Friday Roundtable: Union Street Bus Lane

To celebrate the Week Without Driving, Mayor Harrell and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) planned to remove a bus-only lane in Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, Ryan Packer reported the Union Street bus-only lane at the intersection of E Madison St, E Union St, and 12th Ave will be removed. This announcement was followed by confusion and concern from many, causing SDOT to change course and keep the bus-only lane.

A Route 2 bus passes the Union St bus-only lane

The Union St bus-only lane was added as part of the RapidRide G Line construction. This half-block lane will be used by Route 2, a busy bus route that runs between Madrona and Upper Queen Anne via downtown Seattle. While the rest of the projects part of the G Line construction are complete and in use, Metro busses have not used this bus lane or stop. King County Metro is concerned that the lack of a pedestrian signal across Union St may lead to a bus/pedestrian collision.

A key feature of the bus-only lane is that it acts as a modal filter to reduce the number of cars on Union St between 12th Ave and Broadway. People driving to destinations can still do so via 10th Ave and 11th Ave, and through traffic is significantly reduced. Fewer cars on this segment of Union St improves Route 2's reliability and makes the street safer for people biking. Union St is a primary route for people biking between the Central District and downtown. Opening this lane to general traffic will slow down Route 2 and make biking on Union St more dangerous.

As previously reported by The Urbanist and the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, the Seattle Department of Transportation initially decided to remove the bus-only lane after complaints from a few nearby business owners. A change of this magnitude should warrant a traffic study and community outreach, neither of which occurred. Instead, SDOT caved in to a few business owners who are concerned about people driving from the Eastside or Madrona (yes, Route 2 travels between Madrona and this intersection). SDOT removing an already built piece of infrastructure due to a few complains would be a bad precedent to set.

After word got out about the removal of the bus-only lane, SDOT, Councilmembers Joy Hollingsworth and Alexis Mercedes Rinck, and the Mayor's Office heard concerns about the change. In response, SDOT shared an update on Thursday that stated the bus-only lanes were here to stay (for now). The initial set of changes taking place include:

• Maintain red bus lane markings
• Add a pedestrian signal at 12th Ave and E Union St (across Union St)
• Shift the eastbound bike crossing to 11th Ave

After these adjustments are implemented, Route 2 will start using the Union St bus lane.

Map of the updated planned changes (SDOT)

While no one likes the Seattle Process, it does often ensure that all feedback is considered so the best option is selected. The initial lack of community outreach for removing the bus-only lane suggests SDOT knows this is unpopular, dangerous, and will worsen traffic. There is no reason to encourage driving in one of most walkable, bikeable, and transit friendly neighborhoods in Washington state. Unfortunately, the bus lane is not out of the woods as SDOT is going to continue conversations and evaluations with all stakeholders before advancing changes to bus lane uses".

This whole debacle is another reminder of the challenge faced by advocates trying to improve Seattle's transportation system. Tom Fucoloro of the Seattle Bike Blog perfectly described the situation in his excellent article yesterday:

[T]he city is demonstrating a gross double-standard in which community efforts to improve our streets for walking, biking or transit are forced to slog through an endless public process while a change that benefits car drivers at the direct expense of everyone else does not require any public notice at all."

This is an open thread.