Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel reopens in September

Third Avenue’s role in Seattle’s transportation network

Making Third Avenue and even better place to shop, work and live.

When the Transit Tunnel closed, Sound Transit, Metro Transit, the City of Seattle, and Community Transit invested more than $16 million in street improvements and public safety upgrades. Relocating numerous tunnel bus routes to surface streets was notably successful, and buses are now traveling 20 percent faster on Third Avenue than they did before the tunnel closed. We accomplished this while experiencing an increase of about 10,000 daily bus boardings throughout Downtown. Most importantly, the Center City economy continues to thrive as demonstrated by the estimated $761 million in development projects completed last year.

More Enhancements

To minimize confusion and make Third Avenue an even better place to shop, work and live additional changes are being made. These include:

• Removing clutter such as redundant signs and orange flags
• Installing new signs guiding people to downtown destinations such as Pike Place Market
• Installing electronic overhead signs alerting drivers to restrictions (signs will only be on during peak commute hours)
• Simplifying signs on east/west streets to better advise motorists on street restrictions
• Restriping crosswalks
• Installing countdown signals at intersections with high volume of pedestrians

In addition, the City of Seattle, Metro Transit and Downtown Association are working on a Memorandum of Understanding that contains improvements such as:

• Focused police presence on the streets
• Continued emphasis on trash collection
• Streetscape improvements that highlight storefronts and integrate transit shelters

Questions? Contact Dawn Schellenberg at: Dawn.Schellenberg@Seattle.gov, or call 206.684.5189.