The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has completed the majority of work in the Rainier Avenue Corridor for a project designed to improve transit speed and reliability along Metro Transit’s busiest route, Route #7.
The only remaining work, the restriping of lane lines and crosswalks, will be completed this spring when the weather is warmer and dryer. While the general configuration of lanes will remain the same, minor changes in lane lines will make it easier for buses to move through the corridor as well as increase pedestrian safety and improve safety for parked vehicles.
SDOT’s contractor has completed the following improvements at locations on Rainier Avenue South and on South Jackson Street:
- Installed concrete bus bulbs (curb and sidewalk extensions) that allow buses to load and unload passengers without having to pull in and out of traffic. The wider sidewalks also provide more room for pedestrians.
- Improved street lighting and drainage related to the new bus bulbs at several locations.
- Added curb ramps at several locations along the corridor.
- Removed the traffic island and installed a new traffic signal at the northwest corner of Rainier Avenue South and Martin Luther King, Junior Way South, opening the new, safer southbound turn lane from Rainier onto Martin Luther King.
These improvements were funded by the “Bridging the Gap” transportation initiative approved by Seattle voters.
SDOT is planning additional improvements in this corridor during the next two years, such as adding pedestrian traffic signals, providing traffic signal priority for buses, replacing sections of sidewalk along Rainier Avenue South, and re-paving several sections of roadway along Rainier Avenue South.
Concrete bus bulbs (curb and sidewalk extensions), like this one at Rainier Avenue South and South Dawson Street in Columbia City, allow buses to load and unload passengers without having to pull in and out of traffic. Photo/do communications
Related:
- Traffic Alert: Rainier Ave = One HOT MESS (10/11/10)
- Traffic Alert: Expect Rainier Ave Construction to Get Worse Before It Gets Better (8/31/10)
- Traffic Alert: Huge Route 7 Construction Project Kicks Off Next Week (6/25/10)
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{ 6 comments }
The light they put in at the south bound bus stop at Rainier and Holden still does not work.
It would be nice if part of the pedestrian improvements included responsive crosswalks. I’m not the type to dart into traffic, but the wait time for the lights in downtown CC can be aggravating.
@tiffany
I have watched the bus come all the way from Henderson to Holden waiting for the walk signal.
I first read this as “New Lame Markers”. . .
The woman who was killed trying to cross MLK at Orcas, 3 blocks from my house, was probably a victim of the traffic signals. Sometimes the cross street gets a green light without the extra time for pedestrian crossing. It’s unpredictable, and unlikely that someone will wait in the middle of MLK for another round of light changes before getting “to the other side.” I have been frustrated by it for months, and I’m sorry I didn’t try to get it fixed before this tragedy.
The cross walk times really are on the short side. In some spots it plain isn’t enough time for the elderly.
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