RapidRide J Line – Final Design and Recap

SDOT recently announced RapidRide J Line construction will start in October, with service planned to launch in 2027. RapidRide J will travel from downtown Seattle to University Districtvia Eastlake Avenue replacing Route 70.

According to SDOT, the two years of construction will build the following:

• 15,130 feet of repaired sidewalks
• 2 miles of repaved roadway
• 3.7 lane-miles of protected bike facilities
• 2 miles of bus priority lanes
• 177 improved crosswalks
• 33 intersections with traffic signal improvements, including 253 new traffic signal devices
• 190 newly planted trees

The project heading to construction has evolved somewhat since planning for a high-capacity transit corridor on Eastlake started in 2011, which eventually became RapidRide J in 2019.

Final Design

Given it's been some time since the initial draft, the following will be a brief overview of the final design. Visit the SDOT RapidRide J Line page for the full details; the final design plans are here.

Generally the design consisted of converting the 5 existing lanes of 2 general lanes on each side and one center turning lane into either 1) protected two-way bike lane on one side with bus lanes on both sides or 2) one way protected bike lanes on both sides of the road with intermittent bus lanes where space was available.

Also, RapidRide J will be King County Metro's first trolleybus RapidRide route, as RapidRide G couldn't get five-door trolleybuses and RapidRide R is delayed)

University District

Starting from University District, the first southbound bus stop is on NE 45th Street with another southbound stop on NE 43rd Street. The last northbound stop is at NE 43rd Street and 12th Ave NE one short block from the U District station.

U District - NE 43rd St to University Bridge

The bus will then travel on Roosevelt Way NE southbound and 11th Ave NE northbound. There are no bus lanes implemented on the couplet instead SDOT added a right-side protected biker lane and maintained 2 general lanes on each couplet road.

University Bridge

A subtle but important change for bike lane users on the south end of the University Bridge: the southbound center turn lane will be removed in favor of continuing the bike lane buffers through the intersection with Fuhrman Ave E, reducing the southbound general traffic to one through-lane.

Eastlake Avenue - University Bridge to East Hamlin St

South of University Bridge under I-5, SDOT will add short bus lanes in both directions serving upgraded stations. A northbound bus lane on Harvard Avenue will also be added serving Route 49.

Eastlake AvenueEastlake Avenue - East Hamlin St to E Lynn StEastlake Avenue - East Boston St to E Galer St

On Eastlake Avenue from Harvard Ave to East Galer Street there are no bus lanes but instead one-way protected bike lanes on both sides of the street. The bike lane will go behind the in-line bus shelters, and

Fairview Avenue - E Galer St to Valley StreetFairview - Fairview Ave E to Yale Ave N

Fairview Avenue from E Galer Street to Yale Ave will consist of a northbound BAT lane, while the one-way protected bike lane on both sides also transitions to a two-way bike lane on the west side of Fairview Avenue. (The previously rebuilt Fairview Avenue bridge has two-way bike lane on the west side.)

Previous 2022 design of intersection of Fairview Ave and Eastlake Ave, note north is in the right direction

Note at the intersection of Fairview Ave and Eastlake Ave they moved away from a through-movement bike lane design shown above due to concerns with right-turning cars and through-moving bike conflicts.

Fairview - Yale Ave N to Valley St

Approaching Aloha Street, Fairview Avenue will have bus lanes in both directions in a somewhat complicated arrangement to accommodate the streetcar tracks. The street will be widened west by one lane in order to fit two-way bike lane, two southbound general lanes, southbound bus/streetcar lane, center turn lane, northbound general lane and northbound bus lane.

Fairview Avenue - Valley Street to Boren AveFairview - Valley St to Thomas StFairview - Thomas St to Boren Ave

Fairview Avenue from Republican Street to Valley Street, crossing Mercer Street, consists of a northbound bus lane straddled between the 1 general northbound lane and the 2 right turn freeway on ramp lanes.

From Valley Street to Denny Way, Fairview Avenue will have business access lanes for both northbound and southbound directions.

The additional bus lanes are possible with the absence of bike lanes as

Virginia and Stewart StreetsVirginia St - Terry Ave to 3rd AveStewart St - Terry Ave to Westlake Ave

On Virginia Street RapidRide J Line will use new northbound curbside BAT lanes, while on Stewart Street the bus will use the existing southbound BAT lanes implemented in 2016.

History and Future2015, 2017 and 2020 presentations of RapidRide J (formerly Roosevelt)

The 2015 open houseshowed RapidRide from Seattle toNorthgate Station,the 2017 presentationhad the line truncated toRoosevelt Station, and then finally the2020 presentationthe ended the line atU District Station. A large hurdle was the high cost of extending trolley wires north of U District to reach Roosevelt and Northgate.

The future is unclear given many competing priorities for transit capital dollars, however future extensions to Roosevelt and Northgate stations are still possible. For now, Route 67 continues to serve the Roosevelt Way NE corridor from U District to Northgate. And maybe the removed transit/bike improvements could be implemented on Roosevelt Way even without extending RapidRide J.

For downtown, the Seattle Transportation plan proposed the Virginia St & Stewart St | Multimodal Improvements" referenced:

- Redesigning the street to better support transit service, including converting Virginia St into a two-way transit street and potential bus-only lanes
- Adding a protected bicycle lane on Stewart St

Other improvements, like a bi-directional cycletrack on Stewart Street which were determined to be out of scope" for RapidRide J may return in future work.