This morning, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced two executive orders delivering on campaign promises: one will accelerate production of emergency shelter and affordable housing, and the other will quickly implement transit improvements starting on Denny Way. Executive Order 2026-01 directs SDOT to “design and install at least one dedicated bus lane on Denny Way, with the goal of significantly improving the reliability, speed, and performance of Route 8 and other transit services operating in the corridor.”
Route 8 has long suffered from chronic congestion on Denny Way in South Lake Union (SLU). The crosstown route uses the only east-west corridor that connects the Seattle Center and SLU with Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, this corridor is also a popular feeder street for I-5. In 2018, an eastbound bus lane was installed on Denny between Minor Ave and Steward St. Despite the one-block-long bus lane, Route 8 continued to flounder in traffic. As South Lake Union has grown, the route’s reliability has continued to suffer. In July 2025, the Fix the L8 campaign hosted a race during which people walked, danced, and paraded on Denny between Dexter and Stewart Avenues faster than a Metro Route 8 bus. Consequently, construction of more dedicated bus lanes on Denny became a significant promise of Wilson’s campaign for Mayor.
Additional SDOT work included in the Executive Order include:
- Working with King County Metro to identify, evaluate, and implement additional transit improvements on Denny;
- Engage with users of the Denny Way corridor “including transit riders, bicycle riders, pedestrians, freight, and organizations and businesses” which rely on Denny for access;
- Conduct a comprehensive performance evaluation of the Denny Way corridor before and after implementation; and
- Expedited implementation of these improvements, with timeline, budget, and plans returned to the Mayor’s office by April 17, 2026, and recommendations for additional corridors where transit improvements “can deliver high-impact benefits”.
The Mayor’s announcement includes quotes from a few transit advocates who helped make this urgent improvement a political priority: Nick Sattelle and Jason Li (co-leads of Fix the L8) and Kirk Hovenkotter (Executive Director of the Transportation Choices Coalition). In a series of STB posts last year, the Fix the L8 campaign proposed two-way bus lanes from Stewart to 1st Ave and some critical improvements at multiple pinch-points along the corridor.
Simultaneously, Wilson is following through on a campaign promise to expedite affordable housing and expand shelter options for the unhoused. Executive Order 2026-02 creates a interdepartmental “Housing & Shelter Accelerator” team spanning eight city agencies which will begin work immediately and provide recommendations to the Mayor’s office by March. The order tasks the team with figuring out how to expedite new emergency shelters and affordable housing, where it might be built, and how to provide adequate behavioral health support to those sites.
Orders are easy, paying for them is not. Let’s see the numbers.
Denny Way already has dedicated funding for transit improvements in section 4.3 of the 2024 Seattle Transportation Levy. It’s already paid for, we just needed the mayor and SDOT to have the political will to actually implement it.
Red paint doesn’t cost much and can be done in a few days. It’s one of the cheapest improvements SDOT could do. The bottleneck has been political will, not cost.
I look forward to seeing her try to solve the housing crisis and lack of infrastructure with paint.
That’s off-topic. The ability to use paint for bus lanes has nothing to do with the fact that housing doesn’t have such easy solutions. And bus lanes is infrastructure.
I think in the case of Denny Way bus lane, paying for it is the easy part. The hard part is to develop a effective plan and being able to enforce it in a way that will actually improve Route 8’s reliability.
There’s risk in everything. Mayor Wilson has a big agenda and getting something done early in her term would be helpful. Somehow getting the #8 route to work could be the early win she so desperately needs.
We’ll have and watch see how this unfolds. I’d go as far to say the #8 route is a harbinger for the next 4 years. Most of the rest of her agenda will take more time and political capital to get done. Bus lines on Denny shouldn’t be a massive political lift…. but then these sorts of changes often take on a life of their own.
Oh Good. I was so hoping the city could find a way to make traffic even worse for drivers attempting the east / west route in Seattle.
Won’t someone think of the poor, poor drivers? In the City of Seattle, the median income of those who drive to work is 25% higher than those who take transit. Transit commutes are 13 minutes longer than drive alone commutes (see ACS table S0802). Commutes are only way to look at this, but I promise you its harder to get east/west in Seattle on transit than it is in your car.
It is hard to say how much congestion this will add. The street is already extremely congested. At a certain point it really doesn’t matter, as long as you have a good transit alternative. The good thing is, this will add that transit alternative. https://thecityfix.com/blog/traffic-evaporation-what-really-happens-when-road-space-is-reallocated-from-cars/
There is also the “greater good” argument. Yes, some drivers will be inconvenienced. But more transit riders will benefit (and some will switch to using transit). An increase in transit quality will result in fewer injuries and deaths. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-11/cities-with-good-public-transit-have-fewer-road-fatalities.
Well gosh darn do I have the solution for you…
Ride the 8
[Comment Removed by editor. This is a transit blog. Please stick to the topic at hand, which is transit. I realized the press release (and this article about the press release) mentioned other topics but unless you somehow connect it to transit, keep your comments to yourself.]
[Funny comeback also removed as it no longer applies]
[I agree with the comment, Micheal but I’m removing things that aren’t transit related.]
Denny Way is a mess. It’s a narrow 4 lane road without any room for expansion. Adding a dedicated bus lane will fail unless there is aggressive enforcement, and we all know Seattle will not tolerate aggressive enforcement.
Perhaps the best alternative for transit is to avoid it.
Shoot the 8 down Queen Anne to 1st.
Take 1st to Wall
Wall to Fifth
Fifth to Olive
Then Olive to John to connect to the current route.
Run it through that and transit times between Mercer and Queen Anne and Olive Way and John would be significantly improved.