Seattle Bike Blog

Roger Millar: safety impacts cost Washington nearly $15 billion per year

By

Ryan Packer

| Posted

January 14, 2021

WSDOT Secretary Roger Millar

The Washington State House of Representatives Transportation Committee convened for the first time this session on Tuesday and WSDOT head Roger Millar was there to lead the members through a presentation, which was titled “Return on Investment”.

At the beginning of the talk, he made sure to emphasize that the legislature calls the shots and selects the projects, not WSDOT. But the framing of the presentation was focused on what kinds of investments might produce a higher return for the state as a whole. And he showed the committee a slide that broke down different categories where those costs are currently playing out.

Safety was the biggest impact shown. The annual cost of traffic crashes that happen because our transportation system isn’t safe enough was pegged in his data at $14.7 billion per year, which is over four times the actual budget of WSDOT itself. And it’s over 3.2 times as much as the cost attributed to “congestion” which the legislature seems much more preoccupied with.

Safety impacts cost Washingtonians $14.7 billion per year compared to the $3.6 billion WSDOT budget

“If we could drive these numbers down by increasing what we spend on transportation, we could have that increased investment and actually save hardworking families and hardworking businesses some money on the way”, he told the committee members. Of course, we could save much more than money by improving safety in the transportation system, we could save lives and prevent devastating life-altering injuries. It’s actually absurd to put this side-by-side with a so-called cost to sitting in traffic, but given the legislature’s track record clearly necessary.

What Millar did not do is directly connect the dots on safety, but his agency is doing that right now, in part with the Active Transportation Plan. Spending $283 million on adding speed treatments to every single state highway through a population center would save lives. So would spending $165 million to improve safety at every single highway ramp in the state. Or $1.2 billion to add full pedestrian facilities along state highways.

Millar’s speech to the committee comes at a time when, according to slides in his presentation, Washington is set to spend more money maintaining and expanding the state highway than it ever has before. This was conveyed in a chart showing highway construction heading toward a peak of nearly $5 billion in the next biennium as so many different highway expansion projects are set to be under construction at the same time.

Washington is set to spend the most on highways, ever.

Secretary Millar also tried to make the argument against highway expansion from the perspective of jobs creation, citing numbers showing that bicycle projects create 46% more jobs per million dollars spent than car-only road projects, and that public transit projects create 31% more jobs.

Clearly leadership at the state’s transportation agency wants to take the state in the right direction but, again, they don’t choose the projects to build. Roger Millar’s presentation this week should set the stage for making smarter investments than we have made in the past, with Senator Saldaña’s Evergreen Package an obvious vehicle for that, but only if we are ready to push against the status quo.

tags: 2021 legislature, roger millar, safety, wsdot

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92% of drivers speeding on Aurora points to need for urgent action

By

Ryan Packer

| Posted

January 13, 2021

Aurora Ave N near the location where 92% of drivers were recorded going over the speed limit

A speed study conducted by the Seattle Department of Transportation early last October showed that 92% of drivers using Aurora Ave N at N 112th Street, where the speed limit is 35 mph, were exceeding that speed limit, with 66% of drivers going 5 mph or more over the limit and more than one in four drivers exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph or more.

Another speed study conducted last August further south at N 68th Street, just south of a zone with a 30 mph speed limit, showed slightly lower speeds despite a speed limit of 40 mph at that spot. There 19% of drivers were clocked at going over 45 mph with 26% of drivers recorded at that speed up at 112th.

Most of Aurora Ave N has a speed limit of 40 mph, with segments signed for 30 and 35 mph in the most dense commercial areas along the state highway. In late 2019, Mayor Durkan announced that nearly every single arterial in the city would have its speed limit lowered to 25 mph, but a state highway like Aurora Ave requires the city to coordinate any speed limit changes with the state and so far we haven’t heard any indication it will be moving to lower speed limits here.

As the speed studies show, simply lowering the speed limit will likely not do much to influence driver speed; more comprehensive design changes will be required. But the problem is urgent: in the past two-years, ten people have died on Aurora Avenue in Seattle, most of them people walking along the street. Statistically, a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling 40 mph has a one in ten chance of surviving the crash.

