MLK Protected Bike Lane
Updated: June 24, 2020
Creating a new bike connection and a safer street
What’s happening now?
As of June 10, 2020, this project has been put on pause for the early planning work for the Rainier Ave S to S Henderson St segment.
The decision to put a pause on this portion of the project is in response to the significant decline of revenues for the City and our funding partners related to the COVID-19 crisis. The goal is to quickly suspend work on enough projects now to address the SDOT revenue shortfall expected for 2020. Learn more about what this project pause means, why we are making the pause, and how we will move forward together on the SDOT Blog. Near the end you will see a list of all impacted projects.
Questions? Email MLKWay@seattle.gov or call 206-900-8750.
Click the following links to view the blog post in Chinese or in Somali.
We're planning to build a protected bike lane on MLK between the Judkins Park and Mt Baker light rail stations (S Judkins St to Rainier Ave S). We want this design to work for not just people who love to bike, but people who live and work in the area.
Thank you to everyone that shared their thoughts on the early design concepts by taking our survey. View the outreach summary to see the feedback we received. We are currently reviewing your comments as we continue to develop the early design work. We expect to have updated designs to share later this summer.
We will continue advancing design work in 2020 and plan to build the protected bike lane by the Judkins Park light rail station opening in 2023. This will be an important connection to both light rail stations as well as the I-90 Trail, Franklin High School, and the Metro Transit Center.
Project Overview
As part of the latest Bike Master Plan Implementation Plan, Martin Luther King Jr Way S was identified as an important Southeast Seattle bike connection. We're first focusing on the section between the Judkins Park and Mt Baker light rail stations (S Judkins St to Rainier Ave S). That section is in the "planning" phase where we're collecting data about the street on collision patterns, lane widths, driveways, etc. We expect to develop an ealy design concept in spring 2020 and plan to build the protected bike lane in 2023.
Benefits
- Connect people to transit and schools: This will be an important connection to both light rail stations as well as the I-90 trail, Franklin High School, and the Metro Transit Center. The I-90 trail is a regional connection that will improve access to downtown and the region's growing trail network from Southeast Seattle.
- Improve safety for people who walk, bike, and drive on MLK: This section of MLK Way has high rates of speeding, head-on collisions, and off-the-road collisions compared to other parts of the city. Redesigning the street will help to reduce speeding and make the street safer, more predictable, and more comfortable for everyone.
What about the rest of Martin Luther King Jr Way S?
We're also studying the feasibility of a protected bike lane on MLK between Rainier Ave S and S Henderson St.
Project area
We're first focusing on the section of Martin Luther King Jr Way S between the Judkins Park and Mt Baker light rail stations (S Judkins St to Rainier Ave S).
Community Outreach
We want this design to work for not just people who bike, but people who live and work in the area. SDOT is partnering with the Department of Neighborhoods to engage neighbors. Please feel free to get in touch with us to ask questions or set up a meeting: MLKWay@Seattle.gov or 206-900-8750.
This project is just getting started, but this table shows the outreach plan so far.
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| Summer 2019 | MLK was identified as an important Southeast Seattle bike connection as part of the latest Bike Master Plan Implementation Plan |
| Early 2020 | Phone interviews with project neighbors and interested stakeholders |
| Spring 2020 | Online survey and other outreach to engage neighbors in the early design |
| Ongoing | Email and web updates |
Materials
.jpg "MLK PBL Factsheet page 1")
Related Projects
We're coordinating closely with other projects in the area including:
- Route 7 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor and Metro RapidRide
- Accessible Mt Baker
Need Translation?
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