Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell

As you may know, I serve on the Puget Sound Regional Council’s (PSRC) Transportation Policy Board and its Executive Board. In this capacity, I review and approve numerous regional transportation projects using federal funds. At our July 23rd, 2009, meeting, I was successful in receiving federal funding allocations for two projects known as the “Mount Baker Light Rail Station pedestrian lighting” project and the “Rainier Avenue/Jackson Street Transit Priority Improvement” project. These projects will directly benefit bus riders and users of the Rainier Avenue/Jackson Street transit corridor and other SE Seattle residents. Currently, more than 7 million transit patrons use the services that serve this corridor. The City of Seattle forecasts that transit patronage will increase by 10% when the improvements are implemented.

The “7 Rainier” or Metro Route 7 operates on this corridor and is the highest volume route in the state of Washington. Riders of the number 7 are often subject to unacceptably long travel times and unreliable service. Rainier Avenue is wrought with numerous deficiencies in transit facilities and is not able to function as a reliable connector for riders traveling to Downtown Seattle, First/Capitol Hill and Downtown Renton. The Rainier Avenue project will add two “queue jumps” at key intersections to allow buses a head start when the light turns green and will build 15 sidewalk extensions (bus bulbs) so that buses save time by not needing to move in and out of the parking lane to pick up customers. It will also provide traffic signal priority at 3 intersections to allow buses to move faster through signalized intersections. We received $758,000 in funding for this project.

We were also able to receive $245,467 in funding for the Mt. Baker project which will involve lighting that will link Franklin High School and Sound Transit’s Mount Baker station and provide safer crossing on Rainier Ave South and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

These improvements are needed to reduce transit oriented deficiencies in the corridor. The improvements are also vital for managing growth expectations and meeting the city’s goal of providing citizens with the opportunity to utilize all modes of transportation. In my opinion, this is an optimal use of transportation dollars and that is why I advanced such advocacy.

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