Seattle is a city full of bright possibilities — and in recent years, voters have made clear they want a transportation system that reflects that. In 2024, Seattleites overwhelmingly approved the Keep Seattle Moving Transportation Levy, with more than 250,000 votes (67%) in favor! The renewal of Seattle’s transportation levy marked a historic level of investment in building a safe, sustainable, and accessible transportation system for everyone.

That mandate felt far-fetched 15 years ago when Seattle Neighborhood Greenways (SNG) was founded on the simple idea that people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds should be able to walk, bike, and roll to where they need to go. Our earliest campaign was to bring our namesake street design, “neighborhood greenways” — traffic-calmed residential streets designed for walking and biking — to Seattle.

That early work succeeded. Neighborhood greenways are now an official city program, with 55+ miles having been built in neighborhoods across the city. But our mission didn’t stop there.

In the years that followed, we heard from community members across the city that we needed to focus on all types of projects to make neighborhoods great places to walk, bike, roll, and live. From those conversations, our focus expanded beyond “greenways,” into a holistic vision of a safe and accessible city with crosswalks, sidewalks, protected bike lanes, pedestrian plazas, and safer streets that create a world where kids can safely walk and bike to schools and parks, elders and people with disabilities can get around to their daily needs, and where people have safe, comfortable, and convenient options for getting to where they need to go.

Over the past 15 years, SNG has helped deliver real, on-the-ground change across the city:

• Improving safety by winning safer speed limits citywide, giving pedestrians a head start at crosswalks as the default policy, and holding the city accountable for transforming our most dangerous streets. 
• Making more walkable communities by securing record investments in sidewalks and crosswalks through two transportation levies — including the largest sidewalk expansion in Seattle’s history, starting in 2024.
• Creating a bikeable downtown by envisioning and successfully advocating for protected bike lanes that encompass the city center and connect to surrounding neighborhoods. 

• Partnering with community leaders in South Seattle to bring safe streets for walking and biking to historically underserved communities, like the Beacon Ave safety project on Beacon Hill, the Georgetown to South Park Trail, and the MLK Jr Way S safety project connecting the Central District and the Rainier Valley.
• Laying the groundwork for future projects, the new People Streets program at the Seattle Department of Transportation is tasked with transforming our streets into community places for people, like pedestrianizing Pike Place Market.
  

That’s why, in our 15th year, we are proud to step into a new chapter as Seattle Streets Alliance.

As a city-wide nonprofit with full-time staff supporting an alliance of neighborhood groups, this rebrand reflects who we are now and where we are going. 

“Streets” signals that our mission is not limited to one type of improvement, but encompasses all the aspects that make for great streets — accessible sidewalks, protected bike lanes, pedestrian plazas, and more. 

“Alliance” captures our grassroots model: a collaborative community of neighborhood groups, partners, and advocates working together for systemic change.

This is more than a new name or logo. It’s a clearer expression of our belief that mobility — the ability to get to where you need to go safely, comfortably, and conveniently — is a fundamental human right. It affirms our values to create a city with equitable access to safe, sustainable streets for all. 

Seattle Streets Alliance has always been a people-powered movement, and there has never been a more exciting time to get involved! If you care about creating more walkable neighborhoods, closing the gaps in our bike routes, and making safer streets for everyone, join us or stay in the loop by visiting streetsalliance.org

The post Op-Ed: Why Seattle Neighborhood Greenways Is Rebranding as Seattle Streets Alliance first appeared on The Urbanist.

But a plan to do just that at 21 intersections across Pioneer Square is not going over well with some of the neighborhood’s most high-profile voices. The Pioneer Square Preservation Board is threatening to block the project or force a costly design overhaul.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has been rolling out on-street corrals around the city, utilizing space near intersections where drivers are prohibited from parking under state law. In practice, motorists often park within the 30-foot clear zone and risk parking tickets. SDOT’s micromobility and Vision Zero safety teams are collaborating to implement the quick-build projects as a proven safety countermeasure intended to reduce both the number of crashes that happen on city streets and their severity.

In Pioneer Square, street changes need buy-in from the neighborhood’s historic preservation board, which dates to the 1970s and gives local residents and business owners significant leverage to alter projects within the neighborhood or even hit the brakes.

Despite the fact that city code codifies that one purpose of Pioneer Square’s historic district is “to avoid a proliferation of vehicular parking and vehicular-oriented uses,” projects that reallocate street space away from cars in the neighborhood often meet opposition. One clear undercurrent of this discussion is the “removal” of parking spaces — spaces where it’s mostly not legal to park but where it still happens, thanks to lax enforcement.

Data collected from Seattle’s scootershare companies in 2025 showed around 750 trips per day ending in the Pioneer Square area, or around 275,000 trips across the entire year. Scooter usage in the city continues to increase, with a 96% jump in ridership between 2023 and 2025, according to SDOT. The proliferation of scooters and bikes on sidewalk edges have raised accessibility concerns, and the SDOT sees the on-street corrals as one element scooting riders toward better behavior.

But an initial briefing this week on the proposal brought out a litany of concerns and criticisms of the design of corrals that the department intends to roll out ahead of Seattle’s first World Cup match in June, primarily along the busy First Avenue S and Occidental Avenue S corridors.

The neighborhood’s primary business advocacy group, the Alliance for Pioneer Square, came out strongly against the corrals as currently proposed, pressing for more unique designs that reflect Pioneer Square’s character. The neighborhood already has its own specially-designed bike racks, intended to blend in better with the 1890s architecture common in the area. But the group also questioned the need for additional bike parking in the neighborhood, asserting that existing racks are underutilized.

“We have consistently communicated to SDOT that the proposed signs and designs and locations, particularly those that focus on daylighting, are not appropriate interventions for Pioneer Square,” said Anahí Bendeck, the Alliance’s Design and Planning Manager. “The proposal relies heavily on utilizing the same treatments, materials, and design that is being deployed citywide, without sufficient modification to reflect the neighborhood’s historic context or the actual lived conditions. And we just believe that this one-size-fits-all approach is fundamentally misaligned with the character and the knowledge of the neighborhood.”

Comments in opposition were also read into the record from Pioneer Square business owners, including the co-owner of Magic Mouse Toys, and the co-owner of Friend Museum. Neither business returned a request for comment from The Urbanist on their specific concerns. SDOT plans three corrals at First and Yesler near Magic Mouse, with another planned across the street from Friend Museum at First and King.

Comments were not universally against the proposal, however. In addition to supportive comments by a representative from Lime, Cascade Bicycle Club testified in favor.

“We believe these corrals are a practical, safety focused use of curb space. The majority of proposed sites utilize existing furniture zones or daylight intersections. Daylighting improves visibility at corners, reduces turning conflicts, conflicts, and helps prevent crashes,” Cascade’s Rachel Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer referenced a fatal crash just this week in Capitol Hill, where a turning driver struck and killed a 27-year-old woman at Bellevue Avenue and E Pine Street. “These are small design changes that can have lifesaving impacts.”

