Thanks in part to Mayor Katie Wilson spraying some of the construction markings herself, SDOT has completed and opened the short but vital stretch of bike lanes on Yesler Way. People can now bike from the waterfront bikeway to the 2nd and 4th Avenue bike lanes without ever leaving a protected biking space.
Crews began work on the historic underground elements of the project in early March. The crux of the three-block bike lane project was reworking and updating the traffic signal at 1st and Yesler, one of the oldest intersections in the city. Pioneer Square was famously constructed with an old street level about one floor down from the current street level. The result is some very interesting and quirky old “areaways” underneath the street, some of which you can see for yourself on the Underground Tours. But for public works projects, this means the street is really more like a giant bridge, and even something as seemingly simple as changing out the traffic signal can get complicated. Three blocks is not very far, but the project hinged on updating the traffic signals at that one intersection.
The old signals at 1st and Yesler did not even have walk signals. People walking were expected to go with the green light, which was very old school and fell short of all kinds of accessibility laws and best practices. For example, a yellow light does not give people as much warning as a blinking Don’t Walk signal, so people who move more slowly could easily find themselves in the middle of the street when the light changed. Now, not only are there walk signals, but people walking and biking in the area should expect to find a new all-way walk and bike phase. Because it’s a spot where the grid shifts and there is a high-demand plaza on one corner, this should be a pretty good spot for an all-way walk phase.
I have not yet had a chance to try the new bike lanes myself (hopefully I can do that later today). But it’s very exciting to see this long-awaited connection get prioritized under Mayor Wilson’s administration. The bike lanes on Yesler between 2nd and Occidental have ended abruptly for more than 11 years. Now that they finally extend to the waterfront, people will find it difficult to imagine it any other way.