KeyArena Seattle

On September 21st, the Council approved 9-0 an agreement for street improvements funded by ArenaCo.

There are three transit improvements:

  • “Converting a travel lane on 1stAve N to a bus-only lane between Denny Way and Republican St”
  • “Installing a transit queue jump at 1stAve N and Republican St”
  • “Converting a travel lane on Queen Anne Ave N to a bus-only lane from Mercer St to John St”

The total project cost is $990,000. $594,000 comes directly from ArenaCo. The remaining $396,000 will also come from ArenaCo, but will count towards the $3.5m in street use fees that ArenaCo previously owed.

The legislation also authorizes another $445,000 in credits for various bike and pedestrian improvements, including a raised protected bike lane.

76 Replies to “Council approves Arena bus and street improvements”

  1. Whatever happened the plan to remove a block of the 2nd Ave. protected bike lane to squeeze in one more car lane? Is that gone? Hopefully, yes.

      1. I ride in the second Ave bike lane multiple times a day between Denny and Virginia. I have never seen anyone camped in those lanes.

      2. Sorry, I got it wrong. It’s 1st North between Mercer and Roy. North of Racha, west of Met Market.

        They had a BBQ and a lot of personal stuff in the lane, and at least one rope strung from their camp to the jersey barrier that protects the lane.

  2. I seem to recall a substation “breaker” in the worst possible place, on Queen Anne Avenue at the very bottom of the northbound climb of the Counterbalance.

    Forcing drivers to give their coach enough momentum to coast through the dead wire the breaker necessitates, and then instantly put the pedal to the floor to get the load moving up the vertical hill.

    What happens when you “power” through currentless wire is that your trolley motor switches off with a jolt and a bang that’ll make you drop your smart-phone. Next pedal application turns it on. Unless, of course, since you’re already headed up the Counterbalance, the wire’s still dead overhead.

    Tell me it’s not a even a full line-crew shift to move that dead spot back down and around the corner onto Roy Street, where there’s plenty of length to coast through it and be rolling when the Route 2 and the Route 13 need Ross Dam’s whole output to start climbing.

    Maybe the Historical Society could help improve service with a special “List of Shame” for transit faults that never get fixed. If choice was mine, I’d do this one first, like before noon, and relax about that wire on James hanging switch-less half a block below Third for thirty years.

    Maybe the JDI section for “Just Do It!” ATU Local 587, this one’s in your job description. Would somebody just file a grievance when you roll back into Atlantic at the end of this morning’s shift? Thanks.

    And something you’ve got that I don’t….a King County Councilmember. If they represent anybody on either Route 2 or 13, could be points in their favor if they get to fix it.

    Mark Dublin

  3. Really looking forward to making the trek south to watch Canucks v Kraken. Hopefully when Cascades service resumes it’ll be at 2 trains/day. Would be great on a weekend to take the morning train down, watch a 1pm puckdrop, then the evening train back. Same thing would be possible in the northbound direction.

      1. Which could also help confirm my suspicions that a lot of employees who are classed as “Working from Home” are in fact either “At The Game”, or better yet…ON TRANSIT TO IT!”

        Which is a lot better than sitting stuck in I-5 traffic downhill from those tracks between Rainier Beach and Tukwila International stations watching Link go by at sixty, with those kiddie-fare passengers wiggling their fingers off the end of their nose at you.

        Most annoying of all is when one would-be motorist makes a half dozen trucks pile up and turn I-5 into an impromptu wrecking yard for like four hours. So keep up the good coverage, STB. Information is strength.

        Mark Dublin

    2. @Canucks fan

      We’re working on a chant in Seattle to get under the Canucks’ skin.

      The Kraken will win a Stanley Cup before the Canucks do.

      We.will.TORMENT.You ! :-D

    3. I’ve done the (personal and un-scientific (as in, no specific numbers, just observation)) analysis for a mid-day round trip between Seattle-Vancouver BC.