SDOT Director Sam Zimbabwe responded early this morning after several North Seattle state legislators in recent weeks indicated support for changes to improve safety on Aurora but pointed toward a need for SDOT to take the lead on those changes. He was responding to Lee Bruch, an outspoken advocate for a safer Aurora Ave. His response:

“It is great to hear about the State-level support for continued investment in Aurora. We continue to work on small-scale changes to address the most challenging locations, but there is a limit to what results those can bear. Some planning and project definition work is really the next step for us on those larger investments, which is reflected in that grant you cite below. We face major investment needs in safety and infrastructure across the city and will need partnerships at all levels to bring those to fruition with the urgency needed. The planning work will better define what comes next while we continue to work on smaller steps to improve safety for all users.”

The City has applied for a state grant that would fund most of a $2 million study to determine changes to the street. It is frustrating to have to wait for a new study to be able to implement design changes to lower speeds on a street that has had the same problems for decades, but if that’s what’s necessary to ensure that the changes are comprehensive, so be it. Aurora Ave was just repaved for its entire length, which would have been a perfect chance to implement changes, but not even sidewalks could be added where they are currently missing.

Bruch told me today he was positive about Director Zimbabwe’s response: “I agree with him on the necessity to do long range planning”, but told me there were a lot of spot improvements that could be made along the corridor. One of those is a possible expanded sidewalk protected bike a jersey barrier near Green Lake where a UW student was struck by a car in 2019. He also pointed toward the closure of the slip lane off Aurora onto West Green Lake Drive as an example of where obvious improvements could be made.

Slip lane at West Green Lake Drive and Aurora Ave N

Ultimately, Aurora Avenue needs to be redesigned for lower speeds along its entire length. While it’s true the city faces a lot of need for safety improvements as Director Zimbabwe indicates, Aurora Ave sees a huge proportion of the injuries and fatalities on Seattle’s streets, and to date it doesn’t seem like the City is treating it that way.

tags: aurora, vision zero

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Queen Anne approach to Thomas Street Overpass to dramatically improve

By

Ryan Packer

| Posted

January 13, 2021

Today we are circling back to some news that we missed from last autumn. SDOT has announced they will be making big upgrades to the Queen Anne approach of the Thomas Street overpass connection to Myrtle Edwards Park and the Elliott Bay Trail this year. This improvement comes as part of the package of transportation changes planned with the opening of Climate Pledge Arena this fall.

After public comments supported the option allocating the most space for walking and biking here, SDOT will convert the entire western half of 3rd Ave W north of the overpass to an extension of the trail, with delineated space for two directions of bike travel created out of one half of the current street, turning the street into a one-way for vehicle traffic northbound. This is how the street basically operates now anyway, with most traffic going west on Harrison instead of south on 3rd to access Elliott Ave.

SDOT’s rendering of 3rd Ave W looking toward the overpass.

The southbound side of the street will be entirely converted to walking and biking space.

This will alleviate a big pinch point to a great connection- currently people biking over from the waterfront get to decide between biking on a sidewalk that’s not in great condition or taking the lane on 3rd Ave W, where drivers heading off of Elliott Ave frequently exceed the speed limit.

Bird’s eye view of the planned improvements.

SDOT also announced they will be installing a protected bike lane on W Harrison Street which will connect to the planned two-way PBL on Queen Anne Avenue N, but only in the uphill eastbound direction. People biking westbound will be in a travel lane that SDOT will be adding speed cushions to. SDOT is also adding four new all-way stops in the area which should slow traffic as well.

Map showing the planned connections between the Thomas Street overpass and the Seattle Center bike facilities.

SDOT had originally envisioned bike traffic using either Thomas or Republican Street to connect to the overpass, but Harrison makes much more sense given the street grades in the neighborhood.

