15th Ave W/NW & Ballard Bridge Paving & Safety Project

Each year, we pave arterial streets in poor condition to make them safer, smoother, and to extend their useful life. We prioritize paving based on pavement condition, traffic volume, geographic equity, cost, and opportunities for grants or coordination with other projects in the area. Keeping our transportation system in a good state of repair helps lower the cost of future maintenance. Like many of our arterials, it’s important to maintain them since they are primary routes for moving people and goods through the city and connecting neighborhoods and business districts to one another and the regional transportation network.

15th Ave W/NW and the Ballard Bridge is one of the City’s most heavily used arterial streets. Repaving 15th Ave W/NW (between NW 57TH and W Emerson St) and the approach spans for the Ballard Bridge will restore the pavement condition of a critical piece of Seattle’s arterial network. This project also contributes to SDOT’s Levy commitment to pave up to 180 lane-miles of arterial streets by 2024.

We are scheduled to begin construction on July 8. 2024 and continue through 2025. . 

Businesses in and around the surrounding project area will be able to remain open and entrances will still be accessible.  We encourage neighbors to continue shopping and using their services. We are committed to work with business owners and staff to address their concerns and potential construction impacts.

We’re still determining the details of construction, including starting locations, work hours (including nights and weekends), the potential for detours, and street closure times. We will share more information about construction as it becomes available. Please continue to visit the project webpage and sign up for project emails for updates about construction and potential impacts. 
 
In general, you can expect:  

• Temporary lane and street closures for people driving
• Temporary sidewalk and crossing closures and detours for people walking and rolling
• Temporary bus stop relocations
• Disruptions to on-street parking
• Noise, dust and vibrations during work hours (typically weekdays from 7 AM - 4 PM)
• Construction staging and parking impacts near the work sites
• Full Ballard Bridge closures over select weekends to replace expansion joints 
• Changes in construction schedule due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e., weather, soil conditions, etc.) 

There may be temporary bus stop relocations during construction. We will do our best to provide notice about any upcoming bus service changes, but we also recommend you sign up for King County Metro’s Rider Alerts to stay up to date on the latest information.

To pave and do maintenance and preservation work on the bridge, we will need to close it temporarily to traffic at the following times:  

• Southbound driving lanes will be closed Mondays – Thursdays from 10 PM – 5 AM starting as soon as July 8 for 6 – 8 weeks  
• The Ballard Bridge will be fully closed over several weekends in early fall (dates to be confirmed and subject to change):  
  • Friday evening, September 6, 2024 – Monday morning, September 9, 2024 
  • Friday evening, September 13, 2024 – Monday morning, September 16, 2024 
  • Friday evening, September 27, 2024 – Monday morning, September 30, 2024   
  • Friday evening, October 4, 2024 – Monday morning, October 7, 2024 
  • Friday evening, October 11, 2024 – Monday morning, October 14, 2024  

In addition to these closures, we will also need to reduce the bridge to one lane of traffic in each direction Mondays – Thursdays starting at 7 PM this summer and early fall.   

We aim to keep the bridge open for people who bike, walk, and roll during construction, though access points may shift and at times it will be only open on the west or east side. Please follow instructions and detour signs in the area and sign up for our project email updates to get the latest information.  

Please note: All dates can change based on factors such as weather, crew and materials availability, and other possible circumstances. We will communicate any schedule changes with the public.  

If there are any emergency situations that arise in our project area, please call 911. Access for emergency vehicles will be maintained at all times during our work. For all other inquiries that are non-emergency please contact 15thAveW_NWpaving@Seattle.gov or (206) 651-3950.

We will continue to communicate with neighbors throughout the 15th Ave W/NW & Ballard Bridge Paving and Safety Project area. Outreach activities include calling key stakeholders, delivering project information to nearby businesses and residents, and meeting with neighborhood groups to learn how we can best accommodate travel needs and minimize construction impacts. We also share regular project updates through our project webpage and email updates.  
 
