Metro wants to thank the West Seattle riders who shared their ideas on how to address the current challenges facing our bus routes to and from West Seattle and downtown Seattle. We hear you. We share your frustration: Metro wants buses moving, not stuck in traffic.
Improvements coming in 2019
Your ideas are welcome and have helped us consider options that could improve commutes until the final pathway for Alaskan Way is completed. Here are some steps we are taking with the City of Seattle:
- Metro is continuing to work with the City of Seattle on potential lane and traffic signal changes on First Avenue and the surrounding areas to improve traffic flow. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is implementing changes to help provide a more reliable experience for transit, including:
- Revising signal timing at First Avenue South & South Dearborn Street and Alaskan Way South & South Dearborn Street to further aid transit operation.
- Further optimizing the signal timing plan for the First Avenue corridor through Pioneer Square while emphasizing the north and south movements.
- Implementing pre-game event signal timing to support the last two mid-day baseball games of the season.
- Working to ensure high priority for incident management during the morning and afternoon commutes.
Potential pathways in 2020 and 2021
The process of demolishing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, opening the new SR99 tunnel, and building a new road on Alaskan Way have been especially challenging for West Seattle riders and King County Metro. We have had to move former viaduct routes to different corridors to accommodate construction. The reality is that there are limited paths to downtown through SODO. Some have asked if we could return to the pathway used during the viaduct closure. That pathway worked in January because many commuters changed their travel times and patterns for a month and also because of several temporary bus lanes and uniformed traffic control officers at key intersections. These measures would be difficult and costly to renew and maintain for an extended time. We are continuing to look for options to improve the operations of these pathways in coordination with SDOT.
In early 2020, we plan to switch to a new pathway using a rebuilt Columbia Street and Alaskan Way, avoiding First Avenue altogether. The work by Waterfront Seattle on the Columbia Street two-way transit corridor will allow us to permanently run all former viaduct routes on Columbia Street and Alaskan Way beginning in early 2020.
While Alaskan Way will likely continue to have some congestion as construction on the waterfront continues through 2021, we expect that traveling on this new pathway will improve travel times to and from downtown Seattle.
Once construction is complete, the final pathway on Alaskan Way will include 24/7 transit lanes in both directions and will further improve commute times for West Seattle riders. That permanent pathway with transit lanes and Pioneer Square bus stops is expected to fully open sometime in 2021.
Other transit options to consider
The Water Taxi, while normally a great option for avoiding gridlock, will be out of service from August 5-11 while crews relocate equipment from the temporary Waterfront facility to the brand new facility at Pier 50. When the new facility opens on August 12, we recommend riders explore the Water Taxi and its two connecting shuttles, one that goes to Alaska Junction via Avalon and Alaska (Route 773) and another to the Admiral Junction and then along Alki back to the dock (Route 775).
For those who live north of Southwest Holden Street, the Ride2 program is another option to get you to and from transit options, including the Water Taxi. Ride 2 vehicles will pick you up at your home and take you to either Alaska Junction or to the Water Taxi dock. Another option after taking the Water Taxi is Route 37, which has capacity for more riders and serves Alaska Junction via Alki Avenue Southwest and Beach Drive Southwest during commuter hours. When downtown is congested, taking Link light rail to SODO and transferring to Route 50 can also get you to West Seattle (on Alaska Junction, California Avenue, and Admiral Way).
Construction at 35th and Avalon
Many riders have also reached out with frustration regarding the temporary bus stop closures due to construction on Avalon Way and 35th Avenue Southwest. The road construction schedule has required multiple moves of stops on both Avalon and 35th. The northbound stop to downtown on 35th Avenue Southwest has been reopened (just south of Southwest Avalon Way) while the southbound stop to West Seattle is temporarily located about 300 feet east of 35th on Avalon. Riders can transfer between many routes including the 21 and 21X here.
We are working to get better advance notice on stop changes and lane reroutes during this challenging time. It is our goal to be able to provide you with more regular updates during the weeks ahead.
For up-to-date information, we recommend riders sign up for Metro’s service alerts.
Additional service coming in September
The September service change is not online yet, but there will be service additions to West Seattle routes as well as changes to Route 22. To better serve transit needs and accommodate construction, Route 22 is moving from 25th Avenue Southwest and 24th Avenue Southwest onto Delridge Way Southwest. This is necessary to accommodate construction of new sidewalks and drainage improvements. Delridge Way is also better suited for long-term transit operations. Stop changes related to this move will be coming soon.