The overpass connection is one spoke of the bike network improvements coming with the arena, the other main one being a connection with the 2nd Avenue protected bike lane via 1st Ave and Broad Street. Thomas Street on the other side of the Seattle Center was another improvement, but that has been put on hold. As for the disappointing news about the Denny Way terminus of the 2nd Ave PBL, we will be bringing you additional info about that soon.

And then there’s all of the infrastructure for private cars coming with the arena.

On the other side of Myrtle Edwards, any bike connection between the Elliott Bay Trail and the planned waterfront bike trail remains unfunded as the rest of the waterfront’s reconfiguration moves forward.

But the Thomas Street overpass spot improvements and the connecting one-way PBL are definitely something to look forward to this year.

tags: climate pledge arena, queen anne, uptown, w thomas st overpass

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Eliminating bike parking requirements for Permanent Supportive Housing just makes sense

By

Ryan Packer

| Posted

January 11, 2021

Plymouth Housing’s permanent supportive housing building at 501 Rainier Ave S.

“Not accomplishing anything” is how Tim Parham, the Director of Real Estate Development at Plymouth Housing Group described the current requirement to include a secure bike parking room in all of the buildings it constructs as Permanent Supportive Housing. Plymouth Housing Group is one of the largest providers of very low-income housing in Seattle and maintains 17 buildings with over 1,000 residents.

What exactly is Permanent Supportive Housing? From King County: “Permanent supportive housing is permanent housing for a household that is homeless on entry, where the individual or a household member has a condition of disability, such as mental illness, substance abuse, chronic health issues, or other conditions that create multiple and serious ongoing barriers to housing stability”.

With Seattle and King County now in a homelessness State of Emergency for over five years, building as much housing like this as fast as possible should remain our goal. In 2020, the Office of Housing announced $60 million to be invested in Permanent Supportive Housing to build nearly 600 units, but thousands of people currently living on Seattle’s streets need units like these. Public dollars get combined with private ones to create more housing than direct city investment, but the projects still have to go through most of the same bureaucratic hoops new market-rate development does, even as it saves lives that may have been lost if people continue to live on the street.

District 7 Councilmember Andrew Lewis has proposed a package of land use reforms intended to speed up, and reduce the per-unit costs on, construction of PSH. As a whole, the package of changes could reduce costs for each individual unit of housing by over $47,000, or almost 15%. One of these is the exemption from the bicycle parking requirements that normally apply to multifamily residential development.

Tim Parham told me that an average bike room in a building being built for Permanent Supportive Housing costs Plymouth around $300,000- essentially the cost of a single unit of housing that could change a person’s life. And that bike parking room often takes up some of the most valuable (and therefore most costly) real estate in the entire building- space that could be used for a nurse’s station, for example, or a community room.

He explained that the demographics of the people that Permanent Supportive Housing is intended for tend to skew heavily away from utilizing secure bike parking rooms. If someone living in PSH does have a bike, “it tends to be the most valuable thing they own”, which makes them likely to want to keep their bike in their unit. He told the city council’s Select Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments that Plymouth is moving toward including hooks for bike storage within the units themselves. At that meeting, Derrick Belgarde of the Chief Seattle Club also echoed the frustration with having to balance a bike parking room against other amenities that they might want to be providing when the proportion of people who would ultimately use that bike room remains relatively low.

I am focusing on the bike parking aspect here for obvious reasons, but the legislation would also remove Permanent Supportive Housing buildings from all design review, also a prime cause for delay in getting housing built. You can read about all aspects of the legislation here. The city council’s select committee on homelessness met to discuss the bill in mid-December and will be picking it up again with another meeting later this month; there will be a public hearing on the proposal on Wednesday January 27, specific meeting details still pending. Now is the time to contact your councilmembers about supporting this proposal that could save lives.

tags: affordable housing, bike parking

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WA Court of Appeals hears arguments in Missing Link case

By

Ryan Packer

| Posted

January 9, 2021

The legal fight between the City of Seattle and the coalition of Ballard businesses fighting the completion of the Burke Gilman trail’s Missing Link on Shilshole Ave NW moved ahead Friday morning as oral arguments were heard in the Washington Division I Court of Appeals. This marks the latest legal step in a process that has been going on for over eleven years as the legal grounds that the “Ballard Coalition” are able to contest the validity of the City of Seattle’s process to construct the 1.4 mile missing segment become narrower and narrower.