While the board wasn’t asked to make a decision Wednesday, numerous board members signaled that they wanted to see the proposal revamped to respond to community concerns.

“We’ve received more comments on this project than I’ve ever seen come in. And there’s deep concerns in the community, and a lot of it was feeling like, there needs to be more robust outreach to stakeholders and communication,” board chair Maureen Elenga said. “Out in front of Pioneer Park […] having that cluster [of corrals] up from there, I think really changes the character. Concern with the materiality of it, these plastic Omega posts are not really compatible with the neighborhood. And I’m wondering, what is the need for bike racks in this situation? We have parking for 200 and some bikes already. So if this is for the rideshare, nobody locks those up and they’re freestanding.”

“I’m fully persuaded by the public comments from the Pioneer Square businesses and from the National Park Service through the Klondike Historic National Park that the proposal is contrary to the nature of the historic district,” board member Catherine Walker said via written comments read by the city employee administering the meeting.

This isn’t the first time that an SDOT project has faced a tough crowd at the Pioneer Square preservation board. A plan to reconfigure S Main Street to upgrade a heavily used bus stop was delayed and nearly fell by the wayside after concerns were raised by nearby business owners and fretted over at the preservation board. Purported impacts to drivers from a proposed bike connection between Occidental Avenue and Western Avenue is a one reason that project hasn’t yet been completed.

Elsewhere in downtown, SDOT is currently navigating the Pike Place Historical Commission’s approval to add vehicle barricades at that popular tourist destination ahead of FIFA. Many of the same aesthetic concerns raised in Pioneer Square are being echoed several blocks north when it comes to changes to the streetscape, which is very different than it was during the time periods that both historic districts were created to highlight. When aesthetic gripes are front-and-center, it’s often hard to suss out whether they stem from a genuine concern over “character” or a simple desire to maintain the status quo.

The proposal will likely see one more briefing before the board is asked to vote. Comments can be submitted to the Pioneer Square Preservation Board on its website.

The post SDOT Bike Corral Plan Draws Fire in Pioneer Square first appeared on The Urbanist.

The post Sunday Video: What Drives Bikeshare Success and Mediocrity? first appeared on The Urbanist.

from The Everything App…Marshawn Lynch riding a bike to Lumen

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— Rock Me Amadeus Ex Machina (@mikeall.bsky.social) January 25, 2026 at 3:04 PM

At that game, the Seahawks punched their ticket to the Superbowl, which is taking place in Santa Clara, California, just south of Lynch’s native Oakland, where he’s also no stranger to two-wheeled transportation. As Seahawks fan are all too familiar, the team is looking for redemption against the New England Patriots, who defeated them in their last Super Bowl appearance in 2015, after the coaching staff opted to try a pass play in the final seconds of the game, rather than just give the ball to their dominant running back in Lynch. The pass was intercepted, dooming the Seahawks’ comeback attempt.

Today, the Seahawks find themselves favorites to win, but 2015 proved there are no sure things, even when the ball is on the one-yard line and Marshawn is in your backfield.

Lynch has remained beloved by fans and a continuing presence via his cameo appearances on numerous shows and movies, known for his love of bicycles and all around having a good time. The former football star has done a number of these “ride out” events with SE Bikes, including a tour of Tokyo, where critical mass rides are less common. Maybe it won’t stay that way for long!

The post Sunday Video: Marshawn Lynch Bikes to Victory, Seattle Seahawks Superbowl Edition first appeared on The Urbanist.

The 20-year wait for Bremerton’s critical 6th Street ‘road diet’ is nearing reality. The City’s final recommended design is excellent, making smart design choices, improving crosswalks, and narrowing the four-lane street to three lanes — or three lanes to two. It would also be protected end to end, a first for Bremerton.

But in a last-minute memo, the City announced plans to remove 52% of plastic flex posts between downtown and the Charleston District, which excludes the part of the project where 6th becomes Kitsap Way. All bike protection would be removed downtown, and some flex posts are removed crossings nearest two elementary schools, where the protection is needed most.

The City claims the changes are needed to accommodate access for the Bremerton Fire Department (BFD) emergency routes. Its memo reiterates the need for “flexible post type bike lane physical separation,” with the big caveat of “excluding where the Bremerton Fire Department identifies emergency response concerns.” The department has interpreted this broadly to include where “…any physical separation installed would prevent vehicles from being able to pull to the curb with approaching emergency vehicles…”  

Approximately 168 flex posts would be removed from the ‘Concept Designs’ shared in September 2025, including 100% of the flex posts on the five blocks of 6th Street that pass through high-foot-traffic downtown. The two blocks surrounding 6th and Warren in downtown have the highest concentration of car-on-pedestrian collisions in Bremerton, and the human toll is real, including 10 car-on-pedestrian injury collisions since January 2020, one every seven months, according to the Washington State Patrol. 

The downtown section of 6th Street is precisely the kind of high-stress location where protective infrastructure is most effective.

Further west on 6th, the City would remove all plastic flex posts from the intersection of 6th and Olympic, the closest 6th Street crossing to Naval Avenue Elementary School. The original design highlighted 6th and Olympic for additional street safety, with lighted pedestrian crossing signs and a mid-street traffic island. Flex posts would also be removed from 6th at Veneta, just steps from Our Lady Star of the Sea elementary school. Bremerton has no ordinances on ‘school zones’.

The City also plans to cut flex posts from 6th Street’s eastbound approach to Callow Avenue, in the heart of the pedestrian-oriented Charleston shopping district.

It’s worth noting that 6th Street is flanked by two alternative east-west routes for first responders, 11th Street, which is five blocks away and Burwell Street (SR 304), three blocks away. Both 11th and Burwell are classified as ‘Principal Arterials’, while 6th is a Minor Arterial and will likely be downgraded after the road diet. Emergency vehicles have two alternative routes, each within five blocks of 6th. Why BFD needs a third high-speed thoroughfare in this narrow section of Bremerton is left unexplained by the Wheeler administration. 

Fire Depts and the ‘20-foot rule’

Like all urban fire departments, BFD has a critical job and absolutely must have unobstructed access on city streets. To ensure that access, cities follow best practices, like those found in the International Fire Code (IFC). Many cities, including Seattle, Bellevue and Bremerton adopted the IFC in lieu of writing its own fire code from scratch. 

The IFC contains the ‘20-foot rule’ for ensuring streets maintain access for fire trucks: 503.2.1 Dimensions: “Fire apparatus access roads shall have an unobstructed width of not less than 20 feet (6096 mm).” Of course many streets in Bremerton violate the 20-foot rule, when both-side parked cars squeeze narrow residential streets. But streets classified as ‘arterial’ or ‘collector’ must maintain that width.

At no point would 6th Street be narrower than 21.5 feet, with all flexposts installed. And the five-block downtown section of 6th Street, for instance, has no fewer than 17 driveways and alleyways that cars can use to evacuate the street if emergency vehicles need to pass. 

