Following 5 years of process and some scary collisions, Mayor Harrell removes safety improvements from already-watered-down Lake Washington Blvd project

Great news for people who like to speed on Lake Washington Boulevard! Seattle Parks will not be installing more speed humps or stop signs, so you're free to continue scaring the crap out of anyone biking along or walking across our city's most beautiful park boulevard. Not even recent news of a person striking a teen on the street and then fleeing the scene will change city leaders' determination to protect the park boulevard from new traffic safety improvements.

In Bruce Harrell's Seattle, wealthy people with expensive homes along Lake Washington Boulevard get veto power over the public's interest. Whether it's a mall owner trying to shut down a long-standing nude beach, people pushing back against the 57-year-old tradition of Bicycle Sundays/Weekends, or anti-safety advocates fighting against speed humps and stop signs, it's clear to those advocating through the public and open process that there is a separate and more influential channel to the Mayor's Office that is only available to certain people.

In a vaguely-worded and suspiciously misleading email, Seattle Parks announced through omission that they are further scaling back the already delayed and dramatically-watered-down safety improvements planned for Lake Washington Boulevard. The Parks email update does not mention that any elements were cut, and they even announced it with an ! as though they were sharing exciting news (More Improvements Coming to Lake Washington Boulevard!"). Because they did not acknowledge the cuts, they also did not provide any reasoning for them. I had to use the Wayback Machine to find an archived version of the original list of improvements to find that Parks has cut the majority of traffic calming and safety improvements from the plan, including 12 speed cushions (watered-down speed humps) and a significant redesign of the S Orcas Street intersection. Here's a comparison:

The before list is from a Wayback Machine snapshot of the project website May 28. The After is the list as of press time.

What makes all this even more insulting is that even the original project list was dramatically watered down compared to overwhelmingly popular ideas that advocates for safe streets and safe park access were initially seeking. This project is the result of half a decade of advocacy work and a tortured, unfair public process. 3,048 people responded to a city survey in 2022 about the project, and 2,319 of them (76%) said they supported dedicated space along the boulevard to separate people driving and people that ride bikes." Despite this overwhelming level of support, the city convened a task force with half of members in support of safety improvements and half opposed. After months of meetings, the task force predictably deadlocked on whether to support creating dedicated biking space. Instead, the only things the group agreed on were smaller less effective and less controversial changes like some speed humps, stop signs and crosswalks. So despite overwhelming public support, opponents succeeded in watering down the project.

The city's 2024 design concept (PDF) for Orcas Street that was removed from the project list. I guess we don't need to make these crosswalks safer and reduce turning and merging conflicts despite a history of collisions here that are guaranteed to keep happening if the city takes no action to change it.

It would be bad enough if it ended there, but now Seattle Parks is walking back even these watered down improvements, removing nearly all the elements intended to calm traffic, prevent speeding and improve the dangerous Orcas street crossing. This comes after a public meeting in December when the public once again voiced overwhelming support for improving safety on Lake Washington Blvd. The meeting appeared to be a trial balloon to see if the public would handle watering down the plan even more, and the people once again clearly said, No." Now once again, the city is ignoring the people who participated in the public process and are cutting safety improvements out of the project seemingly at the behest of people who have a more powerful line to the Mayor's Office than those who respond to public surveys and show up to public meetings.

Ryan Packer at the Urbanist acquired some internal emails back in January in that show at least one staffer was seemingly baffled by some of the safety plan reversals at that time, which were to replace some stop signs with more speed cushions:

Since this meeting, we have received direction from SDOT to remove the all-way stop and replace with additional speed cushions and signage," Seattle Parks' Jordan Hoy, the planner in charge of the Lake Washington Boulevard improvements, wrote in an email to a colleague in late July. I am still trying to understand this decision, as it is not consistent with community feedback or recommendations based on SDOT traffic engineering expertise. An all-way stop warrant data analysis was conducted and determined that this intersection would be a good candidate for this treatment."

Now even those speed cushions are being removed from the plan, a continuous watering down process that has left very few traffic safety elements in the workplan.

