Friday Roundtable: 24/7 Bus Lanes on Aurora Avenue

Over the past two weeks, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has updated signs along Aurora Ave N to convert the existing peak-hour bus lanes to 24/7 bus lanes. This change was introduced to help mitigate expected delays from increased travel on SR-99 as the result of WSDOT's Revive I-5 project. While some of the I-5 work has been delayed until 2026, SDOT did not delay the bus lane update. These bus lanes are used by King County Metro's RapidRide E Line, the busiest bus route in Washington State.

A RapidRide E bus passes a new all-day bus lane sign on Aurora Ave

While the E Line travels on Aurora Ave between South Lake Union and N 200th St, the all-day bus lanes will span between N 38th St and N 115th St. The northbound bus lane has a gap between N 59th St and Winoma Ave N, where the northbound E Line detours to stop along Linden Ave N. This span (shown to the right) corresponds with the area affected most by Revive I-5, between downtown and Northgate.

Between 115th St and 200th St, the E Line will continue to use a mix of all-day bus lanes, peak-hour bus lanes, and general purpose lanes. South of 38th St, the Aurora Bridge does not have any transit priority lanes. On the other side of the Bridge, southbound trips use an all-day bus lane and northbound trips run in general traffic. Later this month, SDOT crews will install a northbound bus lane between Prospect St and Lynn St (shown below).

Map of the upcoming northbound bus lane on Aurora Ave between Prospect St and Lynn St (SDOT)

This is an open thread.

Map of all-day bus lane locations (SDOT)