The City of Bremerton is claiming its fire trucks require more space than other cities and more than the IFC recommends. Never mind that missing flex posts attract delivery trucks and rideshare cars like flies on summer watermelon. Never mind that removing flex posts guarantees that average traffic speeds will increase or that pedestrians face longer street crossings.

The Wheeler administration has used this tactic before, to argue against street safety infrastructure. Late in the design process, they present highly technical information (logical fallacy: Appeal to Authority), which they claim trumps all other considerations. Late in the Warren Bridge design debate, the administration argued a 12-foot multimodal path made it impossible for under-bridge inspection trucks to maintain the bridge.

The fire chief and mayor believe they found a clever wedge issue: do you want bike lanes or do you support the life-saving first responders? But that’s a false choice. Bremerton can build protected bike lanes on 6th Street and still maintain the access, per International Fire Code, that BFD needs to do its important work.

BFD has an incredibly important job to do and the fire chief deserves a voice on street access for emergency vehicles. But there’s a lot of things on Bremerton streets that slow emergency responders: stoplights, parked cars, trash cans, Amazon trucks. Pitting bike lanes against emergency response is cynical and divisive.                                                                       

Unprotected bike lanes are sexist

When Los Angeles built a protected bike on Spring Street, the number of women riding bikes on the street increased 100%, a League of American Bicyclists study found. New Orleans’ South Carrollton Avenue saw 115% more women after the new bike lane went in. Philadelphia saw a 276% jump with one protected bike lane project.

A five-city study by Portland State University showed that all genders appreciate protected bike lanes, but women more so, “…both men and women overwhelmingly felt that the lanes increased their safety… [but] women bicyclists… have significantly more positive associations with the protected lanes than men.”

In cities with high-quality bike infrastructure, like San Francisco, Washington DC and Philadelphia, women account for at least 33% of cyclists. In cities without bike infrastructure, fewer than 20% of cyclists are women. Your correspondent estimates that fewer than 15% of Kitsap Transit Fast Ferry bike-on passengers are women.

Protected bike lanes have been proven to benefit not just cyclists, but also reduce pedestrian injury and death. Protected bike lanes reduced pedestrian injuries by 61% in Toronto, 28% in Montreal, and bike and pedestrian fatalities fell 69% in Chicago. 

Long awaited multimodal corridor

6th Avenue is critical to Bremeton’s nascent bike network. It’s the only east-west multimodal artery from Downtown, including the Shipyard and ferries, to all points west. First proposed in 2007, 6th Street is finally within reach. The 6th Street design presented in September isn’t perfect, but is damn good – protected end-to-end, which would be a first for any street in the city.

But the removal of hundreds of protective flex posts is a huge step backwards. Equally troubling is the backroom, last-minute veto by a City department. 

Unless City Council overrides Mayor Wheeler, as their ‘power of the purse’ allows, Bremerton will set the precedent that any future bike lane may be downgraded, at the whim of emergency services, or the sewer department or for some other reason.

That bodes ill for Bremerton’s future bike network, which envisions bike lanes on several streets which share the same ‘Minor Arterial’ designation as 6th Street. Presumably critical streets like Lebo, Sheridan, Sylvan, Riddel, Perry and Upper Kitsap Way would be ineligible for bike protection. The City will decide after planning is complete.

Do a pilot project, Bremerton

Pilot projects are flexible tools for testing and learning what works on the street. Flex posts are very easy to remove, requiring no special equipment. Bremerton should fully protect 6th Street, then monitor closely for any problems the new infrastructure creates. 

But Bremerton proposes the opposite: don’t build the protection, then may get around to it later: “Further design refinement and opportunities for additional bike lane physical separation (especially east of Warren Avenue) including use of other types of physical separation will continue to be evaluated.”

A city simply cannot learn if a design causes problems by not building it. Bremerton City Council has the authority to write an appropriation rider to the funding, to require that all planned flex posts be installed, on a pilot basis. Decisions to remove can be debated in the Public Works Committee. It would set an important precedent that – even in a Strong Mayor form of government, the elected officials closest to the people get a say in how their streets are built. 

City Council debates 6th Street on February 4th, 5:30pm at Bremerton City Hall. Please encourage city council to retain all the physical protection on the new 6th Street bike lanes, by emailing city.Council@ci.bremerton.wa.us.

The post Op-Ed: Will Bremerton Build Its First Protected Bike Lane?  first appeared on The Urbanist.

For decades, Kitsap County has been trying – and mostly failing – to concentrate growth into compact areas that can be best served by schools and ambulances, sewers and sidewalks. Kitsap’s state-mandated solution, the so-called “Urban Growth Areas” (UGAs) have failed to attract growth. Since 2000, the vast majority of new housing has been built in rural Kitsap. 

Kitsap County’s proposed ‘Housing Element’ of the 2024 Comprehensive Plan has been declared ‘noncompliant under the Growth Management Act (GMA) by the Growth Management Hearing Board for overstating available housing, preventing infill housing and ignoring wildfire risks. This was the fourth time Kitsap County had its Comp Plan remanded, it also occurred in 2012 for oversizing UGA for the population, 2006 for allowing too much density in rural areas and 1998 for encouraging growth outside of cities. Kitsap County has been inviting sprawl for a long time.

Kitsap is Washington State’s third densest county, following King and Vancouver. And two thirds of those people — 190,000 — live in the area known as Greater Bremerton. Over the last 20 years, growth in Greater Bremerton has primarily sprouted outward, in mushrooming subdevelopments in the forests and farms around Bremerton, Port Orchard and Silverdale, as opposed to infill development within the existing urban footprint, as required by the GMA. 

Kitsap’s UGA: flawed from birth

Kitsap’s first attempt to define Urban Growth Areas (UGAs) in the 1996 Comprehensive Plan fell short of state requirements. The Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board (GMHB) invalidated the plan, ruling that the UGAs were too large and lacked density, while rural areas permitted inappropriate urban densities. This problem of sprawl persists today.

Despite placing strict limits on rural housing (e.g., 1 home per 5–20 acres), Kitsap County continually expands the boundaries of Urban Growth Areas to accommodate sprawl. The largest expansion occurred in 2006, when the Silverdale Urban Growth area doubled in size, from 3,456 acres to its current 7,400 acres, enclosing thousands of acres of prime greenfield for suburban sprawl. Kitsap County has expanded the area of its UGAs in every Comp Plan since 2006, except the most recent one.

Kitsap’s newest sprawling development is Royal Valley, a bucolic 165-acre farm that was previously zoned for one home per 5 acres. Royal Valley was outside of the original UGA boundaries, which were stretched in 2012 to accommodate housing. The land was upzoned to 10 per acre in 2016. And thus, the Royal Valley became ‘urban’ and ready for sprawl.

Despite stretching boundaries, the vast majority of housing development has sprouted up outside of Kitsap’s UGAs over the past 25 years. Kitsap County has added homes in the least sustainable way possible, creating high rural density, without sidewalks, buses or new schools. 

