Mixed Opinions Surface for Safety Improvements to Lake Washington Boulevard

by Nimra Ahmad

After some post-pandemic uproar about the future of Lake Washington Boulevard, Seattle Parks and Recreation is now at work to bring safety improvements to the beloved road — with mixed responses from the community.

"Primarily the project aims to add traffic calming to the boulevard to lower speeds for people driving," said planning and development specialist Jordan Hoy. "So this would increase safety for our most vulnerable roadway users, which are people walking and biking and using other rolling devices. This also increases safety for people driving vehicles as well. Then, outside of traffic calming, the project is also proposing some accessibility improvements along key intersections to improve crossings across the boulevard."

A few safety improvements within the project include creating an all-way stop at Lake Park Drive South; creating a marked crossing and adding speed cushions to 49th Avenue South; and making a curb extension at 51st Avenue South. The majority of the improvements involve adding speed cushions and redesigning intersections.

In 2020, the boulevard was closed to vehicle traffic for a period of time to allow for people to recreate and social distance. This led to some conversations and proposals about closing the boulevard to vehicle traffic permanently, which many drivers and commuters were against. Volunteer organization Coexist Lake Washington formed to advocate for the interests of drivers along the boulevard.

"This could be people who use cars for commute," said Tai Mattox, founding member of Coexist Lake Washington. "This could be disabled people who don't have the ability to walk or bike along the lake. And this also applies for rideshare vehicles, and some of the access vans that use the lake."

The closure ended up not going through, and the boulevard renovations website states, "We recognize that some community members are concerned that the City will permanently close Lake Washington Boulevard to people driving. Permanent closure is not the objective of this project."

Rainier Valley Greenways & Safe Streets endorses almost all of the improvements that the project lays out, but volunteer Terry Holme says that in general, it falls short. While the boulevard stretches for 3 miles from Mount Baker Beach to Seward Park, Holme says the improvements are mostly addressing the south 2 miles, which are residential.

"[We] were hoping for a much broader scope of work," Holme said. "Everything they do will be an improvement, but I would say the predominant response has been, 'Is that all we get?'"

Rainier Valley Greenways made recommendations to Seattle Parks and Recreation for more improvements, such as adding additional speed cushions throughout the boulevard, creating an all-way stop at the intersection of Lake Washington Boulevard and 43rd Avenue South, and adding more marked crossings.

Coexist Lake Washington pushes back against some of the planned improvements within the project. While it is in support of speed cushions to help slow down drivers, Mattox says stop signs haven't been found to be effective in that regard.

"SDOT likes to talk about 'Keep Seattle moving,' — [but] by putting in stop signs at places like Lake Park Drive South and 43rd Avenue South, we're not keeping Seattle moving, we're keeping Seattle congested," Mattox said.

Instead, Mattox proposed the idea of installing speed cushions first and seeing if those are effective before considering installing stop signs, or installing pedestrian-activated traffic signals. She says this was considered to be too expensive by the City. Additionally, Coexist Lake Washington doesn't think the intersection redesign at South Orcas Street is necessary, and that funds for that could be redirected to pedestrian-activated traffic signals.

Hoy says the project is community-informed and that after hosting various open houses and engagement events, the City is now in the process of summarizing and synthesizing the data. Still, there are limitations.

"As much as it is community-informed, we are trying to do the most with what we can with the budget available," Hoy said. "The project budget is intended to address the entire duration of the boulevard, from Lake Park Drive South at Mount Baker Beach 3 miles down all the way to Seward Park at the terminus at South Juneau Street. And so money gets stretched pretty thin when you're talking about a corridor at that length."

According to the project website, construction is currently planned for the summer of 2025.

In other major events affecting Lake Washington Boulevard, Seattle Bicycle Weekends continues this summer, with the boulevard closed on particular weekends from May to September.

📸 Featured Image: A protected path along Lake Washington Boulevard for people walking and rolling from Mount Baker Beach to Seward Park. (Photo: Lizz Giordano)