Sign up for project email updates here and continue to visit our project webpage for the most updated information the project. Our outreach team is also available to address any questions or feedback from the community. You can contact the project team at 15thAveW_NWpaving@Seattle.gov or (206) 512-3950. 

There were multiple opportunities for community members to learn about and provide input on the project design. Our team gave presentations and answered questions at local community events, tabled at neighborhood grocery stores, sent emails, made phone calls, visited businesses and other key stakeholders in the project area, collected responses in a community survey, and sent general email updates to the project listserv.  

In total, we received 900+ responses to our community survey and additional feedback from 40 community members who emailed our project inbox. Most of the people (28) who emailed us requested safety improvements for community members who walk and bike. This includes a collective effort organized by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. 

In response to the community feedback and to support our Vision Zero goal to end traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets, we have added the following safety enhancements to the project:

• Install a new bike and pedestrian signal and crosswalk at NW 51st St, making it easier to walk, roll, or bike around the neighborhood and connecting people to Ballard businesses, attractions, and transit.
• Replace a southbound lane on 15th Ave NW with a new landscaped median between NW 50th St and NW 54th St to calm driver speeds and reduce the likelihood of serious crashes.
• Improve lighting for people traveling under the bridge along Leary Way
• Install new lighting under the bridge on the pedestrian pathway near the intersection of 15th Ave NW and W Nickerson St

We are building safety improvements throughout Seattle in support of our Vision Zero goal to end traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets. The changes to our design are closely aligned with findings from our Vision Zero Top-to-Bottom Review, which showed that reducing lanes on multi-lane arterial roads slows people speeding and makes it safer for people walking and rolling.

The additional improvements also reflect what we heard from neighbors in the area during our project outreach, including requests for a crossing at NW 51st St. 15th Ave W/NW will continue to support freight movement and the changing traffic patterns resulting from waterfront activities.

While Seattle’s streets are some of the safest in the United States, we still see more than 10,000 crashes a year, resulting in an average of 28 people losing their lives and 180 people seriously injured. These deaths and injuries are avoidable with the right safety improvements.

Our Vision Zero Top-to-Bottom Review outlines some of the data that is informing the safety improvements we’re building in Ballard and throughout the city. For instance, 93% percent of pedestrian deaths occur on arterials, and 80% percent are on arterials with more than one lane in each direction – such as 15th Ave W/NW. The top contributing factors to pedestrian-involved crashes are high speeds and failure to yield to pedestrians.

Thus, we are making improvements in the project area to reduce driving speeds, increase pedestrian visibility, and make it safer for people to walk, roll, and bike across and along this busy street. Additionally, the Sound Transit Board announced the preferred alternative for the Ballard Light station is on 15th Ave NW and NW Market St with light rail service scheduled to begin in 2039. These additional improvements will help accommodate the increased number of people who will be walking, rolling, and biking to the new Ballard station. Sound Transit’s Environmental Impact Study estimates that they expect 17,300 daily ridership for the Ballard Station.

We have been in internal conversations on which improvements could be built in coordination with the 15th Ave W/NW and Ballard Bridge Paving and Safety Project and which could be built at a later time. The additional improvements do not change the project’s goal of repaving the road and installing infrastructure that aligns with Seattle’s Vision Zero commitment.

Leary Way NW is the next signaled crossing south of NW 53rd, which is a fair distance when you are on foot. This often leads to people attempting to cross without a signal or crosswalk, which is not as safe. Ninety-three percent of pedestrian deaths occur on arterials, and 80% percent are on arterials with more than one lane in each direction – such as 15th Ave W/NW. The top factors in pedestrian-involved crashes are high speeds and failure to yield to pedestrians.

Adding another east-west crossing on 15th Ave NW will increase pedestrian visibility and make it safer for people to walk, roll, and bike across this busy street and get to Ballard businesses and attractions. The crossing at NW 51st St also reflects what we heard from community members in the area.