In August 2025, Kitsap’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan was remanded (aka, sent back for a do-over) by the Growth Management Hearing Board. In particular, Kitsap County “failed to identify sufficient capacity of land for housing for all income groups… in particular for the low, very low, extremely low, and moderate-income levels…” Additionally, the County was cited for thumbing its nose at wildfire risk, because it did “not include multimodal emergency and evacuation routes… nor does it direct growth away from the wildland urban interface… as required by the GMA.” The remand was the result of a lawsuit from the nonprofit advocacy group Futurewise, which specializes in sustainable land use policy. 

A new plan for Silverdale’s Regional Growth Center

In 2006, a portion of Silverdale’s UGA was designated a “Regional Growth Center” (RGC) by the new Puget Sound Regional Council. The ‘primary goal’ of RGCs is to “concentrate the region’s future population and job growth into dense, walkable, and transit-connected urban hubs’. 

The UGA has been expanded multiple times, but not in 2024. To understand why, it’s helpful to know that Silverdale’s UGA and its growth center have very different boundaries. Silverdale’s 7,400-acre UGA is nearly nine times larger than the Silverdale Regional Growth Center, with just 848 acres. Housing is affected, as developers have preferred to build single family housing in the UGA’s vast unbuilt farms and forests, rather than concentrate multifamily units in the little designated center. 

But the County’s reliance on exurban sprawl has left the Silverdale RGC dangerously close to losing federal transportation funds, due to falling below minimum ‘activity units’ (1 job + 1 housing unit = 2 activity units). Silverdale is required to have 18 activity units per acre but only had 17.3 units in a recent update. And the requirement will grow to 44 activity units per acre in 2044, a tall order for an area that’s added virtually zero new housing in 25 years. 

Kitsap County is scrambling to rewrite the Silverdale Center Plan to create more dense housing and encourage multimodal travel. The Plan’s December 2025 update, envisions “trail-oriented development” to create “a contiguous fabric of walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods” and “diverse, affordable, and higher-density housing choices” and a “low-stress network” of enhanced sidewalks and multiuse trails to connect the waterfront, shopping, medical and cultural facilities. It introduces the worthy idea of ‘park once and walk’ to complete errands in the Center.

The RGC Plan envisions dense, multi-use developments on parking infill. That sounds fabulous – exactly what Silverdale plans and residents have been wanting for years. To date, no infill projects have been filed in Silverdale. Kitsap’s Director of Community Development points out that “much of the land within Regional Center has […] limited near-term redevelopment feasibility. Redevelopment in these areas often requires parcel assembly, utility upgrades, environmental review, and higher upfront costs.”

The Silverdale Center Plan transportation elements are quite good, but unfunded. The Plan proposes interconnected trails and ‘low-stress’ bike lanes. But the RGC trails have no logical connection either to the rest of Silverdale UGA, nor north or south to the cities of Bremerton and Poulsbo. And every bike lane that’s ever been built in Silverdale is unsafe, stressful and unprotected. Further, Silverdale RGC Plan multimodal paths have no funding, unlike Kitsap’s unrelenting street widening program. 

More sprawl, more roads… repeat forever

Kitsap County has several major “traffic capacity” projects planned. Massive street expansions within the Silverdale Regional Growth Center are already complete: Silverdale Way, Bucklin Hill Road and upper Ridgetop Boulevard. While these projects, outlined in the Silverdale Transportation Improvement Plan, include multimodal fig leaves, the finished projects fall well short of goals because they build narrow sidewalks and lowest common denominator bike lanes, which are neither low stress nor “Complete Streets.”

The next self-destructive project is Phase 2 of the Ridgetop Boulevard Corridor Widening project, which will expand a short stretch of street from three to five lanes for a massive price tag of $13.7 million for just 0.24-miles. At $57 million per mile, it’s probably the most expensive Kitsap County streets projects ever, owing to the need to buy private property from the likes of Dairy Queen and Wells Fargo. 

Ridgetop’s widening violates every element of the Silverdale Center Plan. As currently planned, it does not contribute to a low-stress multimodal network. The new five-lane street will increase crashes and car speeds, and restrict pedestrians from crossing the giant stroad. It does include a crappy, unprotected bike lane, but it will fall far short of plans for Complete Streets. 

A much better Ridgetop would pull the useless paint-only bike lanes off the street and use the same space for a multi-use trail. Two five-foot bike lanes plus a five-foot sidewalk would make a wonderful 15-foot-wide trail, a first step towards the trail network envisioned in the Silverdale Regional Center plan. Better yet, cancel the street widening entirely and dedicate that $13.7 million to building out the multi-use trail network. 

The Puget Sound Regional Council, which oversees the Ridgetop funding could be helpful here – pointing out that Kitsap continues to cash checks for projects that fail to meet PSRC goals. But they probably won’t. PSRC policy enforcement tends to be toothless. Indeed, PSRC is all too willing to fund road expansion projects with the barest minimum of multimodal infrastructure. 

Kitsap: the status quo is broken

For nearly 30 years, Kitsap County has passed strategic plans which claim to concentrate growth into UGAs, decrease vehicle traffic and support multimodal transportation. Kitsap County has expanded the area of its various UGAs during every single comp plan, since the first – with the notable exception of the most recent, 2024 Plan, which keeps boundaries the same for the first time. The repeated expansions of the UGAs designates new farms and forests for sprawl.

It’s not too late for Kitsap County to bend the curve on forest destruction, traffic growth and sprawl, and build the walkable communities that 30 years of Comprehensive Plans have called for. But it must break with the status quo of prioritizing rural subdivisions above concentrated development. The future will be decided by three county commissioners this spring. 

To change the status quo, Kitsap County should consider three policy changes:

1. Downzone (allow less housing) and restrict subdivision of all large farm and forest parcels, whether inside or outside of UGAs.
2. Offer tax incentives for infill development across all Kitsap County UGAs.
3. Halt road widening road projects that invite additional traffic congestion and instead focus new transportation spending on multimodal corridors that encourage walking, rolling, biking, and transit use.  

Commissioners will meet to discuss the Kitsap Comprehensive Plan remand on January 7, 2026 at 10am. Written comments should be addressed to ddaniels@kitsap.gov. Or attend the meetingin person or via Zoom video conference.

The post Op-Ed: Why Kitsap County Can’t Stop Sprawling first appeared on The Urbanist.

But once in place, it would represent one of the most ambitious traffic safety projects to move forward across central Puget Sound in recent years.

As Pacific Highway, this 6.6-mile stretch of SR 99 widens out to seven lanes at major intersections, with narrow sidewalks and infrequent signalized crossings for pedestrians. The speed limit is 45 mph but drivers frequently exceed the posted speed by double digits. Between 2019 and 2023, there were 63 different traffic collisions that resulted in a death or serious injury — more than one devastating crash happening every single month, on average. During that time, more than 60 people who were walking or biking were hit by drivers, including eight people who lost their lives.

