Major sewer/road work starts soon on busy ‘Center of the Universe’ Fremont Ave block + Will include northbound protected bike lane

Construction work on a busy block of Fremont Ave N between N 34th and 35th Streets is scheduled to start this month and last for much of 2025. The work just north of the Fremont Bridge is part of the Route 40 transit and multimodal project, and Seattle Public Utilities will also use it as an opportunity to replace an aging sewer line under the street before it is fully reconstructed. Such partnerships save money and ultimately cause less disruption to the neighborhood as opposed to tearing up the road twice, but it does mean this closure will be longer than usual.

A lot of major transit, freight and bike routes also converge in this one spot in the heart of the Fremont business district. Fremont Ave is a regional bike route carrying the Interurban North bike route that connects Seattle to Everett and points in between. While much of the Interurban North is a trail in other areas, Seattle's segment mostly uses on-street facilities. As one of the older established bike routes, much of the Interurban North's on-street bike facilities are outdated, and the section of Fremont Ave N near the Center of the Universe public art signpost is among the worst segments of the route within the city. People must navigate two blocks mixed with heavy traffic and busy bus stops. It is not friendly to people of all ages an abilities. The only way to navigate the area is to take the lane and be vigilant.

The upcoming construction work will address half the issue once all work is complete. The final design will include a northbound protected bike lane and a southbound bus lane. The new northbound protected bike lane will end at N 36th Street where the existing paint-only bike lane begins. For folks heading uphill, this should be a major improvement so long at right turns onto 35th are safely controlled. However, there will be no southbound (downhill) bike lane. Like today, people heading downhill will need to ride in mixed traffic, though the lane will be more clearly defined. The biggest change is that there will be only one general traffic lane heading southbound. Between 36th and 35th, people biking will have no choice but to take the lane on this steeply downhill section. Once across the Center of the Universe intersection, they will have a choice of either the general purpose lane or the bus lane, which turns into a right turn lane before 34th. In all, it is not yet clear whether the conditions for people biking southbound will be better than they are today.

For transit riders, the northbound bus stop currently in front of Dusty Strings will be split into two and moved. The 40 will use a new stop on Fremont Place while the 31/32/62 buses will use a new stop on N 35th Street. People transferring to or from the northbound 40 will need to cross the street. But in return, they should get more reliable bus service, especially thanks to the new bus lanes on N 36th Street and Fremont Place N that will help the 40 get around bridge backups.

In the end, this design is an incremental improvement that feels like a missed opportunity to fully reimagine how the Center of the Universe functions. It's a very tricky and weird intersection that mixes many different modes, and the constant Fremont Bridge openings add a whole extra level of difficulty. But the result is full of compromises that leave many issues unaddressed. While the lack of improvements for southbound biking are disappointing, it feels like people walking are neglected the most. The public art signpost is satire. Whenever I end up waiting in that tiny little pedestrian island while car traffic moves all around me, I can't help but feel like I am the butt of the joke. There a huge amount of street space in this intersection, but everyone walking has to cram together into this absurdly small space right in the middle of it all. The Center of the Universe feels a lot less whimsical when you're actually standing there.