SDOT’s Christine Alar Spotlights Latest Advancements in Transit and Road Safety Along Rainier Ave
On this segment of The Day With Trae, host Trae Holiday sat down with Christine Alar, a Senior Transportation Planner for the Seattle Department Of Transportation (SDOT), to discuss SDOT's Rainier Ave S Bus Lane Project and the implementation of safety measures throughout the corridor.
"In 2022, we did a lot of outreach on Rainier Avenue South because we have a project that's going to put in bus lanes, mostly in the northbound direction, but also some smaller segments in the southbound direction," Alar said. "At that time, we had some really great community liaisons that met folks at the playfield and at the grocery store and shopping centers, and we did a survey, got lots of feedback. What we heard from folks is they were very concerned about safety."
Due to concerns, SDOT has redirected its efforts to prioritize safety throughout the neighborhood's roadways before continuing with other project components. To address issues head-on, engineers from SDOT and King County Metro collaborated to develop a pilot program to deter unauthorized usage of bus lanes. Along Rainier Avenue South at Alaska Street, the route has been outfitted with enhanced signage, increased paint visibility, and raised pavement markers functioning as rumble strips.
Rumble strips create vibrations, warning drivers that they are in designated bus lanes, which SDOT hopes will lead to safer driving in the area.
"We're just testing it out to see if that's reducing speeds, and we have some monitoring happening, checking how many people are using it, the violation rates, and things like that," said Alar.
In line with their Vision Zero approach, SDOT has further promoted safety along Rainier Avenue by installing additional stop signs.
"Part of this project is putting in an additional stop signal at Grand Street and then another one at College to allow safe pedestrian crossings," Alar said. "Because this can be kind of a difficult place to walk, it doesn't feel very comfortable. So we want to prioritize pedestrian access through this area."
SDOT, alongside King County Metro, will extend the northbound bus lanes on Rainier Ave S from S Walden St to S Grand St, closer to the I90 on-ramp. Here, they will monitor for violations, the average speed of vehicles, and the time of the buses, and we will see how it all works together. In addition, signals will be retimed to prioritize public transport and lane changes on the road to create safer conditions.
SDOT, partnering with King County Metro, is extending the northbound bus lanes along Rainier Ave S from S Walden St to S Grand St closer to the I-90 on-ramp. SDOT will monitor for lane violations, vehicle speeds, and bus schedules, receiving insights into the effectiveness of the second phase of their project on Rainier. Furthermore, the retiming of signals will happen to prioritize public transportation and facilitate safer lane changes.
"It was a very big challenge to balance. There's a lot of freight access, a lot of businesses and driveways along the roadway, and so we wanted to ensure that those trucks could reach those businesses," Alar said. "So,
we're maintaining the center turn lane, then taking the curb lane to make it a bus-only lane, and then keeping one lane of through traffic.
These changes will begin this summer.
"People say sometimes, "This has been under construction for years." Well, because we move forward, and then we hear community feedback, and we have to tweak some things. Some things didn't work how we thought, so we need to go back and fix it," Alar said. "Because you can do a lot of planning, but once it's out on the street, that's when you really see how things operate."
To contact SDOT for information, email TransitLanes@seattle.gov or call (206) 257-2201.
To hear more news happening in Seattle, join Trae live every weekday at 11 am on Converge Media platforms and The Day With Trae YouTube Channel.