These upgrades will build on multimodal upgrades advancing further south along SR 99 in Edmonds, but they are much more comprehensive and wide ranging than the ones being designed there.

While changes along the corridor have been eyed for more than a decade, Washington’s 2021 Complete Streets mandate now requires an analysis of potential multimodal upgrades whenever a state highway like SR 99 gets major maintenance work. Because designing those upgrades takes time, the department is spending time now determining what the vision for the corridor will be, so that future maintenance work can more easily incorporate those changes without adding years of additional time.

“The intent is for this study to very easily translate and push into pre-design so [the project team] won’t need to go back to the public to figure out, what do they want,” WSDOT Planning Manager April Delchamps told The Urbanist last fall, before the study’s release. “When we get design funding, we’re able to immediately transition to designing what we heard from the community, and we established this kind of listening approach for the community. And so if things change, for example we find a constraint, we go back out to the community, explain the constraint, and start understanding if there’s particular priorities around how we address that constraint.”

A survey open through January 20 presents the recommended concept, featuring corridor-wide changes along with spot improvements at specific locations.

WSDOT is proposing two different concepts that would provide full bicycle and pedestrian connectivity along the entire corridor: separated bike lanes next to sidewalks, and recreating the entire walking and biking area as a shared-use path. Those two proposals would give pedestrians and cyclists a similar amount of space and aren’t dramatically different from one another. But with maintaining two general purpose travel lanes, curbside business access and transit (BAT) lanes and planter strips including in the median, they would both require around 25 feet in additional right-of-way, despite the existing road’s significant width.

WSDOT is also recommending a slate of spot improvements at different points along the corridor that would make the highway function more like a local street, including 12 midblock crossings “either near bus stops, major destinations or where there is a large distance between intersections.” Awkward intersections with large crossing distances would be redesigned to better accommodate people walking or biking and improve safety. Slip lanes would be removed.

Major changes are also being proposed for the interchange between SR 99 and SR 525, which connects I-5 with Paine Field. Ramps would be realigned to create perpendicular angles and slow speeds, and all ramps would be either signalized or have stop control. Pedestrian crossings would be raised and include rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) to increase visibility.

A full rebuild of the entire 6.6 miles is likely to cost the state $660 million to $780 million in today’s dollars, with another $310 to $370 million for the right-of-way acquisition needed to fully accommodate all of the anticipated project elements. Future projects, including one that is already on deck to tackle bus priority between Airport Road and 148th, will be leveraged to achieve the full vision. And while that vision will likely take years if not decades to fully materialize, the transformation seemed totally impossible just a few short years ago.

This isn’t the only revamp of SR 99 being considered right now. Further south in Seattle, changes are being considered for the crash-prone Aurora Avenue N, but advocates have been expressing early disappointment in the ideas that have been put on the table so. In contrast with the Snohomish County proposal, dedicated bike facilities are far from guaranteed, with people on bikes likely to be directed to use side streets.

While the state’s Complete Streets mandate has been in place since 2021, major transformations like this one have been getting put on deck less slowly than they might have otherwise, with the legislature prioritizing new highway projects over the maintenance work that would come with required multimodal upgrades.

Recently, Governor Bob Ferguson proposed around $2 billion in funding for bridge and highway upkeep as part of the 2026 supplemental budget, but that funding would be unlocked via new state transportation bonds that come with a price tag for future budget writers. Plus, bonding would require a 60% vote in both the state House and Senate — a tall order.

Although the exact timeline for making these urgent upgrades is still very opaque, establishing a clear baseline for what will ultimately take shape is certain to pay dividends.

The post WSDOT Eyes Major Transformation for SR 99 in Snohomish County first appeared on The Urbanist.

Washington’s first foray into providing cash rebates to spur new e-bike purchases left more than $1.6 million in unspent funds on the table after rebates were redeemed at lower-than-expected rates, a new state-produced report released earlier this month has revealed. The leftover dollars, which are likely to be rolled into the amount disbursed with the next round of rebates, remained on hand despite the fact that nearly 35,000 Washingtonians signed up for a chance to receive a rebate but didn’t.

The state launched its “WE-bike instant rebate program” this past spring after securing funding via a legislative earmark in 2023. The program allowed state residents to sign up for the chance at a $1,200 rebate or $300 rebate. The larger rebate was reserved for lower income households and required proof that a household is earning less than 80% of their county’s area median income (AMI) in order to qualify. The goal was to enable more residents to access an additional pollution-free mobility option, aided by funding from the state’s Climate Commitment Act.

Despite the added paperwork, 55% more potential bike owners applied for the $1,200 rebate during the two-week application period in April compared to the $300 rebate, which meant that only 10% of applicants successfully scored the larger discount. But of those who did, 84% followed through and made a bike purchase — in contrast with just 24% of those who won the smaller $300 rebate.

Under a legislative mandate, 40% of the total rebate funding was intended for the pool of $300 rebates, but in the end less than 13% of the total dollars handed out went to those applicants, after a sizable majority let theirs expire without buying a bike.

Despite offering more than twice as many $300 rebates via random lottery than $1,200 rebates, the state saw 1,880 rebates worth $1,200 redeemed, compared to just 1,087 rebates that were worth $300. Clearly, the larger rebates provided winners with a much bigger incentive to see their purchases through. The unspent dollars could have helped more than 1,000 more low-income Washingtonians to purchase an e-bike

This first attempt at rebate distribution, which comes on the heels of other programs elsewhere in the US, offers some major lessons learned for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). In rolling out a rebate program from scratch, the department faced an impatient public and had to significantly tamp down expectations for the program, given the relatively small pool of money that was set to be available.

The report notes that low redemption rates have been seen elsewhere when rebates around $300 were offered, citing a San Francisco bay area program and a Tacoma program, which was offered to residents who live along I-5 at the same time as the statewide WSDOT program.

“[T]he $300 rebate appears to have been insufficient for many recipients, suggesting that some explored purchasing an e-bike but ultimately found the cost prohibitive,” it concludes. “With prices expected to rise further due to recent tariffs […] these affordability barriers are likely to become even more pronounced for lower-rebate recipients.”

The limited program clearly did provide significant benefits. As part of the rollout, WSDOT partnered with the University of Washington to survey rebate program participants, finding that only 6% of residents who failed to win one of the $1,200 rebate went on to make an e-bike purchase. Only 8% of lower-income rebate program participants reported already owning an e-bike, a group that was found to be much more likely to use public transportation as their primary way of getting around. Across both the $1,200 and $300 rebate, 17% of program respondents reported owning no car at all.

“The program also measurably improved access for e-bike purchasers,” the report states. “44 percent of study participants who purchased an e-bike stated that owning an e-bike allowed them to go places that they previously did not visit. 68 percent reported using their e-bike for trips they would have previously taken by car, 46 percent for trips they would have walked, 36 percent for trips they would have biked, and 33 percent for trips they would have taken by transit. These results suggest that e-bikes expanded the range of trips participants could make and offered an alternative to vehicles, biking on a traditional bicycle, walking, and transit for certain trips”

What the UW survey did not find was any measurable impact on the amount of driving trips made by participants before and after purchasing an e-bike, a major question when it comes to gauging the effectiveness of the program as a greenhouse gas reduction tool. Survey respondents used an app to track their trips, with the program automatically determining whether participants had been travelling via bike or car with a 88% accuracy rate.

