In November 2006, Seattle voters approved a property tax levy to fund the nine-year “Bridging the Gap” maintenance and improvement program. Together with a commercial parking tax and a business transportation tax, the entire package provides $540 million to address transportation needs throughout the city.

In its first full year of implementation, the City completed work plans, hired new staff, established an oversight committee, set up a new accountability system, and made significant progress on Bridging the Gap:

• Installed 26 pedestrian countdown signals;
• Repainted 789 crosswalks;
• Replaced 1,043 street name signs;
• Built 13 blocks of new sidewalks;
• Repaired 14 blocks of existing sidewalks; and
• Paved more than 27 lane miles of arterial roadway .

Engineers designed major capital improvement projects for future construction, including widening the South Spokane Street Viaduct, a new South Lander Street Overpass, Mercer Street Corridor improvements, and transforming the King Street Station into a multi-modal transportation hub.