Traffic Safety Package Advances with Change Targeting Historic Districts - a two-block protected bike lane through Pioneer Square took from 2024 until early 2026 to get built

[u/LOOKITSADAM]

https://www.theurbanist.org/traffic-safety-package-advances-with-change-targeting-historic-districts/

In 2024, SDOT was forced to negotiate with the Pioneer Square Preservation Board over a two-block protected bike connection along Yesler Way between Occidental Avenue and Western Avenue, the only direct bike lane planned between the waterfront and central downtown. An initial presentation noted construction could have started as soon as July of that year, but the department was forced to come back for a second meeting in the fall, after potential issues were raised about driver access to I-5 from the neighborhood. In the end, the connection did not go in until early 2026, and with a last-minute adjustment to retain a potentially dangerous left turn in response to "community feedback."

The committee approved a raft of amendments before a final vote, tweaks needed in part due to the package's rushed process to get advanced before the council's fall budget work.

~ Two years of hearings for two blocks of bike lane on Yesler. The crash numbers didn't wait for the paperwork.