Changes coming to Melrose Ave near Pike St and Pine St

Greetings,

I’m writing to let you know about upcoming changes to Melrose Ave between Pike St and Pine St to make the street more comfortable for people walking, biking, and rolling and to address issues of illegal parking and illegal left turns from Pike St onto Melrose Ave.

These changes were informed by feedback from the community and nearby businesses, as well as evaluation by SDOT staff, the Melrose Promenade Project, and the Pike/Pine Streetscape project led by the Waterfront Seattle Program.

The changes include:

Installing bollards and bike racks on the west side of the raised intersection at Melrose Ave and Pike St

We plan to install a mix of bollards (sturdy posts that guide and limit vehicle access) and bike racks to discourage people driving from illegally parking within the raised intersection or entering the pedestrian area. We anticipate installing these elements in early 2024.

Restricting vehicle access to northbound Melrose Ave at Pike St and installing a raised concrete island on the east side of the street at the intersection

The Waterfront Seattle program is permanently changing Pike St and Pine St to be one-way streets from 1st Ave in downtown Seattle to Bellevue Ave in Capitol Hill, with Pike St one-way eastbound and Pine St one-way westbound (read more in our recent blog). The change will happen in phases as the project is completed. As early as Saturday, November 18, the project will permanently remove westbound vehicle access on Pike St between Bellevue Ave and Terry Ave/Hubbel Pl. Left turns from eastbound Pike St to Melrose Ave are currently prohibited and they will continue to be prohibited.

In conjunction with this work, we will restrict vehicle access to northbound Melrose Ave at Pike St, including adding “right turn only” signs on Minor Ave as people driving approach the Pike St intersection. This change will help improve safety for people biking westbound on Pike St until the westbound bike lanes are moved to Pine St later in the Waterfront Seattle program’s construction schedule. It will also help reinforce the existing left turn restriction from eastbound Pike St to Melrose Ave. Later, as soon as spring 2024, we will add a new raised concrete island barrier on Melrose Ave at Pike St with “do not enter, except bikes” signs.

People driving south on Melrose Ave will still be able to access Pike St and Minor Ave, and Melrose Ave will remain open to two-way traffic north of the intersection of Minor Ave. Maintaining the northbound travel lane on Melrose Ave north of the Melrose/Minor intersection supports the localized movement of vehicles on the block and allows people driving to access the parking spaces on the east side of Melrose Ave.

Detailed diagram of planned changes at the intersection of Pike St, Minor Ave, and Melrose Ave. Graphic: SDOT

Reconfigure the parking and loading zones on Melrose Ave between Pike St and Pine St

We’re moving the signed loading zones to the west side of Melrose Ave and the paid parking to the east side of the street. This change will help make the designated parking and loading areas clearer for people driving. It will also make it easier for parking enforcement to monitor and enforce the area. We plan to make the parking and loading zone changes as soon as early next year.

Next steps 

We will monitor all these changes once they’re made, and we will continue to evaluate if additional changes are needed in the future. Read our recent blog for more information on these upcoming changes.

Colorful community crosswalks at Pine St and Pike St coming next year

The final element of the Melrose Promenade project is re-installing the colorful community crosswalks on Melrose Ave at Pike St and Pine St. Due to weather and crew availability, we anticipate that these crosswalks will be installed in the spring next year.

Please reach out with any questions. 

Sincerely, 

Candace Goodrich 

Melrose Promenade Project Outreach Lead 

(206)-529-4295

MelrosePromenade@seattle.gov