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 March 29, 2023
What's Happening Now?
Thank you to everyone who participated in our online survey or intercept survey! The online survey is now closed. We'll share the survey results with the community this winter. Your input will help us understand what's working well for you along Lake Washington Boulevard, what could be improved, and how we can enhance safety and the overall traveler experience. We published a blog post recently to share more information about this survey and visioning process.
Many thanks to the Task Force members that have helped to develop the survey. 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.
The meetings have been productive as task members worked 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 first Task Force meeting (July 2022).
Below are the links to previous Task Force meetings:
- Meeting 1
- Meeting 2
- Meeting 3
- Meeting 4
- Meeting 5
- Meeting 6
- Meeting 7
- Meeting 8
- Meeting 9
- Meeting 10
Sign up for the project email list to stay up to date and informed about engagement opportunities.
Screenshot of Lake Washington Blvd Task Force vitual 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
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 developing the online survey content.
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.
People enjoying Lake Washington Blvd on their bikes.
Visioning Process Timeline
Spring 2022
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Recruit Task Force
Summer 2022
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Begin monthly Task Force meetings
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Plan outreach and engagement
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Develop long-term goals for Lake Washington Boulevard
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Attend community events
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Task Force Meeting #1 (July 7, 2022)
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Task Force Meeting #2 (July 29, 2022)
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Task Force Meeting #3 (August 15, 2022)
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Task Force Meeting #4 (August 22, 2022)
Fall 2022
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Continue monthly Task Force meetings
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Develop outreach materials: online and intercept surveys
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Conduct outreach and engagement events
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Host listening session
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Task Force Meeting #5 (September 26, 2022)
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Task Force Meeting #6 (October 24, 2022)
Winter 2023
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Summarize findings; begin drafting final report
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Develop short-, mid-, and long-term recommendations
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Task Force Meeting #7 (December 12, 2022)
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Task Force Meeting #8 (January 25, 2023)
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Task Force Meeting #9 (February 15, 2023)
Spring 2023
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Task Force to vote on all recommendations
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Complete and publicize final report for visioning process
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Transition project to Seattle Parks and Recreation
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Task Force Meeting #10 (March 20, 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.
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). Sign up for the project email list to stay updated on opportunities for input.
Program library
- MLK Workshop 2023: Lake Washington Boulevard Community Input (January 2023)
- Lake Washington Boulevard Visioning Process Survey (October 2022)
- Walking, biking, and traffic diversion data analysis updated report (includes walking data and Monday morning/Friday evening data) (February 2022)
- Walking, biking, and traffic diversion data analysis preliminary report (does not include walking data or Monday morning/Friday evening data) (November 2021)
- "What should Lake Washington Blvd look like this summer?" survey results (2021)
- Traffic diversion data analysis (shows traffic diversion after Rainier Ave S changes and during the Lake Washington Blvd Keep Moving Street) (March 2021)
- Lake Washington Blvd Nov 2020 Update
- Lake Washington Pilot Summary (2020)
- Lake Washington Pilot Public Comments (2020)
- Lake Washington Blvd Public Comments from Aug 30 - Sept 4 (2020)
- Email update archive
- View photos on our Flickr site
SDOT Blog Posts
- 4 Miles of Stay Healthy Streets Announced along with a 5-day Pilot on Lake Washington Blvd (June 2020)
- Lake Washington Blvd opens to people walking, rolling, and biking 24/7 from July 28 to September 8 (July 2020)
- Three miles of Lake Washington Blvd will stay open to people walking, rolling, and biking until the week of Oct. 5 (September 2020)
- KEEP MOVING STREETS | Streets near Green Lake, Alki, & Lake Washington are open to people walking, rolling, biking, blading, scooting, & fun! (April 2021)
- Starting 4th of July weekend, 3 miles of Lake Washington Blvd (from Mt Baker Park to Seward Park) will open to people walking, rolling, and biking on weekends & holidays through at least September (June 2021)
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