New Alaskan Way Boulevard will be up to 8 lanes wide

Advocacy groups for pedestrians and bicyclists are criticizing the City of Seattle’s plan to remake the waterfront after the Alaskan Way Viaduct comes down because the roadway could be up to eight lanes wide.

According to documents released Monday in the project’s final environmental review, the widest point south of the ferry dock will have two general purpose lanes in each direction, a bus lane in each direction, two northbound lanes for ferry queuing and a lane for drop off and parking.

“We tear down this viaduct so we can have a waterfront for all, but yet we end up back with an eight-lane highway,” said Lisa Quinn of the pedestrian advocacy group, Feet First, who said crossing between downtown and Elliott Bay will be intimidating.

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“I think we need to make it so it’s more inviting and more accessible,” Quinn said.

Marshall Foster, the city’s waterfront director, said all of the lanes are necessary to accommodate 35,000 vehicles per day and 60 buses per hour in the morning.

Drivers bypassing downtown will take the new State Route 99 tunnel.

But traffic headed to downtown from the south will arrive via the waterfront.

“Do we wish it could be less wide? Absolutely we do. Do we want to keep traffic moving and all those uses working? Absolutely,” Foster said.

Foster said the wide roadway will only be on the southern third of the new Alaskan Way.

The other two thirds, north of Colman Dock, will be narrower, eventually down to four lanes.

The city’s waterfront plan includes a promenade and wide sidewalks, and protected bicycle lanes.

Foster said landscaping and raised crosswalks will calm traffic and make pedestrian crossings more welcoming.

In a statement, a Cascade Bicycle Club representative wrote the advocacy organization “is happy for the protected bike lane throughout the waterfront and it will be an important downtown connection. That said, we are concerned that eight lanes of traffic makes it difficult to call it a waterfront for all.”