Speeding Up Routes 3 and 4
By KIAN NAEEMI
The Harborview Medical Center area is a bottleneck afflicted with crushing traffic. Multiple roads funnel traffic east into James Street, where traffic then struggles onto I-5. At the same time, bus routes 3 and 4 are trying to serve the same kind of trip on those roads, getting people to the Link Light rail and the Third Avenue busway, two major transit arteries which provide an alternative to I-5. These buses should be alleviating traffic (and to some extent they do) but they are unable to fix the traffic while in it. Better bus routing and transit priority improvements can make buses in the area much more effective at maneuvering through the James Street logjam.
The Seattle DOT should work with King County Metro to reroute routes 3/4 off the chronically clogged James St. onto Cherry St. (with a reverse bus lane), put bus lanes (for ambulance use as well) on 9th at Harbourview, and make Jefferson from 9th to Broadway a local only road. Heading eastbound, the reroute would result in: buses taking Cherry from Third Ave and taking a right on 9th to join the current routing for the rest of the route. This preserves the vital 9th and Jefferson stop serving Harborview. Here's a map.
Discussion about the routes on James Street has previously focused on moving buses onto Yesler Way. This is arguably the easiest option, however King County Metro has already studied moving the 3/4 to Yesler and decided against it. But with the new 2024 Seattle Transport Levy now here, it is possible to choose the best option, which wouldn't cost too much more.
And so, adding wires to Cherry Street is the right move to get the 3/4 moving again. Cherry is one-directional eastbound under and west of I-5 and is configured with an unnecessary 3 lanes up to I-5. Under I-5 it becomes two lanes, however one lane is extra large. The best solution is to replace one lane with a reverse direction bus lane like where RapidRide lines run on Columbia St, to allow buses to go westbound. One problem is that doing this without widening the street may require removal of a bike lane. Additionally, a slip lane that heads up to I-5 at Cherry and 7th Ave needs removal. The required intersection reconfiguration would be temporarily disruptive, but shouldn't cause much long-term harm since it is relatively quiet.
This new road configuration will be nowhere near as disruptive as bus lanes on James St, and way less circuitous as rerouting buses onto Yesler Way to cross I-5. Cherry Street's lack of traffic is stark compared to James St., and moving the 3/4 onto it would not be disruptive to riders since stops on Cherry would be at the same height as those on James. The King County Jail would lose a direct connection to these buses, but it would still be a level 300-foot long walk away from a stop on Cherry. This is less disruptive than a Yesler route, which would be a bit more than two blocks away.
Buses are also forced to mingle with cars headed to I-5 via Jefferson Street, and Jefferson is not wide enough for bus lanes. However, the fact that a main arterial with four lanes (James St.) parallels Jefferson St. allows modification of Jefferson Street. to be local-traffic-only, from 9th Ave to Broadway. This could be difficult to enforce, but a small traffic reduction could go a long way.