- Take a drive up  Holman Road
Holman Road Communications Manager, Maribel Cruz at Maribel.cruz@seattle.gov or 206-684-7963 for more project information.
Holman Road construction
Category Archives: Transportation
Transit Survey
King County Metro Transit made big changes to many of its bus routes on September 29th, 2012. They made these changes after much public consultation. Most changes to routes and schedules were a response to the introduction of the Rapid Ride C and D lines providing service from West Seattle to Downtown Seattle, and Ballard to Downtown Seattle via Queen Anne. This is a Ballard District Council led initiative to determine whether these changes have made it easier or harder to use public transit. Some people feel their commute or other use of the bus system has been impaired, while others feel the changes have been an improvement. This is not designed as a scientific survey, but an opportunity to see whether or not the service is improved over what it was.
Participation in this survey is completely voluntary. The information collected will be tabulated and used for transit planning discussions for Ballard and in discussions with Metro Transit. The survey is open until Jan 31, 2013
To add your voice, please visit:
Rapid Ride Line D is coming
King County Metro will be replacing the current 15 and 15 Express buses which serve Crown Hill with Rapid Ride D Line by the end of 2012. As shown on KC Metro’s graphic (at the end of this article), both the Northern and Southern end of the line details have yet to be firmed up (see below for proposed route). Rapid Ride Line D will serve the route between Crown Hill and Downtown Seattle via Queen Anne.
General information on Rapid Ride is available from Metro’s Rapid Ride web page. Rapid Ride offers many improvements over the current bus service. Some of the improvements include:
- Faster boarding via three doors rather than the current single point of entry
- You won’t need a timetable. Service as frequent as every 10 minutes during the commute periods and into a larger portion of the non-commute day. 15 minute interval at other times during the day, and the same interval as the 15 for the wee morning and late evening hours
- Pre-paid boarding. Pay at the kiosk, and walk on.
- Fewer stops speed transit up with the tradeoff of having to walk a little more
- Improved amenities at stops, including improved lighting, and stop request signals to notify bus drivers of waiting riders
Of interest to many in Crown Hill, Blueridge and Olympic Manor will be how the bus is routed on the northern terminus. The current routing of the 15 turns around using a loop comprised of the residential streets 14th Ave NW, NW 105th St, 13th Ave NW, NW 103rd St, and 14th Ave NW. According to Paul Roybal of Metro, Line D is proposed to use a loop comprised of Holman Rd, 7th Ave NW, NW 100th, 100th Place, 3rd Ave NW, and Holman Road. Stops have not been determined, as yet. This will be music to the ears of many living on the current terminal loop, as articulated buses will no longer be driving on the residential streets adjacent to their homes at all hours. However that also means a longer walk to reach the new bus from many areas in Crown Hill, Blueridge and parts of Olympic Manor. Additionally, this will force a pedestrian crossing of Holman Road for those riders residing North and South of Holman to either board or alight from the bus. The changes will mean easier connections to the 75, 28 and 5 routes running respectively along Holman, 3rd and 8th Aves, and Greenwood Avenue.
View 15/Line D changes in Crown Hill in a larger map
Below is the full route map published by Metro. This is available as a PDF from the Line D information page at Metro.
Walk Bike Ride
Walk Bike Ride is a Seattle initiative to:
- Create an equitable transportation system for all by providing more affordable travel choices
- Focus on the places where people want to be and add qualities that make them want to stay
- Prioritize right-of-way space to emphasize walking, biking and riding
The initiative emphasizes the transportation choices we make each day and encourages us to walk, bike, take public transit more often to: 1) save money; 2) improve our health; 3) improve the health of our communities.
The city wants your input and has scheduled a series of meetings:
Sidewalks in Crown Hill — Are We Getting Any Closer?
In the last round of project submissions for the Bridging the Gap Levy funds, the Ballard District Council recommended three Crown Hill Projects for funding. The three projects are: 1) Walkway along 13th Ave NW from NW 90th to Holman Road, plus walkway along 90th from 13th Ave NW to 14th Ave NW; 2) Walkway along 13th Ave NW from NW 95th to NW 100th; and 3) Walkway on 18th Ave NW from NW 85th to NW 89th. It is estimated there will be approximately $340,000 to spend within the entire Crown Hill/Ballard area.
On Wednesday, May 19th, 2010, the Seattle Department of Transportation released their preliminary cost estimates for the three projects. The first two projects (originally submitted in 2007) come in at $994,000 and $480,000 respectively, and the third project (submitted in 2009) comes in at $480,000. You can see all the projects costed out by SDOT on their website.
Clearly any of the three projects, as estimated by SDOT, exceed the Ballard District’s fair share of the pot city-wide. The estimates are for traditional sidewalks, rather than less expensive walkways or paved paths, and there is the possibility that some of the cost of the walkway on 18th could be offset by funds available for Combined Sewer Overflow abatement (that project location is in the North Beach CSO area).
What’s next? The Ballard District Council will reconvene its committee to look at the projects, and possibly change the scope so that one or more can be built within the allotted funds. Then a final recommendation will go forward in June. The recommendation will go forward to the city-wide Bridging the Gap oversight committee to assess which projects will be built over the entire city. The oversight committee’s recommendations will then be forwarded on for approval by the Mayor and City Council.