For well more than a decade, safe streets advocates and the city's volunteer bicycle and pedestrian advisory boards have been consistent in their message to the city: We need to create safe routes in Southeast Seattle, especially Rainier Valley. The city had historically under-invested in Rainier Valley's streets, and the result is that people who live there are injured and killed in traffic collisions at a disproportionate rate. Rainier Valley residents have far worse access to safe and direct bicycle routes and are the only large swath of the city that remains disconnected from the downtown bicycle network. It is shameful and unacceptable to have a project with funding and years of study behind it and then choose to maintain the inequitable and harmful status quo.

Community group Rainier Valley Greenways has an action alert you can use to contact the mayor and Parks leaders and tell them you support making Lake Washington Blvd. safer. As of press time they were nearing 1,000 letters sent.

A traffic study (PDF) shows that the average driver on Lake Washington Blvd is going 10 mph over the speed limit, though they measured speeds as high as 73 mph, 48 mph above the 25 mph limit. The street only carries about 3,200 vehicles per day, which is very low compared to actual traffic-heavy parallel streets like 44,000 on MLK and 26,000 on Rainier Ave S. Lake Washington Blvd. is not classified as a major arterial. It is and always has been a park, not a highway. The voters of Seattle specifically passed a ballot measure in the early 1900s to fund this street as a park, which is why these decisions are now going through the Parks Department instead of SDOT.

There are only three continuous and relatively flat streets that run north and south: MLK Jr. Way S, Rainier Ave S and Lake Washington Blvd S. A safe biking space on Lake Washington Blvd. is the only option for creating a route in Rainier Valley that is comparable to the Burke-Gilman Trail in north Seattle. Perhaps I need to remind Mayor Harrell that despite strong public support for the Burke-Gilman Trail concept in the early 1970s, some people advocated against that trail, too.

Bruce Harrell was on the City Council from 2008 to 2020, and he represented Lake Washington Blvd's District 2 for four of those years. He has now in his fourth year as mayor. In all that time, the major streets in Rainier Valley have been allowed to persist as some of the most dangerous in the city. Biking access has remained disconnected. Now when he had an opportunity to actually improve this beautiful gem of a boulevard and create a space in Rainier Valley to rival the Burke-Gilman Trail as an iconic public amenity, he has specifically chosen not to do it. He turned what could have been a slam dunk into a huge political liability just a month before the primary election.

The text of the Parks email (note the complete lack of recognition that anything has been removed):

We're excited to share an update on the Lake Washington Boulevard Renovations Project! Seattle Parks and Recreation, in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and the community, is moving forward with Phase 2 of the project. Phase 2 constructionisset to begin in mid-July/early August2025and continue through fall 2025.

These improvementswillbuild upon the work completed during Phase1, further enhancing safety and access along the corridor.

What's Coming in Phase 2:

• Pathway Repairs (Mount Baker Beach to Genesee Park)
  Asphalt pavement repairs will address tripping hazards caused by tree roots, improving safety and comfort for walkers, runners, and cyclists.
• New Benches near the Lake Washington Fishing Pier
  Additional seating will fill a critical bench gap" along the north mile of the corridor, offering much-needed rest spots.
• New Walkway Connection at 43rd Avenue
  A new pedestrian connection to South Genesee Street will link directly to the marked crossing installed during Phase One.
• New Walkway Connection from South Adams Street
  A new accessible path will connect the South Adams Street intersection to the existing Lake Washington Boulevard pathway, improving access to the waterfront.
• Curb Extensions at the 51st Ave South Intersection
  Paint and post curb extensions will visually narrow the intersection to encourage slower vehicle turning speeds, improve sightlines, and reduce crossing distance.
• New Marked Crossing at South Dawson Street
  A newly painted crossing will help alert drivers to pedestrian activity at this southern segment of the corridor.

These upgrades reflect community feedback and priorities shared throughout the past year. You can read more in the . (sic)

A third phase of improvements is planned for summer 2026. SDOT is currently monitoring traffic volume and speed data at locations studied as part of the Rainier Ave S Vision Zero and Lake Washington Blvd Keep Moving Street Data Analysis. Data will be considered before phase 3 improvements begin.

In winter, the project team provided a Phase One project update at the Mount Baker Rowing & Sailing Center. You can review the materials here: Phase 1 Update and Questions & Answers Document.

If you have any questions, please contact us at PKS_LakeWABlvd@seattle.gov.

Thank you for your continued interest and involvement!