by Nimra Ahmad

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New street safety improvements are coming to Beacon Hill, focusing on improving non-vehicle modes of transportation. Specifically, these upgrades are aimed at creating a safer environment for pedestrians and cyclists — a long-awaited moment for neighborhood and safe street advocates, who have sought these and other street improvements for years.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) completed the design phase for the Beacon Avenue South and 15th Avenue South safety project, which will execute safety improvements from the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge down 15th Avenue and Beacon Avenue to Spokane Street.

The safety changes include repairing sections of the sidewalk, new pedestrian push buttons at crossings, 42 new curb ramps, concrete and post-protected bike lanes, bike signals, and new bus stop islands. SDOT plans to begin construction this summer.

Initially, the project plan covered a larger area, stretching from the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge down to 39th Avenue South, but it has since been scaled back.

“We have heard very strongly from the community [that] safety is a concern for a lot of the pedestrians,” said Ching Chan, the communications and community engagement lead for the project. “We looked at the corridor and the challenges that we heard, the concerns that we’ve heard, are mostly on 15th and mostly in the northern segment of 15th Avenue along the project route.”

According to Adam Vance, member of the Beacon Hill Council, the project is needed for the sake of calming traffic. As a cyclist, he’s most looking forward to the addition of protected bike lanes.

“Protected bike lane studies show it makes it safer for everybody, not just the bicyclists but [also for] pedestrians and drivers,” Vance said. “It just organizes the street in a better way and makes it more beneficial for everybody.”

These roads are oftentimes used as a bypass for people trying to go downtown or further north when there’s traffic on I-5, and drivers often speed. It’s also a popular spot for bicyclists to ride, as it’s one of the few ways to get in and out of the city. Several apartment buildings and housing units are located in this chunk, as well as the Beacon Hill Link light rail station and Beacon Hill Elementary School, so it’s full of pedestrians as well.

“Probably the most unsafe riding occurs down in the South End with the least amount of infrastructure,” said Tamara Schmautz, a bicyclist and volunteer with Smash the Box, an urban planning and design firm in support of the project. “Every so often I go north and I’m like, ‘Wow.’ It’s like utopia going into the North End.”

A survey conducted by SDOT between November 2022 and January 2023 asked respondents to choose all transportation methods they currently use and which they would prefer to use. It found that in North Beacon Hill, 80% of respondents would prefer to bike, 76% would prefer to walk and 68% would prefer to take public transit to make their way around. At the time the survey was conducted, most people got around the area by either walking (71%) or driving (71%).

The hope is that the addition of safety measures for both cyclists and pedestrians will not only make the area safer for current cyclists and pedestrians but also incentivize people who would like to bike or walk but do not feel safe doing so.

“It’s time that finally Southeast Seattle actually has safe infrastructure for our communities to thrive instead of being so dependent on cars,” said Smash the Box founder Yes Segura. “When you implement multimodal transportation systems that complement each other and don’t have missing links, then you can create a system where people can commute without a car.”

Both SDOT and residents said these safety improvements will help create a more equitable balance of infrastructure and route options between North and South Seattle. Beacon Hill Safe Streets co-chair Robert Getch noted that at this time, there is no flat, direct connection to Southeast Seattle for bikers — the main options are to take side streets and back roads that are hilly and indirect.

“A big thing that was actually brought up during the reprioritization process under the previous mayor is that there are multiple ways to go north,” Getch said, “as well as multiple projects that are ongoing to connect folks to the north side of the city, but on the south side of the city, there really wasn’t anything going on, which left us with a disconnected and unfair setup.”

Chan echoed Getch, saying that SDOT is working to ensure South Seattle isn’t left behind.

“A lot of this project kind of stems from that mindset, to ensure that we’re actually investing in communities that we haven’t really touched on yet in terms of the bike network,” Chan said. “Sure, not everyone in South Seattle bikes. But if that becomes their choice of transportation, we make it affordable, accessible, and safe for those folks.”

A few concerns have been raised with the project. First, the work is resulting in some net loss of parking which, according to SDOT’s survey, is something residents are concerned about. SDOT did find that most residents on 15th Avenue South have off-street parking availability, and the department plans to install new parking ahead of construction to alleviate the strain.

Secondly, for many, including Vance and Getch, there’s a fear that the project won’t be done on time. Advocacy for the project has been in the works for many years, and SDOT held their first engagement sessions for the project in 2020, but it just completed design this year and construction is not set to be completed until 2025.

“The City has taken quite some time to do this. And while I’m hopeful it will have created a better project,” Getch said, “there is quite a bit of expense in those delays — in keeping staff on the project, in redoing certain studies a few times — that make these a lot more expensive than maybe they need to be, which reduces the amount that gets done for the city as a whole. We can kind of see that here with the project scaling back from being an entire Beacon Hill project, blooming all the way down, to a North Beacon Hill project largely.”

SDOT noted that the funding for this project was always intended for the northern segment of the corridor — the two southern segments are not yet funded.

Vance referenced the Green Lake Outer Loop project, which was initiated in 2021 and completed in 2022, saying it was done “seemingly overnight.”

“I don’t think that’s necessarily the case for everything in North Seattle, but it did highlight that when SDOT wants to do something, they can do it,” Vance said. “I just don’t see that rush on South Seattle projects.”

He did give SDOT credit, however, for some interim safety improvements it installed in the area last summer. They included five speed cushions, a rapid-flashing beacon, paint-and-post curb bulbs to help with crossing the street, pavement repairs, and signs and paint near intersections to organize parking and create a clear sightline for pedestrians to view oncoming traffic.

As far as next steps go, now that SDOT has completed the design phase, they are looking for a contractor and plan to begin construction this summer. The department hopes to complete the work in May or June of next year.

“I’m really hopeful about what this project will mean to the community in the end,” Getch said. “I’m really hopeful for the future of this project connecting further to the other neighborhoods and bringing together multiple communities, not just North Beacon Hill. But I’m also excited for folks who are currently using this route today who will start to get improved safety, and we can also look for ways to improve [with] future projects.”

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Editors’ Note: This article was updated on 04/05/2024 to include additional information about funding levels for the project.

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📸 Featured Image: Photo via nickfalbo (under a Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED license).

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