As Route 40 Upgrades Head Towards Building, Enterprise Opposition Persists

Councilmember Sara Nelson has joined enterprise leaders in opposing bus lanes.

Following the launch of the RapidRide H this month, the Seattle Division of Transportation (SDOT) is shifting ahead with upgrades to the six different transit corridors it promised voters with the 2015 transportation levy. With 4 of these corridors now not deliberate as full RapidRide routes, lots of these upgrades had been watered down as effectively. However out of the 4, the upgrades to the Route 40, between downtown Seattle and Northgate by way of Fremont and Ballard, stay probably the most sturdy. Since 2020, SDOT has been planning to transform sections alongside the route that see probably the most bus bottlenecking into devoted transit lanes.

The proposed enhancements have include pushback. In late 2021, The Urbanist reported on the extraordinary pushback that the undertaking was receiving from Eugene Wasserman, president of the North Seattle Industrial Affiliation.

“It seems to the Maritime/Industrial neighborhood that SDOT is keen to sacrifice the viability of maritime/industrial companies and their workers in order that Amazon employees can get to their places of work 5 minutes earlier,” Wasserman wrote to then-director of SDOT Sam Zimbabwe that spring, asserting that reallocating area alongside Westlake Avenue N and Leary Avenue NW for devoted bus lanes would harm maritime and industrial companies within the space.

Wasserman requested for the division to completely restart its course of for design and neighborhood engagement on the undertaking, a request that was not profitable as SDOT moved ahead with design, releasing refined ideas for the undertaking in the summertime of 2022.

Since then, quite a few conferences have been taking place behind the scenes, with at the least three metropolis councilmembers leaping into the talk over how and whether or not the Route 40, considered one of Metro’s highest-ridership routes in Seattle, ought to see velocity and reliability enhancements by means of west Queen Anne, Fremont, and Ballard.

Most not too long ago, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, a enterprise advocacy group that has been citing considerations from companies within the neighborhood over lack of parking and loading zones since 2021, took a extra lively stance on the undertaking, sending out emails to their members asking them to become involved.

“Be Warned! Visitors in Fremont might get a lot worse,” an electronic mail from the Chamber despatched in early February learn. That electronic mail was adopted up with a second in March. “SDOT & Metro need to cut back bridge entry to 1 lane every strategy to place a everlasting bus lane chopping by means of our neighborhood. They’re additionally planning on shifting bus stops and eradicating parking,” the e-mail learn. “This motion will significantly enhance congestion all through higher Fremont.”

The one approach the Route 40 undertaking would “cut back bridge entry” is thru the conversion of 1 southbound lane on Fremont Avenue N between N thirty fifth Road and N thirty fourth Road to a bus-and-right-turn-only lane; one lane on the northbound aspect would flip what is usually a bus cease right into a one-way protected bike lane, with that cease relocated to N thirty fifth Road. No modifications are proposed for the speedy blocks on both aspect of the Fremont bridge.

Designs for the Route 40 enhancements by means of the center of Fremont embrace reallocation of some area for buses and bikes, however cease in need of “lowering bridge entry” to 1 lane. (SDOT)

Just a few days after that newest electronic mail alert, the Fremont Chamber held a gathering in a neighborhood enterprise to debate considerations with the undertaking. At that assembly, Wasserman distributed materials detailing the considerations that the North Seattle Industrial Affiliation has with the undertaking.

“A transit lane reserves the lane just for transit 24 hours a day, 7 days per week,” the pamphlet learn. “Even in the midst of the evening, solely transit is allowed. Automobiles apart from turns are forbidden. In these sections of Leary that can have transit lanes, one lane in every course shall be a daily lane and one shall be a transit lane. Basically one lane in every course shall be eradicated. The concern is that eradicating one lane of site visitors in every course will create site visitors jams in these areas. This elevated site visitors will make it tough for companies to do all elements of their enterprise. For instance, the Nordic Heritage [Museum] feels that elevated site visitors from the transit lanes will discourage their members and vacationers from visiting the museum. The SDOT undertaking employees didn’t do the analysis to point out this might not occur.”

The Fremont Chamber of Commerce didn’t return a request for remark, nor did the marketing campaign of Pete Hanning, the Chamber’s government director working for the District 6 metropolis council seat at present held by Strauss. Wasserman’s literature famous that SDOT Director Greg Spotts has agreed to satisfy with the coalition when the undertaking reaches its 60% design mark, later this spring.

