The Seattle Department of Transportation and King County Metro are partnering together to bring RapidRide to Madison St 

The Madison St project area is busy, dense, and still growing. We're making street improvements to Madison and Spring streets that will allow King County Metro to operate frequent and reliable RapidRide G bus service from Downtown to Madison Valley.  

Construction for the project is 50% complete! 

We're working to make progress on construction as safely and efficiently as possible. Typical work hours are between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. We have obtained a noise variance to complete construction activities within allowable noise limits for work outside of these hours. 

Click here to watch a short video about the project! 

Starting July 31 at 7 PM, we will begin repaving sections of Spring St, Madison St, 6th Ave, 7th Ave, and 10th Ave. We expect the work to be completed within 4 days. Paving will occur on:   

• Spring St between 1st Ave and 9th Ave    
• Madison St between 1st Ave and 3rd Ave      
• 6th Ave between Spring St and Madison St    
• 7th Ave at the intersections of Spring St and Madison St     
• 10th Ave between E Madison St and E Union St    

Paving will occur at night between 7 PM – 6 AM. There will be nighttime lane closures, intersection closures, and partial street closures while the contractor paves the street. Portions of the street will reopen once paving activities are completed.  

Below is the anticipated paving schedule and closures. This schedule is subject to change. Closures will be signed, and detours will be provided.     

Night of July 31:   

• Madison St will be closed at the intersection of 7th Ave and Madison St. 7th Ave will remain open.   

Night of August 1:       

• 6th Ave will have one through lane open and the east lane to the I-5 Southbound on-ramp open until 9 PM. From 9 PM - 5AM 6th Ave between Spring and Madison streets will be closed.
• One lane on 5th Ave will be open at all times, but there will be no left turn onto Spring.
• The intersection between Spring and Madison streets will be closed, including the I-5 on-ramp.

Night of August 2: 

• The north side of 8th Ave between Spring and Madison streets will be closed as well as 8th Ave north of Spring.   
• 10th Ave between E Madison and E Union streets will be closed.   
• The intersection of 10th Ave and E Union Street will be closed.   

On the night of August 3, the contractor will complete any areas that were not completed in previous nights.    

• Buses will be rerouted and bus stops within the paving areas will be closed. Sign up for Metro Alerts for the most up to date information on impacts to bus stops and bus routes. We expect the following bus reroutes to occur:
  • Route 12 westbound will be rerouted off Madison between 8th and 5th avenues, and Route 12 eastbound will be routed off Marion between 4th and 8th avenues starting July 31. 
  • Route 2 eastbound will be rerouted off Spring Street between 3rd and 7th avenues August 1 – 2.  

Route 8 reroute in Madison Valley  

The Route 8 bus is currently operating on its normal route for the next few weeks. We expect that the Route 8 will be detoured again later in August.  

Route 11 and 12 reroutes between 12th Ave and 19th Ave  

Routes 11 and 12 continue to be rerouted between 12th Ave and 19th Ave for ongoing paving and roadwork. We expect these reroutes to continue through the end of August. We are working to complete road work in this area as efficiently as possible in order to reopen impacted bus stops.  

Eastbound E Madison St remains closed between 12th and 19th Avenues through September 1  

Eastbound E Madison St is currently closed between 12th and 19th Avenues. Eastbound traffic will continue to be detoured to E Union St and 19th Ave (see map below) through August. The closure is necessary while we work on repaving the street. 

The sidewalk is closed at the SW corner of Madison St and Boren Ave

The crosswalks across Madison St and Boren St on the west and south sides of the of the intersection are also closed.  We are unable to provide a protected pedestrian walkway at this corner because the full width of the street is needed for buses to turn from Madison to Boren at this intersection. Buses are currently rerouted through this intersection due to an emergency closure of 9th Ave between Spring St and Madison St related to a building fire. We do not know how long this closure will continue for but will keep you updated as we know more. 

9th Ave is currently closed between Spring and Madison streets because of a building fire

We have paused most of our work on 9th Ave due to an emergency street closure. The Madison RapidRide project contractor is doing some work at the intersection of Spring St and 9th Ave. There may be directional closures of Spring St between 9th St and Terry Ave during this work. The contractor plans to resume work on 9th Ave once the street is reopened. At that time, we expect that the contractor will need to resume the southbound closure of 9th Ave.

