Friday Roundtable: Graham Street Route Idea

Welcome to the first installment of Friday Roundtable. Each week, this column will discuss a route proposal, provide an infrastructure project update, dive into a piece of Seattle's transit history, or just share a cool map. If you have an idea for a topic to discuss, please reach out or let us know in a comment below.

Sound Transit's Graham Street infill station on the Link 1 Line is currently scheduled to open in 2031. When the station opens, King County Metro will start operating a new route along Graham St to provide better east-west connections with Link. This leaves one big question: Where should the Graham St route go?

Graham St station concept from Sound Transit

Similar to most of Seattle, Southeast Seattle is easier to traverse north-south than east-west. This is especially true on transit. There are only two routes from Southeast Seattle that cross the Duwamish Waterway: routes 50 and 60. Route 50 runs between Othello and Alki and crosses the Duwamish Waterway on the West Seattle Bridge. Route 60 runs between Capitol Hill and Westwood Village and crosses the Duwamish Waterway on 14th Ave S.

Route Proposal

The interactive map below shows an idea for a Graham St route and sections of nearby routes. Click the square icon in the top right to view the map in full-screen. Graham St is served by a modified Route 60 (gold). Route 50 is unchanged and is in light green. The primary Southeast Seattle north-south routes 7, 36, and 106 are shown in pink, purple, and sky blue, respectively. Route 107 is shown in dark blue and a modified Route 49 is in green. West of I-5, sections of routes 124, 131, 132, and the H Line shown in brown, grey, maroon, and red, respectively.

Rerouting Route 60 to Graham St creates a somewhat direct east-west route between Westwood Village and Seward Park. This route, combined with Route 50 and the many north-south routes Rainier Valley, Beacon Hill, Georgetown, South Park, and White Center, create as close to a grid as geography allows. As Jarrett Walker notes, grids are key to strong transit service. With this new route, trips between Rainier Valley and Georgetown, South Park, or White Center will only require up to one transfer. Trips today often require two transfers and a geographic detour.

What about the North Half of Route 60?

The current Route 60 travels north from Georgetown to serve Beacon Hill, the International District, First Hill, and Capitol Hill. The stops between Georgetown and Beacon Hill station are also served by Route 107. To compensate for the loss of Route 60 on this section, Route 107 should be timed with Route 60 in Georgetown. The stops north of Beacon Hill Station can be served by an updated Route 49. Rather than traveling downtown, Route 49 will continue on Broadway until Boren Ave. From Boren Ave, it will turn onto 12th Ave and follow the current Route 60 routing until Beacon Hill Station. This entire extension is covered by trolley wire (except for the intersection at 12th Ave S & S Jackson St), so it is compatible with Route 49. The updated Route 49 could be extended further to Georgetown, but trolley wire would need to be installed south of Beacon Hill station.

The modified Route 49 path skips the stops on 9th Ave and Madison Ave currently served by Route 60. Keeping the new route on Broadway allows a more direct north-south route and will not require any additional trolley wire installation. Ideally, this change would be complemented with a route along Boren Ave, but that's a topic for another post.

How would you route a bus on Graham Street? Let's discuss your ideas in the comments below.

This is an open thread, as are all Friday Roundtables.