Tell SDOT: Do Better in Ballard!
TLDR
The Seattle Department of Transportation recently released the 60% design update for the “Missing Link” Bike Route Study on NW Market St - Leary Ave NW - 17th Ave NW. Ballard Fremont Green Streets has long been advocating for a better Ballard for people walking and biking, BUT we have serious concerns with the design for the Market/Leary/17th Ave route. Please support our Action Network petition asking the City and the Seattle Department of Transportation to do better by doing something sooner to make downtown Ballard safer, more comfortable, and better connected for people walking and biking:
First, build the connection between the 17th Ave Stay Healthy Street and the Burke-Gilman Trail, including the new signalizing crossing. This will provide a safe route to the Burke-Gilman Trail from North Ballard and Crown Hill.
Next, install raised crossings and implement the one way streets to increase safety for people walking and improve access by implementing back-in parking.
Then, pilot separated bike facilities along Leary Way to evaluate their effectiveness at reducing conflicts and increasing capacity for future growth.
Finally, reallocate the right-of-way when repaving Market Street to make safe, comfortable spaces for bikes, buses, and pedestrians.
While far from the ideal solution, this project highlights opportunities to make downtown Ballard safe, comfortable, and connected for people walking and biking of all ages and abilities. Rather than wait to address all the issues within a single large-scale project, we strongly recommend that SDOT address the highest priority needs as soon as possible and to study alternative design solutions.
What’s going on?
In 2023 SDOT released their 10% draft design for the Market/Leary/17th Ave route. Ballard Fremont Green Streets audited the proposed route and wrote extensive feedback to SDOT about this project. When the 30% design came out in 2024 there were still several questions we had that were unanswered, so we provided this feedback to SDOT again. Well, now it’s 2026 and we’re at 60% design and yet again many of these concerns have yet to be addressed!
Here’s What We Like
Connecting the 17th Ave Stay Healthy Street to the Burke-Gilman Trail
The proposal improves the connection from the Burke-Gilman Trail to the 17th Ave Greenway, though there’s still a gap once you reach 17th Ave NW and Shilshole. This means no more redirecting to NW Dock, or dangerously crossing Leary. This is a major win! In our feedback we also asked about removing through access on NW 48th St. Making it one way with back angled parking is an excellent compromise!
Raised Crosswalks
If you count them there are eight crosswalks which have all now been raised, making it safer for pedestrians to cross the street. If you’ve walked this corridor you’ve seen how cars wait in the crosswalk or inch forward with little regard to the safety of people crossing. This type of safety improvement is one we’ve been asking for and would love to see used more broadly in the city. We also appreciate that 22nd Ave NW was turned into a one-way street, reducing the crossing distance and adding more back angled parking.
What We’re Worried About
Trail Width
The current design is using 10’ for the trail, which by SDOT’s own guidelines say 12’ are ideal, and 11’ should be used to allow bikes to pass each other safely. We’ve asked several times for a wider trail but this has yet to be implemented in the design. Ballard has been designated a regional center and will experience tremendous amounts of growth. Therefore, we need to make sure any infrastructure investments are prepared to safely handle that growth. We asked SDOT back in 2023 to provide data on how they expect this trail to support future growth, but we have yet to see these projections.
Conflict Zones: 17th Ave NW & Shilshole Ave NW
The current design does not provide any connections between the existing BGT and 17th Ave NW. During our walking audit we witnessed several cars whip onto 17th without taking the time to ensure there were no pedestrians or cyclists in the crosswalk. We previously asked if 17th could be made one way to reduce conflicts but never got a response.
Conflicts Zones: Ballard Landmark
The residents at the Ballard Landmark are concerned about their ability to walk around the neighborhood with a multi-use path right outside their door step, and we agree with them! While we think it’s possible to make protected bike lanes work on Leary, the current design is asking for an accident. Neither of the options presented to handle loading and unloading from the Ballard Landmark are sufficient to address our concerns and we’re worried that this just isn’t possible with a multi-use path.
Conflicts Zones: Ballard Consignment
During our walking audit we saw three loading trucks outside of Ballard Consignment. We don’t know about you, but we don’t want someone loading furniture out of a truck to have to regularly cross a multi-use trail, since this would be incredibly dangerous. We love our local businesses and we want them to thrive, and this conflict can increase the risk of an accident, either by a mover who doesn’t see a cyclist, or even a cyclist going onto the sidewalk to avoid waiting for someone to load a truck.
Conflicts Zones: Literally All of Market
The most dangerous part is when we hit Market Street. Any given Sunday this street is packed with people, trying to buy goods at the farmers market, catch the 40 or 44, and just enjoying our neighborhood at its liveliest. We don’t have to go far to see what the Burk-Gilman Trail looks like on a busy day, Fremont has a market that crowds the trail regularly. The difference here is that there’s the addition of the restaurant seating, bus stop, and general business access. The sidewalk isn’t wide enough as it is to handle the current flow of people. What happens when we add a multi-use trail?
What happens to Shilshole?
We know that Shilshole is under litigation and has been for decades. That doesn’t change the fact that people use it every day, and will continue to use it if this bike corridor isn’t built in a way that’s efficient and safe for all users. We would love to have both, but if we only get one, we believe it should be Shilshole. Given the cost of this current project and the unclear responses we’ve gotten from SDOT we are worried that we will be forced to pick only one. From an equity perspective, we can’t ask the city to invest in Ballard twice for bike infrastructure when it’s desperately needed in other parts of the city. Shilshole remains the preferred option, but other options are worth considering, so long they are demonstrably safe and comfortable for people walking and biking of all ages and abilities.
What should the City and SDOT do?
We ask the City and the Seattle Department of Transportation for clarity, accountability, and a commitment to comprehensive delivery that respects taxpayer investment and addresses community needs. At minimum, we expect:
An assessment of the 60% design against future usage projections and best practices for comparable multiuse trails.
Use a complete streets approach for this project to ensure everyone, including vulnerable and disabled individuals, are able to safely navigate this corridor.
A transparent accounting of the costs and viability of recent and proposed transportation infrastructure investments in this section of Ballard, including the recently completed Route 40 TPMC project and the already fully-designed Shilshole route for the Missing Link.
A public memo reconciling this project with the findings in the 2017 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link.
An appraisal of and remediation strategy for addressing the many conflict zones along the proposed route.
Consideration for a phased delivery of the components of this project that address the highest priority needs in the neighborhood, such as connecting the 17th Ave Stay Healthy Street to the Burke-Gilman Trail.
What’s next?
I’m sure you’re wondering what you can do! Well if you’ve made it this far then I’m sure you’d be happy to fill out the SDOT feedback form. Though, the easier thing is to fill out this Action network request! We’ve created an email template that will be sent to the SDOT team looking at this project, as well as CM Strauss, SDOT, and the Mayor. Let them know how you feel about this project!