Routes 21, 120, and the C Line are receiving additional service or trips to meet increasing needs on weekends, evenings, and weekdays — specifically the hours before and after peak hours. Details will be announced in the beginning of September.
Thank you again for your constructive feedback and ideas on how to help navigate the challenges we all face during the “Seattle Squeeze.” We will keep you updated as we make decisions on potential changes.
My hour and a half commute home today to go 5 miles suggests you clearly haven’t done enough and aren’t taking people’s complaints or their time seriously.
This is dramatically too little, too late. There’s simply no way that signal timing can mitigate this situation. There are plenty of options.
Banish cars from 1st avenue Jackson to Dearborn in the afternoon rush hours NOW.
Uniformed traffic control with instructions to prioritize buses at 1st and Dearborn NOW.
Use the 21 Local path out of downtown on 4th to 1st via Edgar Martinez NOW.
This was predictable, and now Metro finds itself taking blame for not understanding what was going to happen in the first place. Not good.
This is a dramatic problem. It requires dramatic action. Signal timing doesn’t make the grade.
This is so disappointing, King County Metro. These are paltry excuses and absolutely pathetic “solutions” to the current slog from hell that is the West Seattle commute. Altering light signals is not going to come anywhere near close to solving the problem. Does anyone involved with these decisions even take public transport? It seems unlikely given the absolute mess King County Metro has created in post-viaduct Seattle. Take the buses off of 1st Avenue or make it a bus only route during peak commuting times. Or don’t allow street parking on 1st Avenue during peak commuting times. Why doesn’t King County Metro implement any of the seemingly simpler solutions? King County Metro has proved time and time again that it cares nothing about its customers. By all means, keep up your useless work, thereby encouraging more people to drive, putting more cars on our already stressed roadways. Well done.
Maybe consider increasing East West service from West Seattle (Morgan/Alaska/Admiral) to a light rail station at Lander or SoDo stations. This would actually be useful service to attend events at Safeco/Clink/Husky Stadium too.
So, the time of the thousands and thousands of commuters losing about 2 hours a day stuck in afternoon gridlock is less valuable than the resources that would be needed to control key intersections, etc.?
And what about the timeline of the changes you mention? You say “…consider options that could improve…” What about “…defined options that we are implementing now and will improve…” instead? The nightmare-ish commute has been on for more than a month now. That’s about 10 hours lost per commuter per week.
2020 is not anytime soon. Particularly “early 2020”, which could be March 2020. Do transit users have to expect 2-hour long commutes to last for the next 8 months? What about re-imbursing us for the service which is NOT being delivered?
hear this metro, read these comments. see that driving is beating riding metro. how long do you really expect the tax paying VOTERS to put up with 2 hour trips home when we could drive it in half the time(that is for those who have that option)??
Signal changes aren’t going to change anything when traffic is in gridlock. Metro is saying they ‘hear us’ but their actions don’t reflect this. We need more substantial improvements.
Today I drove, taking the high bridge and then up 4th. It took half the time as my normal bus route through pioneer square. Parking is pricey, but SOVs may be commuters’ best option until this all gets sorted out.
I’m a rider of the 125 and wondered about a few things: (1) the “old” route down 1st Ave to Virginia and back south on 3rd Ave made sense, but today’s odd route of barely going into DT Seattle is odd, since many passengers work in the CBD and far north of Seneca, so my solution would be to have the 125 follow the 120 route into DT, all the way to Virginia. Or, (2), given that the 120 and 125 are almost identical (from Westwood Village), except for the 16th Ave SW route, why not run a shuttle from Delridge Way SW, up to 16th Ave SW, to Westwood Village, and link up to the 120, 22, or future Rapid Ride route on Delridge Way SW at some point (northbound), especially if you’re running more DT routes on Delridge? Just my two cents.
I’m afraid I don’t understand your reply to many riders’ suggestion to reverting to the Viadoom route along 4th Ave and the busway. That worked so well! Better than 99 has in recent memory, even pre-viadoom and should be considered as the lermanent N-s corridor from WS>DT.
Could you please expand on your statement that it necessitated:
“several temporary bus lanes and uniformed traffic control officers at key intersections. These measures would be difficult and costly to renew and maintain for an extended time.”
Temporary bus lanes. OK. It worked during viadoom. Why not. now?
Traffic control: are you referring to the folks stationed at the 4th Ave cloverleaf? If so, even without their presence I don’t see why this option wouldn’t be implemented. There are plenty of other “pinch points” around the city that would benefit from traffic control officers but their non-existence doesn’t force abandoning the option.
What am I missing?