In 2022, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) launched a project to redesign Aurora Ave. The highest ridership bus route in Washington, Metro’s RapidRide E Line, carries 13,000 people along the corridor every day. Aurora Ave is consistently one of the most dangerous streets in Seattle. Over the past few years, SDOT has received thousands of responses from the public on how the street should be changed. Based on this feedback, the agency shared a few concepts in 2024. The long-term changes on Aurora will include the following infrastructure and safety improvements:

• Sidewalks for comfort, safety, and ease of access
• Better lighting for improved visibility
• Safer, more accessible street crossings for people walking and rolling
• Updated drainage to prevent water accumulation 
• Making it more comfortable and accessible for people walking and rolling
• Reducing crashes for all road users
• Improving bus service so it’s more dependable and convenient

BY ISSAQUAH MAYOR MARK MULLET

The Sound Transit Board is facing large decisions regarding its budget shortfall. The Board is now expected to adopt an updated ST3 plan that will help reshape timelines for light rail segments across the region. Some projects, like the West Seattle line, are proposed to move forward now, while others, including Issaquah’s connection, are pushed back again — this time by six years. Meanwhile, construction of the Seattle Center to Ballard line is postponed indefinitely.

Let’s be honest: that’s frustrating.

Yesterday, the Sound Transit Board Executive Committee reviewed a proposal assembled by the three county executives to realign ST3 for the second time. Although much of the hubbub since has focused on certain decisions presented in that proposal, including plans to temporarily truncate the Ballard Link Extension to Seattle Center and indefinite deferral of the south Seattle infill stations, an understated assumption of the plan includes discontinuation of the Sounder N Line beginning in 2033.

There won’t be a Friday Roundtable this week, so here’s your open thread. There will be two regular articles Friday and one Saturday.

Sound Transit has an Executive Committee meeting right now (10:30am-12:30pm) to discuss the proposed ST3 system plan changes to reduce costs. The meeting page has links to the agenda, the proposal, a reports on the Enterprise Initiative, a TOD progress report, and a link to watch the meeting live remotely via Zoom. The meeting will start with public testimony for 45 minutes; then the committee members will debate the proposal. There will be no decision today; the decision will be in the May 28th full board meeting.

If you’re at the meeting, feel free to liveblog anything interesting below. A video of the meeting will be posted to ST’s YouTube channel within 48 hours.

Upcoming Link service impacts: Buses replace 1 Line trains between Rainier Beach and SeaTac/Airport this weekend for track and power work on the Tukwila Curve. Link service reductions after 8pm resumed this week as construction of Pinehurst Station continues.

Local News:

• Light Rail Will Reach Tacoma Dome ‘Come Hell or High Water’, Pierce County Leaders Say (The Urbanist).
• Help SDOT make Seattle streets more accessible by completing their ADA survey (SDOT Blog). Survey is open until September.
• Outside Seattle, paid parking starts at some light rail garages (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL).
• SDOT Advances Upgrades for SoDo’s Fourth Avenue To Handle Busway Closure (The Urbanist).
• Op-Ed: Three Proven Strategies for a People-Centered Puget Sound from Barcelona to Bogotá (The Urbanist).
• Northgate’s slow evolution from parking lots to a walkable Seattle neighborhood (KUOW)
• Washington State Gives Bainbridge Island Marching Orders on Housing Changes (The Urbanist).
• Stories from Dr. Wes’ time as a cab driver in Seattle in the 1980s (Real Change News)
• Seattle front of the pack for bike commuting in U.S. cities (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL).
• Bellevue’s Transportation Director Wants to Ramp Up Spending on Cars (The Urbanist)
• The newly-opened section of the 2 Line across Lake Washington experienced its first operational hiccup on Monday morning, when an eastbound train lost power for about 45 minutes on the approach to Mercer Island (The Seattle Times, $; free via SPL).

Walking the London Underground District Line from end to end. (Let’s Walk!)

Seattle’s annual Jane’s Walk is still going on. The last one is Tuesday at 10am, “Downtown South”. I don’t know if the registrations are full yet.

This is an open thread.

The Seattle Transit Ridership dashboard has been updated to include 2025 ridership data for King County Metro routes and Sound Transit routes operated by Metro. In March 2025, Metro only updated a few routes, mostly with frequency adjustments from Seattle Transit Measure funding. In August 2025, Metro introduced four routes and adjusted various other routes on the Eastside as part of its East Link Connections restructure. Of the new routes (203, 222, 223, and 256), Route 223 had the highest ridership with about 1,000 passengers every weekday.