
Abstract
- Reconnect West Seattle has been a joint effort over the previous yr with a number of neighborhoods to revive journey to and from West Seattle and surrounding communities.
- We accomplished over 20 initiatives in 2020! This contains biking infrastructure enhancements, new bus lanes, pace radar indicators, and a West Seattle and Duwamish Valley Walking Map, for individuals strolling and rolling in South Park to assist improve mobility.
- We’re additionally serving to to make altering your journey strategies potential with the brand new West Seattle and Duwamish Valley Travel Options portal. There’s extra to come back with the Mobility Motion Plan.
Reconnect West Seattle started with a community-led process in summer time 2020.
We wished to find out how we might assist cut back the impacts of the bridge closure and elevated visitors in close by neighborhoods. With the objective of preserving individuals secure and visitors shifting, final summer time, we collected survey responses from over 17,000 individuals to be taught extra about how they journey to, from, and across the West Seattle peninsula.
We additionally heard from over 1,700 individuals about their priorities for transportation initiatives in SODO, South Park, Georgetown, Roxhill, Highland Park, Riverview, and South Delridge to enhance security and visitors. Individuals had been most involved about visitors, pedestrian security & accessibility, rushing, environmental impacts and air pollution. (You can read more about what we learned here.)
Collectively, this outreach helped us prioritize instant wants and plan initiatives over the subsequent yr that may higher serve the group within the long-run. Learn extra in our Reconnect West Seattle Implementation Plan!
To-date, we’ve accomplished over 20 Reconnect West Seattle initiatives! In whole, we’ve accomplished over 190 visitors enhancements for the reason that West Seattle Excessive-Rise Bridge was closed. These initiatives work hand-in-hand to maintain communities shifting all through the closure.
Some highlights from Reconnect West Seattle in 2020 embrace:
We put in speed radar indicators on detour routes to assist cut back visitors speeds, together with on S Cloverdale St in South Park and on Airport Means S in Georgetown.

These indicators present drivers their pace as they journey down the hill and encourage them to decelerate.
Pace radar indicators on S Cloverdale St. Picture Credit score: SDOT.
We added new, red-painted bus lanes on S Spokane St to maintain buses shifting on time and effectively and are including bus routes to make taking transit extra environment friendly and predictable.

We heard individuals say that they’d be extra inclined to take the bus if the journey was sooner, if the bus got here extra typically, and if the bus received them nearer to their vacation spot. As a part of this, King County Metro added again bus routes 55, 56, and 57 to raised serve the Admiral space of West Seattle.
We repaved the intersection of 1st Ave S and Olson Pl SW, a frequent web site of recent potholes and a vital path on the West Seattle Bridge detour route.

Paving helps maintain individuals shifting safely and easily, and extends the helpful lifetime of the road.
We made bike enhancements on E Marginal Way and the West Seattle Bridge Path to assist individuals really feel extra snug biking.

We heard individuals say that safer routes through bike lanes would make them really feel extra snug biking. (We additionally heard requests for higher climate, however sadly that’s not in our wheelhouse!).
We’ve developed a West Seattle and Duwamish Valley Walking Map, which is only one a part of our West Seattle and Duwamish Valley Travel Options portal.

We’re right here to assist make altering your journey strategies potential with the brand new West Seattle and Duwamish Valley Journey Choices portal, meant to assist us all attain our mode-shift targets. The portal’s six sections present details about the totally different modes of transportation individuals can use to journey to and from West Seattle and the encircling space. Click on on a mode of journey to search out journey planning instruments, maps, suggestions for getting round, and different assets to show you how to navigate safely utilizing that mode. We’re continually including new supplies, so maintain checking again!