WIthout the Missing Link, people biking on Shilshole continue to face dangerous conditions.

Matthew Cohen, the lawyer representing the Cascade Bicycle Club in the litigation on the side of the City, told me after the hearing that he was “hopeful” that a ruling would be in their favor and that “the City and Cascade have the better of the arguments”.

There are a lot of different issues that both parties are asking the appeals court to deal with in this case. The argument Friday primarily revolved around two of them. Perhaps the biggest one is a new issue that the City has raised in this appeal: that the Missing Link should never have been subject to SEPA review at all.

While still contending that “the FEIS adequately analyzed and disclosed the Project’s potential significant impacts”, the city cites the fact that in 2015, the City Council modified the city’s SEPA code to exempt all “addition of bicycle lanes, paths and facilities, and pedestrian walks and paths including sidewalk extensions”, including those to be constructed on private property. Previous designs for the Missing Link did include private easements, but the current design does not.

The Ballard coalition contends it is “far too late” to introduce this line of argument, a fact that Judge Stephen Dwyer, one of the judges hearing the appeal, pushed back on quite a bit, suggesting that “retroactivity” wasn’t even relevant in the case. If the project becomes exempt at any time during the process then that’s all that is relevant. But he also suggested the City had engaged in “subterfuge” by not bringing forward an argument that it was exempt under SEPA even as it moved forward with a full EIS. “You want us to take the hit for the city’s dirty deeds”, he said, suggesting that if the project was truly exempt then his hands would be tied.

The other major issue in the case is whether there has been a violation of the “appearance of fairness doctrine” when Seattle’s deputy Hearing Examiner at the time, Ryan Vancil, ruled against the Ballard Coalition in upholding the EIS while he was applying for the job of Hearing Examiner, which requires city council approval. Councilmember Rob Johnson participated in his job interview, and the Coalition notes he was “a well-known bicycle advocate”. (Many “well known bicycle advocates” don’t necessarily support the current proposed design for the Missing Link.) The Superior Court declined to take up this claim, noting that setting that precedent would “impose a presumption that would taint virtually all decision making by [the hearing examiner]”.

The Ballard Coalition also contends the City is in violation of a court order to not proceed with constructing any portion of the trail by constructing a portion on Market Street, but the City contends that the Market Street Multimodal improvements project, which rebuilt the street to include what will become the trail, has “independent utility”, which is certainly true.

There are other issues raised in the appeal on either side, and as we have seen in the past, a ruling against the City on any one of them would be enough to add additional years of delay to the project. The Ballard Coalition’s brief tells the court “this matter should be remanded to SDOT to prepare a new EIS, or in the alternative, remanded to the City for a new evidentiary hearing before a new Examiner”, which presumably would add years and set up the potential for further appeal.

For now, we wait for a ruling from the court of appeals, which has no deadline to be issued; the earliest we might expect it is probably late Spring. In the meantime, the public health hazard that is the current Missing Link continues. SDOT maintains a commitment to build the trail, but says they do not anticipate starting construction earlier than 2022.

An Abbreviated Timeline of Missing Link Litigation
2008: SDOT issued first SEPA Determination of Non-significance (DNS), Ballard coalition appeals.
2011: SDOT issued a revised DNS, also appealed.
2012: SDOT issued a third revised DNS, appealed. Seattle Hearing Examiner orders a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
2017: SDOT issues full EIS, Ballard coalition appeals it.
2018: Seattle Hearing Examiner rules EIS adequate; Ballard Coalition appeals ruling to King County Superior Court, which rules that the EIS is almost entirely adequate but does not fully account for certain economic impacts.
2019: Both the Ballard Coalition and the City file an appeal in the Washington Court of Appeals. The City issues an addendum to the EIS which includes the requested economic analysis even as the City appeals that ruling.

