took over 750,000 rides in July through September, bringing the total number of trips to over 1.6 million in the first nine months of the year. The number of people using bike share has been as high as one of King County Metro’s top 10 most ridden bus lines!

 

The latest report also indicates that people are getting better at parking bikes correctly without blocking the sidewalk for people with disabilities. Meanwhile, we’ve been working hard to build 1,250 new bike parking spaces as of late November.

 

Today, we published our Quarter 3 Bike Share Summary Report, which includes information from July to September of 2019. What does it show? High ridership!

 

Map of Seattle showing where people are using ride share bikes.

This map shows all the places where people are riding!

 

 

Bike parking has improved downtown and in urban villages.

 

Correctly parked bike next to the 8th Ave Protected Bike Lane

Correctly parked bike next to the 8th Ave Protected Bike Lane

 

In order to be successful, the bike share program needs to make it easier for everyone to travel safely. A critical part of this has been making sure that bikes are parked correctly and do not create obstacles for people with disabilities.

 

We’re seeing a positive trend of fewer incorrectly parked bikes. Only 0.1% of the bikes we audited this past quarter violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and 5.3% of bikes were parked in ways which created barriers under a stricter, more comprehensive standard we adopted earlier this year.

 

While that’s a big improvement from 17% of bikes blocking access in the 2nd quarter, it’s important to keep in mind that these observations came from random audits in different neighborhoods than our previous report. These latest audits included more bikes downtown and in urban villages which tended to have wider sidewalks. So we can’t say whether parking has improved everywhere, but we are hopeful we’re heading in the right direction.

 

We’ve built 1,250 new bike parking spaces in 2019!

 

We’ve been working to address the problem of incorrectly parked bikes by building more bike parking spaces, educating people about the right way to park a bike, and holding bike share companies accountable for where their bikes are parked.

 

At the start of 2019, we announced a plan to build 1,500 more bike parking spaces by the end of the year. At the end of reporting period we had built about 850 spots, and since then we’ve been hard at work building more bike parking bringing our current total to about 1250 spots.

 

We’ve built most of these bike parking spaces on the street in order to keep more sidewalk space open and accessible.

 

Bike Parking outside Hale's Ales

Bike Parking outside Hale’s Ales

 

Thank you to everyone who has been careful to park your bikes the right way!

 

We want to give a huge shout out to every single person who has been making an effort to park their bike correctly so that it doesn’t block the sidewalk for people with disabilities. Thanks for doing your part to make sure everyone can get around safely!

 

Keep on retweeting this video to help spread the word!

 

Sal, our Seattle-Squeezin’ Salmon, would like to say a big thank you to everyone who is trying new modes of transportation and switching up how they move around the city. Bike share is more important than ever as we continue through the Seattle Squeeze. Remember, biking is one way you can #FlipYourTrip, commuting car-free just once a week to do something good for yourself, your city, and your planet.

 

Bike share serves an important function, providing another mobility tool for people in Seattle. We’ll continue to evaluate and improve bike share so that it works for everyone.

 

Have a question? Please reach out to  bikeshare@seattle.gov.

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