“Neither the $300 nor the $1,200 rebate offers produced a statistically significant change in daily [Vehicle Miles Traveled] relative to their respective control groups,” the report states, noting the limited scope of the study, which concluded after six months. “Overall, we found no evidence that rebate recipients substantially reduced their vehicle travel. […] These results suggest that while e-bikes may have expanded participants’ travel options and mobility, they did not replace enough vehicle trips to reduce overall driving.”

Other studies, conducted either by GPS or self-reported data, have shown a decrease in driving rates from e-bike incentives, including in Canada, Sweden, and Norway, and the report takes pains to note the limited amount of data from which conclusions can be drawn. But in context with the other data points shown from this initial round of rebates, e-bike purchases seem to be enabling Washingtonians who would have gotten around without a car anyway to dramatically improve their mobility and travel options.

“E-bike rebates may require longer time periods and/or complementary measures to translate increased e-bike adoption into measurable reductions in vehicle travel. Expanding funding for more types of load-carrying equipment or other bike-related accessories, such as add-on equipment for transporting children, might also affect the extent and type of e-bike usage,” it notes.

The chances of winning a rebate are likely to be much higher in the program’s second round, expected in 2026, after the legislature earmarked an additional $7 million for the program. Governor Bob Ferguson’s proposed budget for WSDOT, released earlier this month, rolls over unspent dollars from 2025 into that amount, bringing the total to more than $9 million. But it will be up to the legislature to decide whether to keep that amount in place, and the data learned from the initial round of rebates is likely to significantly shape that decision-making.

Correction: an earlier version of this story stated that Washingtonians who weren’t offered rebates had received rejection notices, when they were simply not notified.

The post Washington’s First Try at E-bike Rebates Leaves Thousands of Vouchers Unredeemed first appeared on The Urbanist.

The Promise of Shared Streets

Shared streets flip American traffic laws upside-down. Currently, the portion of the roadway between curbs is the exclusive province of vehicles. You can drive, park, or cycle there — but you are legally prohibited from walking or standing in the roadway, except at designated crosswalks.

Where shared streets are implemented, cars are allowed but pedestrians have priority over other users and are permitted to walk or stand in the roadway. A maximum speed limit of 10 mph governs all users.

According to the text of SB 5595, 

(2) Vehicular traffic traveling along a shared street shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian, bicyclist, or operator of a micromobility device on the shared street.

(3) A bicyclist or operator of a micromobility device shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian on a shared street.

Hold Up. Safer Streets Require Environmental Review?

Governor Ferguson signed the Shared Streets Bill into law on May 17 but implementation has been slow. Clearly, Seattle needs to pass enabling legislation — current city ordinances don’t provide legal support for this new street type — but it is less clear whether the city also needs to complete an environmental review.

Washington's first-in-the-nation shared streets bill, allowing local governments to lower speed limits to 10 mph on specific streets where vehicle traffic must yield to pedestrian, bike, and scooter traffic, is now law. app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?…

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— Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley.bsky.social) May 17, 2025 at 11:29 AM

Attorneys at the City of Seattle have been tied in knots for months over the question of whether an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) is required. SEPA’s stated purpose is to “encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between humankind and the environment” but there are cases where it arguably does the opposite.

Councilmember Dan Strauss, who is leading the charge on shared streets at the City Council level, has said the City could simply draft a Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) and move forward. The city’s legal team is perhaps being more cautious and are keen to inoculate the new street type from legal challenge. 

Breaking the Process Logjam

Frustrated with the slow pace of progress, Councilmember Strauss attached a Statement of Legislative Intent (SLI) to Seattle’s 2026 budget, instructing SDOT to provide a legislative proposal for shared streets implementation.

Councilmember Strauss has long sought better tools to improve the streetscape and traffic operation on Ballard Avenue, a popular and historic street in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, which he represents. 

Ballard Avenue is lined with shops, restaurants, and bars — many with outdoor dining established during the pandemic — and has interim improvements using paint, posts, and movable barriers. Gaining the legal authority to reduce speed limits to 10 mph and allow pedestrians to circulate in the street can provide better options for permanent improvements to this popular destination.

The Shared Streets SLI passed the Budget Committee on November 14. The response from SDOT is due January 1, 2026, so we will know their plans soon enough, but internal documents obtained from the department reveal their thought process.

The Redmond Way

While Seattle dithers, the City of Redmond has moved to implement the law with less apparent concern for SEPA. Redmond, home to Microsoft, is a suburb of Seattle known for progressive aspirations and policy. According to their draft Street System Plan:

“In Redmond, some local streets will be transitioned to shared streets, which are appropriate on a residential, limited use, or other low-volume street, where the neighborhood desires to create a public space for social activities and play or as an alternative to building conventional sidewalk where there may be environmental or cost constraints. Shared streets are also appropriate on streets with commerce where there is a desire to create an active and attractive people-oriented area.”

Meanwhile, other cities around the state of Washington watch and wait for Seattle to guide the way forward.

What Is Enabling Legislation?

The Shared Streets Law is permissive, not prescriptive, meaning it allows cities to enable shared streets but doesn’t require them. Since most cities have traffic ordinances that mirror state law, when that law changes, city ordinances need to change, as well, and this is accomplished with enabling legislation.

City legislation to enable shared streets can consist of five elements:

1. Definition
2. Enabling Language
3. Signage
4. Speed Limit
5. Driving Regulations

1. Definition. Since this is a new street type, it needs a name and definition, which can mirror state law: “Shared Street means a city street designated by placement of official traffic control devices where pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicular traffic share a portion or all of the same street.”

2. Enabling Language. This delegates authority to the relevant body or individual: “The City Traffic Engineer is authorized to designate any non-arterial street or alley, or any part of a non-arterial street or alley as a Shared Street in accordance with Senate Bill 5595.”

3. Signage: “Upon approval, the City Traffic Engineer will install and maintain appropriate markings, signage, barriers or other devices to clearly indicate the speed limit and shared street designation.” Since true shared streets are new in the United States, local authorities will need to glean guidance from existing authorities like Federal Highway Association and the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), and perhaps exercise engineering judgment to ensure clarity until nationwide standards are developed.

4. Speed Limit: “A Shared Street has a maximum speed limit of 10 miles per hour.”

5. Driving Regulations: Lastly, the key clause that redefines rights and responsibilities on shared streets, again mirroring state law: “Vehicular traffic traveling along a shared street shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian, bicyclist, or operator of a micromobility device on the shared street. A bicyclist or operator of a micromobility device shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian on a shared street.”