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Bike and pedestrian advisory boards: find Stay Healthy Streets funds elsewhere

By

Ryan Packer

| Posted

January 7, 2021

Update: this post has been changed to clarify that any changes to Lake Washington Boulevard or Golden Gardens Park Road are not necessarily off the table but are not part of the permanent Stay Healthy Streets process.

A large majority of the membership of both the bicycle and pedestrian advisory boards on Wednesday night signaled to the Seattle Department of Transportation that they weren’t okay with a proposal to fund permanent improvements on 20 miles of Stay Healthy Streets by diverting funds from existing bike projects.

SDOT is asking to divert partial funding for 2.6 miles of neighborhood greenway projects, as we reported last month. The two boards asked the department to look for other funding sources. The decision ultimately rests with the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee, though presumably the opinion of the two modal boards will carry significant weight; the levy oversight committee will take up the issue in early February. The fate of the Stay Healthy Streets program if the request is denied is not yet clear.

In its presentation last night, SDOT’s neighborhood greenways program manager Summer Jawson, laid out the first steps that SDOT is taking this year to fulfill the promise made last summer to make twenty miles of Stay Healthy Streets permanent, but did not provide a huge amount of detail to the boards about what exactly those permanent improvements are going to look like. Those details will be worked out in through community outreach, she said. This was also another likely factor in the board’s vote not to okay the funding swap: it wasn’t entirely clear what the city will even be funding yet.

Ecoblocks, like the ones currently barricaded in front of two of Seattle’s police precincts, were suggested to be the most likely way that intersections along Stay Healthy Streets would receive protection. That’s likely to be the biggest line item for the projects.

Ecoblocks in front of the East Police Precinct.

The SDOT presentation included a variety of images of street treatments (most of which seem fairly temporary) and emphasized that they will be conducing more outreach than they “normally would do” on a neighborhood greenway project to receive a large amount of community buy-in to keep the program successful. The original Stay Healthy Streets, rolled out in the first month of the pandemic, were chosen as neighborhood greenways in part because some outreach had already been done when those facilities were installed.

Some concepts shown for permanent Stay Healthy Streets.

Jawson also announced that SDOT was prioritizing some new streets that have not yet been Stay Healthy Streets, including 0.7 miles in Georgetown, 0.4 miles in South Park (both neighborhoods currently dealing with a lot of cut-through traffic due to the West Seattle Bridge closure) and 0.1 miles in Little Brook in NE Seattle. These streets were prioritized based on concerns coming directly from community, she said. The South Park and Little Brook projects will include additional segments that only have neighborhood greenway treatments but aren’t Stay Healthy Streets.

In the next few months, SDOT will also be conducting community outreach to determine what the first current Stay Healthy Streets to be converted to permanent fixtures will look like. Those are the Greenwood SHS on 1st Ave NW, and the Alki Keep Moving Street on Beach Drive SW. Other Keep Moving Streets like Lake Washington Boulevard and Golden Gardens will not be considered for permanent status in the Stay Healthy Streets program, but may see changes via other avenues.

SDOT does appear to be moving fast to implement all of the 20 miles of permanent Stay Healthy Streets this year, but the potential roadblock on funding could slow them down.

SDOT’s current timeline for Stay Healthy Streets

Also included in the resounding vote by the joint pedestrian and bicycle advisory boards was a sentiment they sent to SDOT that the more intensive traffic diversion treatments being considered for Stay Healthy Streets should become the de facto baseline with all neighborhood greenway projects. There was a general consensus that the approach being taken with Stay Healthy Streets should have been the approach with neighborhood greenways from the very start, even if that’s not immediately able to be implemented.

Seattle has approximately 50 miles of neighborhood greenways, but with the new proposed projects in Georgetown and South Park, it looks like over 30 miles of neighborhood greenways won’t have the same improvements that Stay Healthy Streets do at the end of 2021.

We should expect more information on which of the remaining Stay Healthy Streets (after Greenwood and Alki) are to be selected to get made permanent in the next few months.

tags: keep moving streets, stay healthy streets

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