Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is rolling out the red carpet for King County Metro Route 8. At an event on Thursday, Mayor Wilson helped mark a section of the new bus lane on Denny Way between Minor Ave and Yale Ave. Over the weekend, crews will install the eastbound business access and transit (BAT) lane between 5th Ave N and Fairview Ave. This change follows the recent closure of the Yale Ave slip lane and the reconfiguration of the Boren/Denny intersection. Drivers on Denny Way should now use Boren Ave and Howell St to access southbound I-5.
The new bus lane on Denny Way is a big win for Route 8 riders and transit advocates. Fix the L8 has campaigned for improving Route 8’s reliability since 2023. Last summer, the group organized a Race the L8 event during which people walking and dancing moved faster than a Route 8 bus along Denny Way. Now, organizers are calling for a rematch on September 8 at 5pm. Hopefully, the bus will win.
yay
RSVP to Race the L8 v2 here: https://partiful.com/e/GjdFiqJgVk9mh3afdgNo
We’ll also be out this Sunday thanking SDOT crews and watching the new bus lane paint dry. RSVP: https://partiful.com/e/w0hSSU53SXmt9zsMtRFI
Does the winner get a Route GR8 plushie ??
It’s being discussed haha. But hopefully the winner is the bus!
The redirecting of the road looks like it works a lot more effectively than I thought. I think the main thing is that now that there is the new right then left turn Google Maps reroutes most people to use Mercer street or James street for i5 South.
I guess the previous Yale Ave on ramp was just too easy to reach so most Google and Apple Maps providers would route most down that path
Yeah, good point. You almost have to be on Denny to start your trip for Google to suggest using the Yale on-ramp now. Even then if you are far enough west it suggests you go down Second.
RossB: that is great news. I wish SDOT had not recommended the Denny-Boren-Howell pathway. It would have been better to recommend Howell alone and let motorists choose one of the many pathways to Howell.
James Street? That will be a strain on the 3 and the 4.
Maybe they’ll be re-routed to Yesler.
No. Metro was planning to reroute the 3 and 4 to Yesler in the late 2010s but made a strategic decision not to, due to pushback against losing transit service at the jail stop. If Metro were to revive this concept, there would be a year of proposals and public hearings before doing so. Also, it would have to add trolley wire, and that’s a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. Metro has a backlog of wire it intends to fill in: routes 49/70/future J at Eastlake (that may be finished?), the route 2 gap at 12th, the route 12 gap at 16th, the 23rd segment to electrify the 48, and the Henderson Street segment for RapidRide R. All those will take years, and are ahead of rerouting the 3/4.
I used to live along that route, and resisted the change. With the added traffic, I don’t see an alternative.
Metro has neglected the 3/4’s congestion bottlenecks for decades. What makes you think it will start addressing it now? I could have used it in 2003 when I lived near Harborview. I was relieved when the 27 came and I could take it eastbound and avoid the 3/4’s astonishing slowness. I’m surprised the people living along it in the CD and eastern part of the routes haven’t made a major protest that service is unacceptable and Metro must fix it.
I support rerouting the 3/4 to Yesler. But I also see value in keeping it the same. I see similarities with the 8. A lot of people wanted to detour the 8 to the north. (To be fair, using Yesler wouldn’t be as bad. It would take about the same amount of time when there is no traffic.) But instead they have added BAT lanes. We should take the same approach with the 3/4. Fix the L3/4! OK, not as catchy. Talk to the marketing department. Seriously though, I see no reason why we can’t add a lot of BAT lanes on James and force cars to go a different way, just like we are doing here. It will take some work (just like this did) but it could make a huge difference.
Mike, the concept of shifting routes 3 and 4 to Yesler Way was earlier than that; it was part of the Executive Sims programs that would have been funded by the one percent MVET part of the deep bore agreement in 2009; Route 120 would have been elevated to BRT (e..g., the H Line of 2023). Yes, Metro considered it again in the late teens and decided against it for two reasons: one the capital cost (no local option had been provided); and two, some coverage opposition for service city hall and the food bank at 8th Avenue. Since 2011, there has also been the concept of extending non-ETB routes to First Hill via Yesler Way, 8th/9th avenues, and East Jefferson Street. Together with routes 3 and 4, there could be short headway between the DSTT and the 3rd Avenue transit spine and the south part of First Hill.
There have also been discussions about improving transit flow on James Street. that requires SDOT; they control the ROW.
How did this enter the discussion?
There’s a trade-off. Other routes will be affected.
Perhaps the 3/4 can be Wilson’s next project.
I think they are the next slowest buses after the 8, aren’t they?
You reap what you sow.
I’m assuming you mean that people are reaping the benefits of their advocacy on improving one of the most important bus routes in Seattle.
This is non-understandable. What was sown, and what is reaped? Or is this just a troll or non-sequitur?
Sown: elected a transit-riding apartment-dweller
Reaped: upzones and bus lanes
Fair enough. She’s done more in a short period of time for transit than McSchwinn did for bike lanes during his entire tenure. But personally, unless Judkins Park gets cleaned up the way it was during the WC I’m done with using transit. A couple of co-workers have already given up. Others, and I might try this before driving, is to use 23rd instead of Rainier and an alternate path through the park or skirt it entirely. The stench of garbage and perceived threats from obviously deranged/drugged people is rapidly getting to be too much. Not adding to the “experience” on the 7 either.
The fix is in. The start of the race is east of where the new bus lane ends.
It’s hopefully not a fair race, but I think it is a pretty fair comparison since last year’s race was on exactly the same course―from Dexter Ave to Stewart St―and the bus lost.
So eastbound cars turning right on to Boren are going to have to cross the bus lane? Isn’t that likely to be a problem?
The assumption is that it won’t back up. The problem before was that Yale was too good of an option for drivers. Boren isn’t as good. There is also more space to spread out. Even if everyone goes that way it won’t back up onto Denny as often.
#1 thing we’re worried about. The hope is that eastbound throughout at Westlake Ave is lower than Boren/Virginia such that cars never spill into the bus lane but we’ll see.
We don’t have a firm number for how much levy money is left for Route 8 but we know SDOT has planned a budget for monitoring and adjustments (which isn’t typical for projects like this) so if problems arise, hopefully they’re fixable
Im glad there might be some monitoring instead of just declaring it fixed.