Once All Streets Were Shared Streets. What Happened?

A century ago, American streets were shared public spaces. People walked freely in the roadway, children played in them, vendors sold from carts, and perhaps a streetcar threaded a slow-moving mix of pedestrians, carriages, and early automobiles. Horses did their business in the street, as well, so it wasn’t all roses but American streets functioned more or less the same as they had around the world since the invention of cities.

That changed starting in January 1925 when Los Angeles passed its traffic ordinance. Cars were proliferating — and killing pedestrians at an alarming rate. The solution was to relegate people to the edges, require them to cross at crosswalks, ticket them for jaywalking, and then to launch a propaganda campaign funded by the motor industry.

LA’s new law propagated quickly across the country and that spread accelerated when it was adopted by the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety as the blueprint for the 1928 Model Municipal Traffic Ordinance. Soon, every state in the Union would ban shared streets and effectively prohibit speed limits lower than 20 mph.

Only now, 100 years later, has Washington State lifted the ban on shared streets — the first in the nation. So the race is on to build the first fully legal shared street in America in a century.

The SDOT Team Set to Bring Shared Streets (Back) to Seattle

Interviews and public disclosure requests reveal that SDOT staff members are enthusiastic about the new powers the Shared Streets Law will grant them, once enabled. Responsibility for shared streets will fall to Ashley Rhead, SDOT’s Pedestrian and Neighborhood Projects Manager, working under Director of Project Development Jim Curtin and Deputy Director Brian Dougherty. Rhead’s group deals with neighborhood greenways, home zones, safe routes to school, school streets, and sidewalks.

City Traffic Engineer Venu Nemani has been deeply involved in developing a strategy for implementing shared streets, while longtime neighborhood greenway champion and Neighborhood Projects Manager, Summer Jawson, tracked the bill and reported progress to SDOT Director Greg Spotts, and later Interim Director Adiam Emery.

It is important to note that the shared streets law is a tool that cities can use to improve all kinds of streets. It is a legal designation that changes the rights and responsibilities of users and opens new design possibilities. A neighborhood greenway, for example, can be a shared street and allow pedestrians into the roadway, or it can remain a typical neighborhood street where pedestrians are expected to use sidewalks. Transportation departments implementing SB 5595 will have a choice.

Let’s take a look at the ideas brewing at SDOT.

Home Zones and Other Circulation Plans

Documents obtained via public disclosure request reveal robust internal discussion at SDOT around shared streets. One of the more intriguing examples is the opportunity to create better home zones.

A home zone is an area of neighborhood streets bounded by arterials where diverters are used to make the zone less attractive for cut-through traffic. The result is a reduction in traffic volumes in the interior while maintaining full vehicular access. Once traffic volumes are reduced, there are opportunities for traffic-calming and the provision of additional public space—ideal places to flip the modal hierarchy to favor pedestrians, consistent with SB 5595.  

This approach is most similar to London’s Low-Traffic Neighborhoods (LTNs) but uses techniques similar to Barcelona Superblocks, as well as larger city center traffic circulation plans like those found in Ghent, Brussels, Paris, and Groningen.

SDOT staff are internally proposing what they call “Home Zones 2.0.” Currently, Seattle’s Home Zone program provides spot improvements to reduce speeds, typically requested by residents, but generally doesn’t decrease volumes. 

Home Zones 2.0 would take a more comprehensive approach, to measurably decrease vehicle volumes and speeds and increase walking, biking, and playing. Home zones would be “physically identifiable by drivers, walkers, bikers” when they enter the zone.

SDOT staff illustrated how a new and improved home zone might work on Seattle’s Crown Hill, a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood that generally lacks sidewalks. Diverters, shown in red, prevent cut-through car traffic while allowing people walking and rolling to pass. Gateway treatments, shown as yellow circles, let you know you’re in a traffic-calmed area. 

The chronic lack of sidewalks in much of South Seattle, as well as vast areas north of N 85th Street, make this kind of traffic-calming imperative. At the current pace, it will be as many as 1,800 years before the city finishes building sidewalks in Seattle. In the meantime, these are de facto shared streets. Children walk to school on them, mixing with vehicular traffic in a shared space, but lacking the rights and pedestrian-compatible speed limits they need and deserve to travel safely.

Where Are Shared Streets Going First?

Neighborhood Greenways present the prime case for shared streets treatment in Seattle, which has a loose network of these streets across the city. Neighborhood greenways are non-arterial streets with lower traffic volumes that have been enhanced with traffic-calming, wayfinding, and improved arterial crossings. During the pandemic, to provide space for people to gather outdoors, Seattle converted several of these to “Healthy Streets,” with the addition of “Street Closed” signs, which was, as the time, the only tool available under state law to permit pedestrians to walk in the roadway.

According to internal documents, Healthy Streets are likely to be the first to receive shared streets designation, along with festival streets and school streets. Neighborhood greenways could follow. The changes are likely to be modest at first — with the addition of signage — paving the way to more robust treatments in the future as budget allows and SDOT standards develop.

SDOT also hopes to roll out what they are calling the Neighborhood-Initiated Safety Program (NISP, sometimes playfully called “nispy”) in 2026 that lets residents nominate areas for traffic-calming, possibly merged with the Home Zones program. That would be a welcome development. Since the Your Voice, Your Choice (YVYC) and Neighborhood Street Fund (NSF) grant programs were discontinued, there has not been an accessible outlet for neighborhood organizing around safer streets.

SB 5595 will not transform Seattle overnight — that much is clear — but shared streets represent a generational opportunity to reclaim safe space for walking, rolling, and community life. Cities around the world already treat low-speed, pedestrian-first streets as routine public infrastructure. With enabling legislation on the horizon and SDOT laying the groundwork, Seattle has a chance to join them. The question now is whether the city can cut through its own red tape and deliver the kind of streets residents have long said they want.

The post A Sneak Peek at Shared Streets Coming to Seattle first appeared on The Urbanist.

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways staff and volunteers have worked closely with Wilson and the Transit Riders Union over the years, most notably as part of the Move All Seattle Sustainably Coalition to successfully reverse cuts to the walking, biking and transit projects during Mayor Jenny Durkan’s administration, and more recently to dedicate more money to walking, biking and transit in the Keep Seattle Moving Levy. 

Note, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, meaning we cannot, and do not, endorse candidates for office. But now that the election is over, we can share our analysis of Mayor-elect Wilson’s transportation platform.

Wilson’s transportation platform is bold and visionary, and she will need our ongoing community support to achieve it. Here are a few excerpts of her priorities with our thoughts on how she can get started on implementing them in her first year of office. 

Safety and Vision Zero

Wilson’s platform: “Seattle launched Vision Zero in 2015 with the goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2030. But in the last decade, more than 1,850 people have been seriously injured and 253 people have been killed in vehicle collisions. We need city leadership that will prioritize keeping our kids, elders and neighbors safe on our streets. Prioritize transforming our most dangerous corridors, from Aurora to Rainier, into people-centered streets with great public transit, safe neighborhoods, thriving businesses, and tree canopy that will help clean the air and moderate the urban heat island effect.”

