Bus lane / queue jump coming to 3rd and Virginia

SDOT's spot improvements program strikes again. This time, it's a re-channelization of one block of 3rd Avenue at the downtown-Belltown border to allow southbound buses to more easily enter the 3rd Avenue transitway. SDOT says the change "will benefit approximately 168,000 daily bus riders on 36 key routes."

The current configuration has two southbound GP lanes and a right turn lane, which seems excessive considering cars can't go straight 13 hours a day.

I can give you about 168,000 reasons why Third Avenue ought to be transit-only all the way to Denny, but I guess we'll take it one block at a time if we must.

@dongho_chang a solid white line on Blanchard? Does this mean what I think it means for buses? pic.twitter.com/9HlX8Wyc06

- Carl (@Subzidion) December 18, 2019

While we're on the subject of spot improvements: now that construction is wrapping up on Yet Another Amazon Tower, it looks like the Blanchard St bus-only lane is nearing completion. The full bus lane from 3rd to Westlake should provide to 4 minutes of time savings for riders of the 40 and C buses, per SDOT.