Street closures for paving in Downtown and Capitol Hill starting July 31 

Read the section above for details about nighttime street closures for 4 days starting July 31.  

Other closures and detours can sometimes occur due to unforeseen circumstances. We will send emails about any major closures and detours with specific information about closure impacts and traffic reroutes if they occur.  

Downtown (1st Ave to 7th Ave) 

• Road work will be taking place on Madison St: 
  • On the north side between 3rd and 4th avenues through mid-August. 
  • On the south side between 5th and 6th avenues continuing through late- August. 

• Sidewalk work will be taking place on Spring and Madison streets:   
  • At the NW corner of Madison St and 1st Ave beginning early August and continuing through mid-August. 
  • At the SE corner of Madison St and 3rd Ave intersection beginning mid-August. 
  • At the NE corner of Spring St and 1st Ave beginning in early August. 

• Weekend and night work will be taking place:  
  • On the north sides of Madison and Spring streets between 1st and 3rd avenues on the night of Monday, July 31 from 7pm to 6am. Access to driveways and garages will be blocked for the duration of this work.  
  • On 6th Ave between Spring and Madison streets on Tuesday, August 1 from 7pm - 6am. 6th Ave will be completely closed between 9pm and 5am.  
  • On the north side of Spring St between 3rd and 6th avenues on the night of Tuesday, August 1 from 7pm to 6am. Access to driveways and garages will be blocked for the duration of this work. One lane will remain open on 5th Ave at all times.

• Road work will be taking place on Spring St: 
  • On the east side of the Spring St and 9th Ave intersection beginning in August. 
  • The current closure on 9th Ave in response to a building fire has stalled work on 9th Ave between Spring and Madison streets. We anticipate needing to resume the southbound closure on 9th Ave once this area reopens and our contractor can begin work again.
• Sidewalk work will be taking place on Spring St:
  • At the SE corner of Spring St and 8th Ave beginning in early August.  

• Sidewalk work will be taking place on Madison St:   
  • At the NW corner of Madison St and Summit Ave beginning mid-August. 
  • On the south side from mid-block Terry Ave to Boren Ave continuing through mid-August. 
  • On the south side between Boren and Minor avenues beginning in early August. 
  • On the north side of the Madison St and 8th Ave intersection continuing through early August. 
• Road work will be taking place on the east side of Boren Ave from Madison St to Marion St beginning in early August. 
• Night and weekend work will be taking place on Spring and Madison streets:  
  • At the intersection of Madison St and 7th Ave on the night of Monday, July 31 from 8pm to 5am. 
  • On Spring St between 7th and 9th avenues on the night of Wednesday, August 2 from 7pm-6am 

• Sidewalk work will be taking place on E Madison St:  
  • On the north side between Broadway Ct and 11th Ave beginning early August. 
  • On the south side between 11th and 12th avenues.
  • On the south side between Broadway and 10th Ave beginning mid-August. 
  • On the south side between E Union St and 13th Ave.  

• Sidewalk work will be taking place on the east side of E Union St from E Madison St to 13th Ave continuing until early August. 
• Sidewalk work will be taking place on the SE corner of E Madison St and 12th Ave continuing through mid-August. 
• Sidewalk work will be taking place on 13th Ave:  
  • On the west side between E Madison and E Union streets continuing until early August.  
  • At the SW corner of the 13th Ave and E Union St intersection continuing through early August. 

• Night and weekend work will be taking place on:
  • On 10th Ave between E Union and E Madison streets on the night of August 3. This work will include a full closure of 10th Ave and may extend to the night of August 4 if necessary. 

• Sidewalk work will be taking place on the east side of Martin Luther King Way between E Madison St and E Harrison St continuing through late August.
• Weekend work will be taking place on E Madison St: 
  • On the north side between 25th and 26th avenues beginning at 7pm on the night of August 11 and continuing through the weekend. This work will include night work and will block access to driveways in this section, we are working on following up with these properties.