City of Seattle: How would you upgrade the Ballard Bridge?

A new survey is asking Seattle residents how they would like to prioritize updates to the 102-year-old Ballard Bridge: Biking, walking, or driving.

SDOT plans for Magnolia Bridge replacement ‘disgraceful’

The Ballard Bridge was built back in 1917, and now, is due for what the city calls “significant rehabilitation.” The bridge itself is described as being in “good condition,” with the planned updates largely for ensuring it’s up to modern standards for every mode of transportation.

“We’ve launched the Ballard Bridge Planning Study to evaluate how to bring the bridge up to current transportation, functional, and structural standards including improved bicycle and pedestrian facilities and keeping buses and freight moving,” the project’s page reads.

Funded by the Move Seattle Levy, the city will weigh “rehabilitation and replacement options for the long-term future of the bridge.” As for what those options are, it’s turning to the average city resident for suggestions.

A roughly 10-minute survey runs through a variety of questions, asking after travel habits, primary modes of travel, frequency of trips across the Ballard Bridge, and most intriguingly, how you would like to prioritize improvements:

Based on your answer, it then goes on to ask what specific barriers there are for your chosen mode of travel.

This runs counter to the way a separate bridge replacement has been handled, that’s sparked the ire of cyclists and pedestrians alike. A recent study to replace the 90-year-old Magnolia Bridge proposes four plans, all of which heavily favor cars, and costing as much as $420 million.

Seattleites weigh in on alternatives to Magnolia Bridge replacement

“SDOT refused to consider any bridge replacement option that did not facilitate a dramatic increase in driving,” former Mayor Mike McGinn Tweeted out in early June. “Does our city government care in the slightest about climate change? They are planning on — indeed planning for — increasing our carbon emissions. Disgraceful.”

At least for now, it sounds as though alternatives to driving will be considered in the early stages of planning for the Ballard Bridge’s own future facelift.

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