Our first-year recommendations: 

1. Stand up a team to tackle a major overhaul of Rainier Avenue S. The section of Rainier from Mount Baker to the Chinatown International District (CID) has planned repaving, bike, safety, transit, and on-ramp revision projects, and they must all be coordinated in a unified vision to reimagine the street.  We must dedicate the same intensity of effort and care for major safety projects as Seattle did for the downtown waterfront rebuild or the West Seattle bridge repair.   
2. Course-correct and speed up the Aurora Avenue project to adopt a bolder vision, and come up with a plan for a demonstration project to unlock the $50 million in state funding. 
3. Construct safety projects on S Henderson Street in Rainier Beach, N 125th Street in Lake City, and 14th Avenue S in South Park. 
4. Roll out rapid spot improvements on streets and at intersections that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) knows are unsafe. 

Sidewalks and accessibility 

Wilson’s platform: “Maximize efficient use of Keep Seattle Moving Levy dollars to build new sidewalks, fix our streets and bridges, improve transit infrastructure, and connect our bike network… Support the workgroup, created during the levy process, to explore a bond measure that would provide more transportation infrastructure funding.”

Our first-year recommendations: 

1. Rapidly convene the delayed workgroup to develop funding proposals to continue SDOT’s sidewalk building surge. 
2. Overhaul the Home Zone program to measurably decrease vehicle volumes and speeds with diverters and increase walking, biking, and playing for neighborhoods that are not first in line for sidewalks. (SDOT was considering this in 2024 but it has not moved forward.)
3. Require repaving and other projects to pay for basic accessibility and safety upgrades like curb ramps and bike lanes, in keeping with the spirit of the Complete Streets ordinance. For instance, the lower E Marginal Way repaving project is siphoning significant funds from the bike budget. 
4. Accelerate investment in a parking corral system where, in busy areas around town, shared bikes and scooters must be parked in designated zones located on the street (and ideally just before the corner to improve visibility for pedestrians) whenever physically possible to help increase accessibility of sidewalks.

Bike routes

Wilson’s platform: “Continue and accelerate progress on Seattle’s Bicycle Master Plan. Make rapid safety improvements in the most dangerous spots; and expand bike parking, especially where small business owners or residents have requested rack installation.”

Our first-year recommendations: 

1. Provide bold goals and leadership as we begin community engagement and design on transformational bike routes including a Rainier Avenue S to MLK Jr Way S bike lane and connecting the gaps in the Duwamish Valley. 
2. Assess the bike network for gaps and points of friction where spot improvements and small projects will make an outsized difference and rapidly implement fixes such as connections to our bridges. 
3. Expand SDOT’s well loved “even better bike lanes” project to include intersection upgrades (where the majority of crashes happen). 
4. Sign and mark “Bike Lines” in time for the 2026 World Cup to help Seattleites and visitors find the best long distance bike routes through the city, and commit to developing them into a safe, convenient, and easy-to- follow system for the long term. 

Places for people

Wilson’s platform: “The new Pike Place Market ‘limited vehicle access pilot’ is the exciting and long-overdue outcome of years of community organizing and advocacy. With real leadership in City Hall we can go much further, much faster.

Create more car-free and vehicle-lite spaces in dense neighborhoods throughout the city, where people and families can visit, shop, play, and socialize without fear. Pilot a “superblock” zone in the heart of Capitol Hill, diverting cars to allow walking and other modes on the street and permitting businesses to expand into the sidewalks.”

Our first-year recommendations:

1. Make Pike Place Market pedestrianization permanent. 
2. Pilot the pedestrianization of streets around the city in time for FIFA watch parties including Barbara Bailey Way, a weekend pedestrianization of Ballard Avenue, and others nominated by communities.  
3. Pilot a multi-use trail along Lake Washington Boulevard and invite the community to activate the space with art, food, music, and more. 
4. Direct SDOT’s People Streets program to create a process for community members to pedestrianize their streets and create space for market streets, school streets, community gardens, and more. Set a goal of a fully pedestrian street at the heart of every neighborhood.

Climate 

Wilson’s platform: “We must make it much easier and safer to get around by transit, bike, walking, and rolling. Most of Seattle’s carbon pollution comes from transportation. Cutting emissions is largely a matter of ‘mode shift’ — changing how people get around — as well as reducing how far and how often they need to travel.”

Our first-year recommendations: 

1. Direct SDOT to use the Climate Change Response Framework mode shift goals to shape decisions, such as the evaluation of the benefits of bike and bus lanes  versus SOV traffic delay. For instance, bike lanes on MLK Way Jr S and bus lanes on Denny Way were shelved because of concerns around traffic delay that trumped all other considerations.
2. Accelerate the timeline of SDOT’s Low-Pollution Neighborhoods program, and set the bar higher to reach zero transportation emissions. 
3. Incorporate consideration of an Ultra Low Emission Zone into the transportation funding workgroup. 

15-Minute City 

Wilson’s platform:  “Seattle should be a world leader in mobility, where people of all ages and abilities can get to work, daycare or the grocery store safely without having to drive. […] Building affordable and abundant housing and preventing displacement is a vital climate strategy, allowing people to live near where they work, shop, and socialize. Shorter trips mean less driving and more walking, rolling, biking, and riding transit.”

Our first-year recommendations: 

1. Support Council’s efforts to expand neighborhood centers in 2026. 
2. Propose legislation that would align Seattle with cities around Washington State like Bothell, Shoreline, and Spokane that now allow homebuilders the flexibility to determine what level of car parking makes sense.

These are our recommendations for how the incoming Wilson administration can make a strong year one start on her campaign pledges. These bold actions will set the stage for even larger transformational change over the next few years! Additionally, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways is a bottom-up coalition where our members–groups representing Seattle’s neighborhoods – set our priorities, and we will be outlining our 2026 priorities next month. 

Lastly, as Wilson mentioned in her victory speech, she can lead from the top, but change always requires organized people power: 

“To the people of Seattle, I say, what I am able to actually accomplish in office will depend on you,” she said. “It will depend on the support and the pressure and the people power that you all are able to build in the months and the years ahead. It’s your work and your initiative that will continue to drive our city and our society forward.”

That’s why there has never been a better time for you to get involved with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. Join us at one of these upcoming events:

• Seattle Neighborhood Greenways New Volunteer Orientation. Wednesday December 3, 5:30pm – 6:30pm. Virtual via Zoom. Learn about our coalition, our local neighborhood groups, and best practices for being an effective advocate in your community.

Seattle Neighborhood Greenways Community Happy Hour. Thursday December 11, 5:30pm – 7:00pm. Stoup Brewing (Capitol Hill). Meet new friends and connect with advocates from across Seattle.

The post How Mayor-elect Wilson Can Hit the Ground Running, Walking, Rolling, and Biking first appeared on The Urbanist.