During construction, people driving and moving freight will be affected. We will work to mitigate traffic impacts, such as working during specific times of the day and night, so it’s less impactful to commuters and surrounding neighbors. There will be lane closures for paving and lane restrictions around locations where we are making improvements, so crews have adequate space to complete the work safely.

Once the project is complete, we anticipate that the new pedestrian and bike improvements will have a minimal impact on people driving and moving freight.

The landscaped median will calm traffic by physically narrowing the street, which lowers overall speeds, cuts down on aggressive passing, and reduces the likelihood of drivers to crossing into oncoming traffic. It also creates a landing refuge in the middle of the multilane street for people walking and rolling and reduces the time they spend in traffic lanes.

During active construction, there may be increased traffic on side streets. We will work to find ways to mitigate this, such as scheduling construction during off-peak travel times when possible.

We do not anticipate the new pedestrian improvements to impact the original project timeline. We work to phase the project in a way that minimizes construction impacts. Please note that schedules are always subject to change due to supply availability and inclement weather.

To improve bike facilities, we would either need to widen the Ballard Bridge or remove driving lanes to widen the bike and walking path. Widening the bridge is a different project that is not a Citywide priority for our current Levy. Removing a travel lane would degrade Rapid Ride and other bus service as traffic backups would greatly increase.  
 
To learn more about our plans for long-term pedestrian and bicycle improvements on the Ballard Bridge, please visit the Ballard Bridge Planning Study and the 2020 Ballard-Interbay Regional Transportation System (BIRT).

This project will not replace the bridge. We will be repaving asphalt along 15th Ave W and NW (between NW 57th and W Emerson St) up to the metal grates (bascule) of the bridge. While we complete the repaving of the bridge, we will also include maintenance and repairs to the bridge deck. This will preserve the life of this critical piece of infrastructure and support the safety and mobility for the traveling public.

In March 2023, the Sound Transit Board announced the preferred alternative for the Ballard Light Rail station is on 15th Ave NW and NW Market St with light rail service scheduled to begin in 2039. Even when we’re attending Sound Transit led events, we are listening to our community, and we heard the need for better pedestrian crossings on 15th Ave NW.  
 
Sound Transit’s Environmental Impact Study estimates that there will 17,300 daily boardings at the Ballard Station. With the new enhancements included in the 15th Ave W/NW and Ballard Bridge Paving and Safety Project, we will help to accommodate the increased number of people who will be walking, rolling, and biking to the new Ballard station. 
 
In terms of construction, we don’t anticipate any conflicts with the Ballard Link Extension. Our project is expected to be completed in 2025. To learn more about light rail in Ballard, please visit the Ballard Link Extension website. 

We are aware that traffic sometimes backs up in the morning near the Starbucks on 15th Ave NW when people are waiting in the drive-thru line. We met with the Starbucks team and learned that they plan to add a second container to their property so they can expand their production space. They don’t want people waiting in long lines either, and this expansion will enable their team to fill orders quicker, move people through at a more rapid pace, and alleviate the back-up. We are continuing to coordinate with Starbucks to reduce construction impacts as much as possible.  

In terms of the overall traffic flow, our traffic analysis shows that adding the median will have a minimal impact on travel times. There will still be two southbound general purpose vehicle travel lanes. The new two-lane southbound configuration between NW 54th and NW 51st will be consistent with the same number of southbound general purpose vehicles lanes north of 57th to Crown Hill, and the same number of southbound lanes on the Ballard Bridge. 

Adding the median also has safety benefits as it will calm traffic by physically narrowing the street, which lowers overall speeds, cuts down on aggressive passing, and reduces the likelihood of drivers to crossing into oncoming traffic. It also creates a landing refuge in the middle of the multilane street for people walking and rolling and reduces the time they spend in traffic lanes.  

These safety improvements support of our Vision Zero goal to end traffic deaths and serious injuries on city streets. The changes to our design are closely aligned with findings from our Vision Zero Top-to-Bottom Review, which showed that reducing lanes on multi-lane arterial roads slows people speeding and makes it safer for people walking and rolling.