The Fremont Bridge Should be Car-free

The Fremont Bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge that connects Fremont and Queen Anne. Opened in 1917, the bridge served as the sole link across the Fremont Cut for 15 years. When the George Washington Memorial Bridge (aka: Aurora Bridge) opened in 1932, travelers between Fremont and Queen Anne had a more reliable connection. The Aurora Bridge carries SR-99 on six lanes 167 feet above the water and is not disrupted by the frequent maritime traffic below. At just 30 feet above the water, the Fremont Bridge opens about 35 times a day. The frequent openings cause traffic jams that delay drivers and transit riders and subject people walking and biking to toxic fumes from idling vehicles.

People wait for the Fremont Bridge to close in 2014. The Aurora Bridge is shown on the right. (SolDuc Photography)

A few weeks ago, Jeremy Cole shared an idea about the Fremont Bridge in a Bluesky post.

Hot take: Fremont Bridge should be closed to cars and open only for bikes and pedestrians. For cars it's mostly redundant with Aurora Bridge and we're never going to build a new bridge (with the required ability to open, especially) for non-cars. As a historic bridge it'll last a lot longer, too.

- Jeremy Cole (@jeremycole.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T01:41:40.723Z

Is Jeremy's idea for a car-free Fremont Bridge feasible? Let's take a look at the data to see why it makes sense to redesign the Fremont Bridge for people walking, biking, and taking transit.

Current Design

The Fremont Bridge currently has four general traffic lanes (two per direction) flanked by a sidewalk on either side of the bridge structure (represented by lamp posts in the diagrams below).

Despite the car-oriented design of the bridge, thousands of people outside of cars traverse the Fremont Bridge everyday.

King County Metro routes 31, 32, 40, and 62 cross the Fremont Bridge. These routes are often delayed due to the Fremont Bridge opening, residual car traffic from a recent opening, or from car traffic as the Fremont Bridge is a choke point in the road network. Delayed buses don't just impact the people on the bus, they impact all riders of the route. The four routes that cross the Fremont Bridge had a collective average weekday ridership of 20,400 people in October 2025.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is in the construction phase for its Route 40 - Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor project. This project will improve the speed and reliability for Route 40, a future RapidRide route. New business access and transit (BAT) lanes (shown in red) on either end of the bridge leave critical gaps between the BAT lane and where the bridge opens. Cars can queue in this gap (shown in green) while the bridge is open, further delaying transit riders. On the north side of the bridge, the BAT lane ends at 34th St, about 620 feet from where the bridge opens. Likewise, the BAT on the south side of the bridge ends about 370 feet away. While the new BAT lanes will somewhat help Route 40, routes 31, 32, and 62 will see little benefit.

Map of the bus lanes and bus routes around the Fremont Bridge.

People on bikes do not get stuck in the same traffic as car and buses. Instead, they have to navigate a narrow sidewalk with pedestrians, as well as with cyclists coming from the other direction. The sidewalks are about 6 feet wide at their narrow points, much less than the recommended 10 foot width for a two-way cycle track with space for pedestrians. This design leads to conflicts between bike riders and pedestrians and between two cyclists traveling in opposite directions. It is hard to underestimate how important the Fremont Bridge is to area's bike infrastructure network. The north end of the bridge connects with the Burke-Gilman Trail and the south end connects with the Ship Canal Trail (to Magnolia) and Westlake Trail (to South Lake Union). As more and more people on bikes use the bridge, the need for dedicated bike infrastructure is clear. Between November 6, 2025 and November 12, 2025, the Fremont bike counters recorded an average 2,374 bikes each day.

Strava cycling heatmap of Fremont, Wallingford, Queen Anne, and Eastlake. Fremont really is the center of the universe for people biking around the Ship Canal. (Strava)

It's not just people on bikes who are annoyed; pedestrians are as well. People walking across the bridge often have to step aside for passing cyclists. Pedestrians also have the opportunity to admire the view from the bridge, but seldom stop to enjoy it as doing so may block the sidewalk. While SDOT does not have a pedestrian counter on the bridge, an Intersection Report from June 10, 2025 found over 1,300 people crossing either Fremont Ave N or N 34th St from the southeast or southwest corner of the intersection (where the bridge meets N 34th St.).

So far, we've discussed how over 24,000 Seattleites who take transit, ride a bike, or walk and are negatively impacted by the current design of the Fremont Bridge. As 76% of the bridge space is allocated for private vehicles, a lot of people in cars must benefit from the current design, right? Well, not really. Between November 6, 2025 and November 12, 2025, SDOT counted an average of 16,953 vehicles crossing the bridge each day. These 17,000 vehicles and the traffic they cause on either end of the bridge also impact other drivers making local trips without crossing the bridge. The Intersection Report for Fremont Ave N & N 34th St reported over 2,500 vehicles that passed through the intersection and did not use the bridge. Thousands of other trips would likely be faster without Fremont Bridge traffic.

