Seattle mayor proposes $2.9 billion transportation plan
Mar 2, 2015, 12:56 PM | Updated: Mar 3, 2015, 9:49 am
A new pedestrian-bike overpass at Northgate is just one of 24 long-term projects Seattle Mayor Ed Murray proposed in his 10-year transportation plan. (Image courtesy City of Seattle)
(Image courtesy City of Seattle)
Mayor Ed Murray wants to invest $2.9 billion in Seattle’s transportation over the next 10 years.
He launched “Move Seattle” Monday in an effort to “reshape the way we get around” with “new technologies and infrastructure investments.”
Read the 70-page Move Seattle plan
Rick Sheridan, Communications Director with the Seattle Department of Transportation, said it works out to be about $300 million annually, which is not a significant increase.
Among the priorities outlined in the plan, the mayor wants to provide 72 percent of all Seattleites with 10-minute all-day transit service within a 10-minute walk of their homes, re-haul outdated streets for all modes of transportation, build new sidewalks, and provide real-time travel information in the city.
Related: Senate passes $15 billion transportation package
In the next three years, the plan aims to install 1,500 bike parking spaces, synchronize signals downtown, implement a street furniture program at bus stops and stations, install red bus-only lanes, start construction of the Center City Streetcar Connector and the Broadway extension on Capitol Hill, and update all 2,100 aging parking pay stations.
In addition to adopting the parklets program and launching “streateries, the mayor wants to launch a “Pavement to Parks/Plazas Program” at up to 12 locations. This summer, the city will host two events that
opens streets to pedestrians and bike riders.
Murray emphasized innovation and experimenting with new technology in the form of automated transit
vehicles and expansion of battery-powered buses, and piloting rain-sensor traffic signal technology to give
people extra crossing time when it rains or
snows.
The plan also identified 24 long-term priority projects, which includes a pedestrian-bicycle bridge at Northgate that would connect a future light rail station to the North Seattle Community College.
