Lake Washington Blvd

The Seattle Department of Transportation, in partnership with Seattle Parks & Recreation and the community, are co-creating design concepts that promote pedestrian and bicycle uses and increase safety for everyone that travels along Lake Washington Boulevard. 

Updated August 28, 2023

What's Happening Now?

Thank you to everyone who engaged with us through the Lake Washington Boulevard Visioning Process! The final report is now available.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is leading and managing the next phases of the Lake Washington Boulevard Renovations Project.  Please visit the Engagement Hub to learn more. 

Lake Washington Blvd Visioning Background

In response to the pandemic, during summer 2020, we closed 3 miles of Lake Washington Blvd to cars and opened it for people to walk, bike, roller skate, scoot, etc. Building off that success and an outreach campaign in early 2021, SDOT moved forward with closing 3 miles of Lake Washington Blvd to cars on the weekends and holidays from July 2021 to October 2021.   
  
Following up on that work, and thanks to Councilmember Tammy Morales, we secured $200,000 through the 2022 budget to explore the right balance of closures and possible permanent operational changes to promote more walking, rolling, and biking on Lake Washington Blvd going forward.   
 
“South Seattle has constantly been left out of the conversation when it comes to increasing safety in mobility. There are over four thousand miles of road in this city, and less than one percent of it is actual protected bike infrastructure. I’m excited to see positive changes that will increase pedestrian safety moving forward, and I’m proud our office was able to secure this funding and ensure that there will be a participatory process to engage our community members.” - Councilmember Tammy J. Morales 
 
Last summer, we launched a visioning process while Seattle Parks and Recreation hosted Bicycle “Weekends” For more information about Bicycle “Weekends” please see Parks latest blog found here. The visioning process, which included convening a paid 12-person Task Force of a diverse group of stakeholders to share experiences and discuss opportunities for Lake Washington Blvd. The Task Force helped design the public engagement process, including development of the online survey content. The results of this survey helped us understand what's working well along Lake Washington Boulevard, what could be improved, and how we can enhance safety and the overall traveler experience. We published a blog post to share more information about this survey and visioning process.

The purpose of this process is to inform the development of a framework for how SDOT should make decisions about, future improvements, and changes to Lake Washington Blvd.   

bikers with helmets wearing face masks on a sunny day
People enjoying Lake Washington Blvd on their bikes.

Visioning Process Timeline

Spring 2022

  • Recruit Task Force

Summer 2022

Fall 2022

  • Continue monthly Task Force meetings

  • Develop outreach materials: online and intercept surveys

  • Conduct outreach and engagement events

  • Host listening session

  • Task Force Meeting #5 (September 26, 2022)

  • Task Force Meeting #6 (October 24, 2022)

Winter 2023

Spring 2023

  • Task Force to vote on all recommendations

  • Complete and publicize final report for visioning process

  • Transition project to Seattle Parks and Recreation

  • Task Force Meeting #10 (March 20, 2023)

About the Visioning Task Force

We brought together a group of individuals that represent Mt. Baker residents, Friends of Olmsted Parks, Bike Works, Seward Park and Lakewood residents, disability rights advocates, and other long time Seattle residents and neighbors to form the Visioning Task Force.

Many thanks to the Task Force members who provided their time, lived experiences, and guidance throughout the Visioning Process. They include:

Tai Mattox Coexist Lake Washington
Clara Cantor Seattle Neighborhood Greenways
Anna Zivarts Disability Rights Washington
Theresa Huey Coexist Lake Washington
Aaron Evanson Lakewood Seward Park Neighborhood Association
Patricia Killam Friends of Seward Park
Jennifer Ott Friends of Seattle's Olmsted Parks
Joseph Manson Seward Park Audubon Center
Terry Holme Rainier Valley Neighborhood Greenway
Zachary Fleet Mt. Baker Community Club
Yuan Tao Long-time Seattle resident, Asian Bike Club
Edwin Lindo UW Professor and Author, NorthStar Cycling Club

The Lake Washington Blvd Task Force has held ten meetings, where members worked towards developing the goals, strategy, tactics, and implementation plan for the Lake Washington Blvd outreach and engagement process. All meetings are available in the Visioning Process Timeline above.

Photo showing SDOT staffing a booth for outreach and engagement in South Seattle.
Outreach and engagement in South Seattle.

What's Next for Lake Washington Blvd? 

We recognize some community members are concerned that the City will permanently close Lake Washington Boulevard to people driving. Permanent closure is not the objective of this partnership. We are gathering information on how this Olmstead Boulevard can be made safer and more accessible for all travelers. Results of this engagement campaign, public input, recommendations from the Task Force, and previous outreach and engagement over the past 2 1/2 years will inform potential future operational changes. Councilmember Tammy Morales has proposed a total of $404,000 to help advance design on the resulting concept over the next two years (2023-2024).

Program library

SDOT Blog Posts

Translation and Interpretation

If you need this information translated, please call (206) 771-0481.

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당신이 번역이 정보를 필요로하는 경우에, (206) 771-0481 ? 전화 해주십시오. 

Transportation

Greg Spotts, Director
Address: 700 5th Ave, Suite 3800, Seattle, WA, 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 34996, Seattle, WA, 98124-4996
Phone: (206) 684-7623
684-Road@seattle.gov

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The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is on a mission to deliver a transportation system that provides safe and affordable access to places and opportunities for everyone as we work to achieve our vision of Seattle as a thriving, equitable community powered by dependable transportation.