      A continuation northbound of Cascades train #500, would arrive in Vancouver BC around 4-5pm timeframe. Plenty of time for pre-game festivities.

      The return, which would be a train leaving Vancouver BC in the 1-2 pm timeframe (this would be an extension of SB train #508) would allow for recovery from the game and associated festivities.
      (a 6:30am am departure is way too early!)

      This would be the perfect way to gain ridership in what is normally the slow months of winter for the SEA-VAC Cascades service.

    4. I can’t believe we have an NHL team named Kraken. It’s such an ugly name; how did it ever get so much support?

      1. The squeaky wheel got the grease: Kraken wasn’t the most popular name, but its advocates were the loudest and pushiest to get the team named as such.

        The anchor on the shoulders of jersey is even uglier.

      3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken

        Well, Mike, Ballard finally gets its long overdue recognition. Nordic history museum can start selling pins any time. And notice creature’s advantages: two appendages for one skate each, and six hockey-sticks!

        Never again will those extra legs and all those suction cups count as a disability. And those creatures also have a beak that can never cause them to be mistaken for a tweety-bird.

        And BTW: Whether the Ballard Link Station ends up on Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twenty-second, or Shilshole, One Percent for the Arts money is already there for the giant Kraken hanging from the ceiling over the platforms.

        Ya sure, YOU BETCHA!

        Mark Dublin

    5. Very few puck drops at 1pm in the afternoon in the NHL nowadays. You should count on an evening game and either drive in/drive back the same day or the next, or cascade in, and spend the night in a downtown hotel.

  4. Btw a few blocks north opposite Bartells the new bike lane has evolved into a permanent camp site. And on Saturday I unfortunately saw a man urinating into the gutter. The Seattle Times is finally catching on to how unhappy residents are, maybe the council will wake up too.

    2. You’re the second person in this thread claiming the 2nd ave bike lane has campers in it. I’m so confused. I ride past Bartels about 15 times a day doing deliveries. I have never seen anyone camping in the bike lane. Are you repeating something someone told you? Do you have a novel definition of “camp site”. Are you making things up? What is happening?

  8. A big fat nothing burger. This amount of money is going to do nothing to alleviate the transportation issues around the arena on game day.

    It will be a disaster, and the SCC is doing nothing about it (no surprise there)

  11. These look like a nice set of little changes. The great thing about changes like this is that it is fairly cheap and easy to expand them. We can see where the new problem areas are, and apply more paint. My guess is more work could be done on Mercer. There is a lot of parking right along the street that could be converted to bus lanes (either direction) for the D (and 32).

    Likewise, it would be trivial to turn the BAT lanes on Elliot and 15th to 24 hour BAT lanes (https://seattletransitblog.wpcomstaging.com/2014/08/18/full-time-bus-lanes-please/). At most we should allow some load/unload with limited hours (e. g. 10 AM to 2 PM). That way the buses can move along that corridor after a game.

  12. Is it clear whether the bike improvements will actually make progress to connect (without weird gaps!) all the regional bike routes that pass nearby (e.g., Elliot Bay trail, water front, West Lake Trail, 2nd Ave.)? Seattle Center could make a great “bike route hub” if done right.

      1. [ot] is “off topic”

        I had the same question as you for [it].
        and why does Mark Dublin rate one?

  19. Here’s what it is, Daniel. Except for the generally one day of the week called “Open Thread”, the author assigns a topic, in this case a program of street improvements called “Arena.”

    Like the kind of meeting where serious work is being done, one of the blog’s editors serves as chairman, and the [OT] notation, for “Off Topic” is exactly like a gavel. [AH] for “Ad Hominem” is somewhat more serious, because personal attacks have the potential for more damage to civilized discussion, and there’s no way they’re not a waste of time.

    Stay with Seattle Transit Blog, and you’ll come to really appreciate this level of supervision. Blogs that don’t have it, based on our exchange this session, you haven’t got the time for. Since we’re talking transit, welcome aboard. Fact you sign your name speaks very well for you.

    Mark Dublin

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