Alternative Route

A redesign of the Fremont Bridge that removes any space from cars will certainly cause a panic. Conveniently, people in cars have an alternative route over the Ship Canal: the Aurora Bridge. In the absolute worst case (a trip from one side of the Fremont Bridge to the other), drivers will face an additional 5 minute of travel time. For most trips, the additional travel time will be much lower. Consider the driving directions from the excellent Seattle Biscuit Company to MOHAI (3rd picture below). The trip takes 11 minutes via the Fremont Bridge and 12 or 13 minutes via the Aurora Bridge.

Driving from PCC in Fremont to an apartment building on the south end of the bridge, via the Fremont Bridge takes 4 minutes. (Google Maps)Driving from PCC in Fremont to an apartment building on the south end of the Fremont Bridge, via the Aurora Bridge takes 9 minutes. (Google Maps)Driving from Seattle Biscuit Company to MOHAI takes between 11-13 minutes, depending on the route. (Google Maps)Mode Shift

Increased driving travel time is often discussed as a negative, but there is a silver lining: longer driving trips induce shifts to other travel modes (someone should tell SDOT). When driving is less convenient, some people will opt for another mode that is more convenient, more affordable, or more enjoyable. This can cause a positive flywheel effect that further encourages non-car trips. When more people take transit, Metro runs buses more often and to more places. When more people ride bikes, SDOT is encouraged to expand and improve the City's bike infrastructure. A city-wide mode shift away from cars even helps drivers who need to drive as there are fewer cars on the road. These flywheels are necessary for Seattle to meet the 2030 mode shift goals set in SDOT's 2023 Climate Change Response Framework (CCRF).

Seattle's mode shift goals include increasing transit trips from 11% in 2019 to 24% in 2030.

A key tenant of the CCRF is to move freight more efficiently. The recently announced Commercial E-Cargo Bike Program is one effort from SDOT to achieve this goal. One likely side-effect from this program is an increase in cargo and other larger bikes. These wider bikes put even more strain on the Fremont Bridge's narrow sidewalks.

Fremont Bridge Redesigns

From the analysis above, one thing should be clear: the Fremont Bridge should be redesigned to better accommodate people outside of cars. Doing so will make the bridge safer for people biking, more reliable for transit riders, and improve traffic for thousands of drivers in Fremont and Queen Anne.

Car-lite Design

In response to the pandemic induced biking surge and the need to maintain a 6ft buffer, Ballard-Fremont Greenways, a group within Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, shared a proposal for an emergency dedicated two-way bike lane and a one way bus lane on the Fremont Bridge. Their July 2020 proposal kept one general traffic lane per direction. The group cited increased bicycle traffic, narrow bridge sidewalks, and need to maintain a safe social distance due to the pandemic. With the backing of the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board, Ballard-Fremont Greenways presented the idea to then-SDOT directory Sam Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe rejected the proposal, citing traffic delays and substandard lane widths.

Emergency dedicated two-way bike lane design of the Fremont Bridge from 2020 (Ballard-Fremont Greenways)

While traffic delays are not an acceptable excuse for rejecting a safety project, the concern over substandard lane widths has some validity. As the bridge frequently rotates to a near vertical position, it is unlikely that SDOT will install standard bike lane protection, such as Toronto Style Barriers or flexposts. Without physical protection between the bike lane and other traffic lanes, the next best option is a buffered bike lane. A bike lane buffer would take up valuable real estate on the narrow, 39ft wide bridge (excluding sidewalks). This is an issue, unless the space is freed up by removing private cars.

Car-free Design

By removing cars from the equation, the Fremont Bridge can be reconfigured to better service people walking, rolling, and taking transit. The existing 6ft sidewalks on the outer edges of the bridge are sufficient for people walking. On the bridge's main deck, the four traffic lanes can be repurposed into center running freight and bus lanes (FAB) with a buffered bike lane on either side. FAB lanes are relatively new to Seattle and will soon be piloted on Westlake Ave. The Aurora Bridge detour discussed above may require vehicles to use narrow and/or steep streets in Fremont or Queen Anne. These streets may not be suitable for freight trucks, so their access to the Fremont Bridge should be preserved. Emergency vehicles and first responders can also use FAB lanes and will benefit from less traffic on either side of the bridge.

Next to each FAB lane is a 3ft buffer and a 5ft bike lane. The buffer provides adequate space between people biking and larger vehicles. A physical barrier would be preferred, but is likely not an option for this scenario.

To further promote mode-shift following a car-free redesign of the Fremont Bridge, King County Metro should restructure a few routes to better serve the area. A few restructure ideas include:

• Extending routes 4 and 13 from Seattle Pacific University to the Woodland Park Zoo via Fremont Ave. These routes use trolleybuses so new overhead wire would be needed, or the buses can run on battery power.
• Moving Route 5 from SR-99 to instead run on Dexter Ave between downtown and the Fremont Bridge. After crossing the bridge, the route would connect with its current path on Fremont Ave.

Final Thoughts

Redesigning the Fremont Bridge to prioritize people walking, rolling, and using transit is an optimistic idea, backed up by data and the City's own goals. Such a change will initially cause concerns, but everyone will be better off as a result. If Seattle is serious about meeting its climate and Vision Zero goals, SDOT needs to do everything possible to encourage more Seattleites to travel around the city without a car.