At the same time as pushback has continued, SDOT has made some concessions to voices involved about impacts to freight mobility. An concept that didn’t exist when the undertaking kicked off in 2020 was shared “freight and bus” (FAB) lanes, through which bigger freight autos are permitted to make use of transit-only lanes, at the least throughout particular hours of the day.

When The Urbanist first reported that Seattle was shifting ahead with potential pilot applications on a variety of streets, freight-and-bus lanes alongside Westlake Avenue have been clearly some extent of potential compromise on a number of the complaints raised round freight motion. Now SDOT is formally shifting ahead with their inclusion.

SDOT additionally checked out some modifications to the undertaking that haven’t moved ahead. A request from some Fremont companies to relocate the southbound bus cease at Fremont Avenue N and N thirty fourth Road, one of many busiest bus stops in Fremont, one block south to the speedy method to the Fremont Bridge (the place it had been situated previous to 2007), was discovered to be infeasible. Riders would largely be unable to board buses when the drawbridge is raised, and pedestrian and bike conflicts would enhance, the analysis discovered.

SDOT evaluated a request for the southbound bus cease on Fremont Avenue to be relocated nearer to the bridge on the request of some native companies. It didn’t get moved ahead. (SDOT)

These concessions — or makes an attempt at concessions — haven’t appeared to stem any of the criticism of the undertaking. Wasserman has pushed District 6 Councilmember Dan Strauss to take a stance in opposition to the undertaking, one thing his workplace has declined to do. He has supplied Strauss’s workplace bus ridership numbers for District 6, as proof that investments in bus infrastructure don’t make sense. In July, Strauss met with a variety of Ballard enterprise teams to debate the undertaking, however Strauss hasn’t come out in help of any main modifications to SDOT’s plan.

Wasserman has apparently discovered a extra keen companion in a special councilmember: Sara Nelson. Nelson co-founded Fremont Brewing, which operates a taproom in Fremont and a manufacturing facility in Ballard, however mentioned she stepped away from the enterprise to run for workplace in 2021. Following a one-on-one very early in 2022, Wasserman and others met with Nelson’s workplace that summer season, a gathering he appeared to make use of that as leverage to strain Strauss to take a place.

“Councilmember Strauss, I needed to replace you on our Route 40 coalition assembly with Councilmember Nelson,” Wasserman wrote in an electronic mail to Strauss final September. “We defined to her what the SDOT has deliberate for Route 40. After a dialogue, she informed us that she would oppose the undertaking. I discovered it fascinating that SDOT didn’t meet together with her to debate the undertaking, notably since one of many companies she owns is correct by one of many proposed bus lanes. We’ve got not heard from you for some time, so we assume that you’re nonetheless supporting as it’s at present being introduced. We hope to listen to from you quickly.”

In October, at a gathering of the Fremont Group Council, Nelson reiterated her place on the undertaking immediately. “My official place is I oppose this,” she mentioned. “Taking it down to 1 lane for a bus lane that’s maybe not as utilized because the planners have been considering prior to now to me doesn’t take advantage of sense.”

Nelson has jumped into a variety of pre-existing transportation points throughout her first 12 months on the job, together with a protracted debate over a protected bike lane on West Marginal Approach, and assembly with opponents of finishing the Inexperienced Lake Outer Loop bike lane undertaking. However Nelson, who doesn’t serve on the transportation committee, doesn’t seem to have made a lot headway on influencing these tasks throughout the Metropolis’s paperwork.

As of final fall, SDOT had held over 10 conferences with completely different stakeholders on the complete Route 40 hall, not together with the briefings held on the request of Councilmembers Strauss, Lewis, and Nelson in 2022. Thus far, the tweaks made have been minor, with the objective of bettering velocity and reliability on the route staying entrance and heart. Metro’s knowledge exhibits they’re sorely wanted, with the 2022 system analysis displaying that over one third of 40 journeys have been working late on Sundays, practically one in 4 journeys on Saturdays, and practically one in 5 over the course of the complete week. However within the coming weeks, the 60% designs will actually present whether or not the behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts have made a distinction. SDOT’s present public timeline has development beginning by the tip of the 12 months.