Extended Rainier Avenue bus lanes offer seamless, more reliable trip for thousands of daily riders

(This story was crossposted from the SDOT Blog.)
Attention, all Route 7 riders. We’re now arriving at the next stop of our citywide investment in transit: completion of the Rainier Avenue South Bus Lane project.

In this second phase, the Seattle Department of Transportation extended the red northbound bus-only lane from South Walden Street to South Grand Street, repaired sidewalks in key pedestrian areas, and enhanced accessibility and travel safety on Rainier Avenue South with new marked crosswalks, signals, improved sidewalks, ADA-accessible curb ramps, and streetlights.

As one of the highest-ridership bus routes in the city and a vital transportation option for Rainier Valley residents, ensuring Route 7’s reliability is a top priority. Route 7 carries an average of 12,000 daily weekday riders (as of September 2025). This project is estimated to help save nearly 5 minutes per trip for people riding the bus during the busiest morning hours. This improvement benefits thousands of riders on Rainier Avenue South while making the bus a more dependable and attractive transportation choice for many people every day.

This project is funded by the voter-approved Seattle Transit Measure and demonstrates Seattle’s commitment to using your tax dollars to build a safe, equitable, vibrant, sustainable city. Investments like these are vital to making progress in addressing climate change, while providing transportation options that work for everyone in our community.

Project map

Project background

Rainier Avenue South is one of Rainier Valley’s top travel routes. As a main arterial street, it connects people to key businesses, parks, schools, local amenities, and community hubs throughout South Seattle. As a minor freight route, it also ensures that goods and deliveries can flow through the area efficiently. And not least of all, it is an important transit corridor, serving tens of thousands of daily riders on King County Metro bus routes 4, 7, 9, 48, 50 and 106.

Route 7 particularly is the transit backbone of Rainier Avenue South, and one of King County Metro’s most highly used bus routes systemwide, serving an average of 12,000 daily weekday riders (as of September 2025). Route 7 buses are scheduled to arrive every 10 minutes or less. But buses can often be delayed due to traffic congestion on Rainier Avenue South. To help improve reliability for these transit trips, SDOT extended northbound bus lanes on a longer section of the street, allowing buses to skip traffic and continue moving passengers more efficiently.

Key Benefits

Bus lanes facilitate better connections with other transit options in the Rainier Valley, such as the soon-to-open Link 2 Line and Judkins Park Light Rail Station (opening 2026), the Link 1 Line via the existing Mount Baker Light Rail Station, as well as the Mount Baker Transit Center and other transit connections in the area.

Rainier Avenue South offers frequent bus service during peak morning travel periods, with a northbound bus coming about every 3.5 minutes. After the bus lane extension, bus riders on the corridor can expect to save about 2 minutes during average morning trips, and about 5 minutes during the most congested morning times.

Additional street improvements included new marked crosswalks, signals, improved sidewalks, ADA-accessible curb ramps, and streetlights, which improve safety and accessibility on Rainier Avenue South. This ensures that more people, regardless of their travel mode, can move through the area comfortably and with confidence.

What’s Ahead

These upgrades along Rainier Avenue South help prepare Rainier Valley for the future construction of King County Metro’s RapidRide R Line. This planned project will add even more improvements to benefit reliability, speed, accessibility, and other features like improved bus stations. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.