15th Ave NE Paving Project

What’s happening now?

We're planning to repave 15th Ave NE, from NE 55th St to Lake City Way in 2019. We started planning and outreach for this project in 2016 and will design the improvements in 2018.

Stay tuned for more information in spring 2018.

Continue reading to learn about the outreach we’ve been doing since 2016, how community feedback shaped the street design, and more about other projects in northeast Seattle.

Sign up to receive project emails using the form to the right.

Questions? Email the project team at 15thNEpaving@seattle.gov or call 206-615-0925.

Overview

15th Ave NE is a minor arterial serving northeast Seattle and approximately 7,000 drivers on an average day. 15th Ave NE connects the University District and Roosevelt neighborhoods with Lake City Way NE and is a major transit street, serving King County Metro routes 71, 73, and 83. Between NE 55th St and Lake City Way NE, 15th Ave NE is home to houses, apartment buildings, businesses, and Roosevelt High School.

Each year, we pave arterial streets in poor condition to make them safer, smoother, and to extend their useful life. We prioritize paving projects based on pavement condition, traffic volume, geographic equity, cost, and opportunities for grants or coordination with other projects in the area. Repaving streets also creates opportunities to improve street safety and move people and goods more efficiently in a growing Seattle.

Read more about our current paving projects. You may also be interested reading reports on how redesigning streets can make them safer.

Project description

As part of our paving program, we'll repave approximately 1.3 miles of 15th Ave NE make it safer and more comfortable to travel on and to extend the useful life of the pavement. Paving is an opportunity to cost-effectively update street designs to promote safety, build features called for in citywide transportation plans, and coordinate with other projects. We developed concepts for street designs along these corridors according to the needs of different users and the amount of space available.

In addition to paving, the project will include upgrading curb ramps, sidewalk repair, bus stop improvements, protected bike lanes, and stormwater drainage improvements in select locations.

Cowen Map and lane design

History and background

Since the summer of 2016, we've shared street design concepts with the community and asked how you get around your neighborhood. We sent mailers, offered an online survey, held an open house, dropped off materials, and visited businesses with door-to-door outreach.

We heard from hundreds of people about transportation safety and we appreciate everyone who took time to talk to us. Your feedback helped shape our design proposal for University Way NE and Cowen Pl NE. Here's what we heard from you:

  • Concerns about speeding
  • Desire to cross street more easily
  • Interest in using more transit and biking
  • Interest in maintaining parking
  • Discourage cut-through traffic
  • Desire for turn pockets and signals at key intersections
  • Preference for "protected" bike lanes
  • Interest in maintaining current operations of the University District Farmers Market

In addition to taking community feedback, we analyzed traffic and parking data and reviewed freight, transit, bike, and pedestrian master plan recommendations. Some of our findings* included:

  • Vehicle volumes: 4,000/average day
  • Vehicle speed: 29 MPH (85th percentile speed),
  • Collisions: 185 in 5 years
  • Peak hour parking restrictions: 7-9 AM (southbound) and 4-6 PM (northbound)

*Findings described are for University/Cowen Paving Project. Learn about data for 15th Ave NE paving in the Materials section at the bottom of this page.

Other transportation investments in the northeast Seattle

Schedule

This is our anticipated project timeline for 15th Ave NE Paving but dates are subject to change.

Mid-2018

Design and outreach for 15th Ave NE paving

Late 2018

Finalize design

Spring 2019

Begin construction

Funding

This project is part of SDOT's Arterial and Asphalt and Concrete (AAC) Paving Program. Design and construction of our paving projects, as well as the safety and mobility improvements shown, are funded by the Levy to Move Seattle, approved by Seattle voters in November 2015. We also seek additional funding through grants, when available. Learn more about the levy at www.seattle.gov/LevytoMoveSeattle.

Get Involved

We're committed to engaging with the community throughout the life of the project. We want everyone to have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions. Outreach is being done throughout the planning, design, and construction phases and here are some of the ways to get involved during the different stages of a project's life:

The Four Stages of Getting Involved

  1. Planning
    What we do: COllect traffic data, review plans and gather community experiences to define options.
  2. Design
    What we do: Share updates as more details are know.
  3. Construction
    What we do: Provide construction schedule, expected impacts, and a contact for questions.
  4. Evaluation
    What we do: Gather feedback from those that work, live, play and travel near the completed project, and collect traffic data.
  • We conducted an online survey to gather feedback about how you travel around your neighborhood and what is working and what's not with these streets.
  • We shared draft street design concepts that included what we learned from the survey, as well as pedestrian, bike, freight, and transit master plan recommendations, and traffic data at two open houses.
  • We held a public comment period to gather feedback from residents, commuters, and businesses about their ideas on the draft concepts.
  • We held stakeholder briefings with our modal advisory boards, businesses, community groups, and schools and visited businesses along the project streets to

Materials

To view a PDF of project-related materials, please click on the links provided below.

Project planning

Contact

We're committed to building a productive, inclusive, and collaborative relationship with all who live, work, or travel in the project area. Please contact us with any questions.

Phone: 206-684-8105
Email: 15thNEpaving@seattle.gov

Community Outreach Lead
Dan Anderson

Project Manager
Brian Glas

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Updated: 2/8/2018