Multi-modal Improvements West of 130th Station

As part of the work surrounding 130th Station in north Seattle, SDOT has started making plans in the area. While this initial work has focused on the area east of the station, this is a proposal for changes to the west. The goal is to improve pedestrian, biking and transit connections to the station.

Station Background

130th Station is designed primarily to connect riders from the east and west (Lake City and Bitter Lake). There will be some who walk and ride to the station, but I expect the vast majority to arrive by bus. The crossing bus route will also connect riders in the north end (for one- and two-seat rides not involving Link). It's essential that the bus avoid congestion. At the same time, 130th is also one of a handful of I-5 bike and pedestrian crossings in the north end. People need a way to walk and bike through the area safely and easily. In this essay I largely ignore the issues east of the station, but propose the following set of changes to the west:

Improvements:

As with the previous maps, you can make it full page (in its own window) by selecting the little rectangle in the corner. Selecting individual lines will show a brief explanation for that segment. There are two different layers" visible on the legend (to the left). These can be displayed or hidden by selecting the appropriate checkbox. The first layer shows improvements that exist already or are in the process of being built. The second is a set of proposals based on community input as well as proposals outlined previously by SDOT. I don't expect every improvement to be built right away. It takes time and money to build these things. Here is how I would prioritize these projects based on assumed cost as well as value:

1. Close Third Avenue to cars north of 130th. This would make Third similar to Ashworth (where there is an existing closure south of 130th). Unlike Ashworth, I'm not suggesting a traffic light be added there (yet). This would improve safety for those traveling along the north side of 130th as well as those using 3rd as a bike or pedestrian route (to access Roosevelt). The main reason this is the highest priority is because it is dirt cheap. It would cost next to nothing. To be fair, the latest proposal has 3rd as an exit only" route, with drivers only being able to turn right. This does improve safety considerably. But for the same amount of money we can do what the community has asked for: block off the intersection to cars.
2. Pedestrian/Bike crossing at 128th. Crossing Aurora at 130th on a bike will be extremely difficult no matter what SDOT does. Along the same corridor there are crossings of 15th as well as Greenwood Avenue and neither is very good (despite bike lanes). Both require a bike to merge with general traffic and hope for the best. Neither is what I would consider safe. In contrast, a crossing at 128th would provide the highest level of safety possible. It would be similar to the crossing at 92nd. Notice how cars can not go straight across (thus reducing general traffic on the street). Also notice how cars can not turn left (in any direction). Cars leaving Aurora and taking a right have to slow down (to avoid the sign) and then go past the Street Closed" sign (which is marked Local Access Only"). Thus right turns are less common and much slower. As with any new interchange, there would be no right-on-red either. This means that someone who crosses Aurora there (on a green light) is isolated from automobile traffic on Aurora. We could build the same level of safety at 128th.
3. Bike lanes on Roosevelt. Roosevelt serves as the main bike route between 130th and 145th. It connects to other routes branching north or west.
4. Bike lanes on 128th between the Interurban Trail and 1st. This improves safety on the key east-west corridor between 130th and Northgate Way.
5. Bike Lanes on 137th between the Interurban Trail and Roosevelt. Although riders can cross 143rd or 145th, it won't be as straightforward and safe as using 137th.
6. Bike Lanes on Corliss. This connects riders to the 148th bikeway, giving riders another way to access Link and another way to cross I-5.
7. Bus lanes on 130th. It may seem odd for a transit blog to make bus lanes the lowest priority, but in this case it is. Right now the 130th corridor is not particularly congested west of I-5. As long as it is two lanes each direction it will be fine (for a while). Congestion would be a bigger issue if bike lanes were added along the corridor. Building them north and south of the main transit corridor would give bike riders a safer, more convenient route. All that being said, traffic is likely to get worse over time as the city grows (especially as this area becomes a new urban center"). Bus lanes (or just a few queue jumps) should be an option for the future.

Mixing Bike Lanes and Buses

As I've written before, it is better to have bike lanes on streets that don't have buses. This accomplishes that for the most part. The main transit corridor (130th) would have bus lanes (eventually) while there would be bike lanes on either side. However, there is one small segment where the buses go on 128th. Since this is a minor bus route, at worst you would simply add the bike lanes, and the bus would continue to mix with general-purpose traffic. It's a little more complicated to mix bus stops and bike lanes, but this has been done in various places in the city. Of course there is another simple solution: move the buses. There are a bunch of different options, but the simplest would be to have the buses go around the east side of Haller Lake instead of the west (like so). This takes just about as long, while getting riders a bit closer to the 130th station and the growth that is to be expected close to the station. With this routing the bus would share a pathway along First Avenue NE, but in an area with a wide mixed-use pathway (for bike riders and pedestrians).