Rainier Bus-Only Lanes Project Update
Moving forward with Option 1
The goal of this project is to make transit an accessible, convenient, and reliable transportation choice for all people living in, working in, and visiting the Rainier Valley. We’re working toward this goal by expanding our network of bus lanes to create a more reliable and effective transit system.
We’ve spent the past few months reviewing your feedback to better understand how you use Rainier Ave S and how we can make the bus a better transportation option. Based on your feedback we’re moving forward with Option 1 (detailed in the Project Overview section of our website).
Option 1 includes a northbound bus lane from S Grand St to S Walden St, one northbound general travel lane, and keeps the center turn lane. To learn more about the benefits and considerations of Option 1, please visit the project website.
We heard in our engagement about the need for safety of people walking and rolling on Rainier Ave S and maintaining access to businesses. In working to balance the needs of all users, we also considered the needs of the freight community, who require lanes wide enough to move goods safely through the corridor.
Option 1 changes a travel lane to a bus lane, helping to reduce speeds on Rainier Ave S and keeps the center turn lane to maintain access to businesses, while maintaining lane widths for trucks. Read below for more information about what we heard during last year’s outreach.
 Graphic showing Option 1 street layout with two southbound travel lanes, one center turn lane, one northbound travel lane, and one northbound bus lane.
Racial Equity Toolkit
Since you last heard from us we’ve been working to develop a Racial Equity Toolkit (RET) for the Rainier Bus Lanes project. This has included internal workshops and sharing a draft with community members for feedback. We’re now working to incorporate and respond to feedback community shared and will be finalizing and sharing the RET via email and on the project webpage.
Thank you for sharing your feedback
Thanks to everyone who engaged with us last year. We’ve summarized our outreach efforts in the Outreach Summary Report. For more detailed summaries about our multicultural media campaign and survey, check out these links – Survey Analysis Summary, Multicultural Media Campaign Report.
Highlights of what we heard:
- People want buses to be more reliable and accessible for both commuting and local trips
- People shared safety concerns about speeding and illegal use of the bus lanes
- People shared what barriers they face to taking the bus including safety concerns about walking to and waiting at bus stops
- People shared concerns about traffic impacts of adding bus lanes including increased congestion and cut-through traffic
 Community members filling out a paper survey with a Department of Neighborhoods Community Liaison
Safety
We heard safety is a priority for everyone in Rainier, including people walking, biking, and driving on Rainier Ave S, and people at bus stops and on the bus.
While our design team builds out more detail for Option 1, we’re looking into immediate changes we can make to address the safety concerns shared by community members. We’ll share more about what changes can be made as we continue our analysis.
Other area projects are being designed or constructed to make walking and biking a safe option, including:
Next steps
Project timeline: Our design team is building out more detail for Option 1 to share with you later this year.
Using feedback: We’re using the feedback shared in last year’s survey to reach out to community about reducing barriers to taking the bus and ways to make it an option for more trips.
Partnering with King County Metro: We’re partnering with Metro as they ramp up work on the RapidRide R Line and we’ll share feedback opportunities on our project website and through emails.
To learn more about bus lanes and this project, people can:
Thank you
Thank you again for your interest in this project. If you would prefer not to receive future email updates, or if this email was forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe, click on the links below to manage your email preferences.
Sincerely,
Madison Linkenmeyer
Community Outreach Lead
Rainier Ave S Bus Lanes
(206) 257-2201
TransitLanes@seattle.gov
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