Lake Washington Blvd

Improve park access and increase safety for people biking, walking, and rolling through inclusive public engagement.

Updated August 2, 2022

What's Happening Now?

The Lake Washington Blvd Task Force has held two meetings, both in July. Two meetings are planned for August. The meetings have been productive as task members work towards developing the goals, strategy, tactics, and implementation plan for the Lake Washington Blvd outreach and engagement process. Click on the video below to watch the Task Force meeting. 

This month in August, the Lake Washington Visioning team plans to have some materials to share at UmojaFest and the Othello Festival. Come visit our booth at these events to learn more about our work.

In partnership with the Southeast Seattle community, we are developing a visioning process for Lake Washington Blvd. This process will continue through the end of 2022 and result in a framework for how the City of Seattle will make decisions about what driving, biking, walking, and rolling will look like on Lake Washington Blvd.  
 
The Southeast Seattle community will be actively involved in shaping this framework. We value your history with, and perspectives on Lake Washington Blvd. You will have multiple opportunities this summer to share your experiences and goals for Lake Washington Blvd.   
 
We are designing the outreach and engagement process from the ground up. We have asked an initial group of Southeast Seattle community members that represent long-time residents, people that ride bicycles, and neighborhood community organizations to help us design a community outreach process that will kick off summer 2022.

We hope that you will be able to participate in the outreach and engagement activities once they start this summer.  

Sign up for the project email list to stay up to date and informed about engagement opportunities.  
 
For more information about this summer’s plans for Lake Washington Blvd, please see Seattle Parks and Recreation’s latest blog found here.

Screenshot of Lake Washington Blvd Task Force virtual meeting #1.

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 
 
  
This summer, we plan to launch a visioning process while Seattle Parks and Recreation plans to host Bicycle “Sundays” For more information about Bicycle “Sundays” please see Parks latest blog found here. The visioning process will include convening around a 12-person task force made up of a diverse group of stakeholders that will be encouraged to share their experiences and discuss opportunities for Lake Washington Blvd. This task force will help design and outreach and engagement process the community will be actively involved in.   
  
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

Graphic showing Lake Washington Blvd visioning process timeline from spring 2022 to winter 2022/2023.

We have 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. 

Now that the Task Force is established, they are planning and designing what the community visioning process will look like. From summer 2022 through the end of the year, there will be community visioning events where community members will have the opportunity to engage with the process. In early 2023, we hope to have a report and high-level design concepts for what Lake Washington Blvd could look like. See the timeline graphic above. 

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

    Summer 2022 Operations

    While SDOT will be engaged with the Lake Washington Blvd visioning process, Bicycle “Sundays” will return and will take place over the course of several weekends this summer, from Friday evening to Monday morning! To learn more, please see Park’s latest blog release found here. 

    On scheduled weekends from May to September, a portion of Lake Washington Boulevard will be closed to motorized vehicles from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Monday. Seattle Parks and Recreation invites everyone in the community to bike, jog or stroll along the boulevard between the Seward Park entrance and Mount Baker Park’s beach during these times.  

    Local access: People driving to homes along the boulevard because they live there, are visiting, or making deliveries are allowed from the nearest cross street. 

    Parking lots are open and will be accessible from the nearest cross street (see parking details and map below). 


    The 2022 event dates are: 
    May 20-23; 27-31 
    June 10-13; 24-27 
    July 1-5; 15-18 
    August 12-15; 19-22 
    September 2-6; 16-19 
      
    Seattle parks with free parking near the Bicycle Sunday route include: 
    Colman Park, 1800 Lake Washington Blvd. S 
    Mount Baker Park Beach, 2521 Lake Park Dr. S 
    Stan Sayres Memorial Park, 3803 Lake Washington Blvd. S 
    Adams St Boat Launch, 4200 Lake Washington Blvd. S 
    Ferdinand St Boat Launch, 5018 Lake Washington Blvd. S 
    Seward Park, 5900 Lake Washington Blvd. S 
    Map of bike route and parking access: 

    Map of bike route and parking access: 

    Lake WA Blvd 3 miles map

    Access to Stan Sayres Boat Launch & Mt Baker Rowing & Sailing Center Map

    What's Next for Lake Washington Blvd? 

    No decisions have been made on whether Lake Washington Blvd will be made permanent in some form. We're committed to conducting robust community outreach before any permanent changes are made. Sign up for the project email list to stay updated on opportunities for input.

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