30th Ave NE Paving & Bus Improvements

Updated February 5, 2025

Project Overview

King County Metro is adding a new bus route to help people get to Sound Transit’s future Pinehurst Station (formerly the NE 130th St Infill Station). The new Route 77 will connect people in the Haller Lake, Pinehurst, Victory Heights, Olympic Hills, Jackson Park, and Lake City neighborhoods to the station and help them get around their neighborhoods.  

To support bus movements, we need to remove the existing street parking on the west side of the street. We will install a new loading zone and parallel street parking on the east side of the street adjacent to the new sidewalk.

Project Design

The final design map shows the new sidewalk on the east side of 30th Ave NE with an adjacent planting strip with trees, parallel parking, and a load zone. Parking will be removed on the west side of 30th Ave NE to accommodate the new bus stop. Eastbound and westbound bike lane crossings will be installed on NE 125th St at 30th Ave NE. The project will install ADA curb ramps at NE 125th St and Lake City Way NE and repave this section of 30th Ave NE. 

Project Benefits

The 30th Ave NE Paving & Bus Improvements project will:

• Repave 30th Ave NE between NE 125th St and Lake City Way NE with concrete, creating a road that will last more than 50 years
• Improve access to transit through upgraded curb ramps, sidewaIks, and signals
• Improve connections to Sound Transit light rail and other Metro bus lines
• Partner with Seattle Public Utilities to replace 70 feet of the existing watermain on 30th Ave NE

Project Schedule

Construction: We started in early February 2026, and we anticipate the project will be completed in six months.

Outreach: Summer 2025 final design outreach events:

• We were at the Lake City Farmer's Market on: 
  • Thursday, July 10 from 3pm to 7pm with Build Lake City Together
  • Thursday, July 24 from 3pm to 7pm with King County Metro
• We hosted an open house drop-in session at the Lake City Branch of the Seattle Public Library:
  • Tuesday, July 1 from 2pm to 4:30pm with NE 130th/125th Mobility and Safety Project Outreach Lead and King County Metro

Design: We reached final design in June 2025.

Project Background

King County Metro (Metro) developed the future Route 77 as part of the Lynnwood Link Connections plan. Through 3 phases of community engagement, Metro identified the need for a new route that would serve Lake City Way NE and connect the heart of Lake City to Sound Transit’s future Pinehurst Station (formerly the NE 130th St Infill Station).  

SDOT worked with Metro to evaluate 4 potential options to connect Route 77 between NE 125th St and Lake City Way NE. Our evaluation included a pavement quality review, assessment of available unimproved right of way space (shoulder) to install walking and rolling facilities, and a review of street types to ensure the proposed options could support bus routing.

The following options were reviewed by SDOT and Metro:

Option 1: This option uses NE 127th St and 30th Ave NE to make the connection between NE 125th St and Lake City Way NE. Westbound buses would turn left onto NE 127th St from Lake City Way NE then turn left onto 30th Ave NE before turning right onto westbound NE 125th St. Eastbound buses would follow the same route in reverse. This option was not selected because it would increase bus travel time and requires reconstructing a larger section of the street. 

Option 2 (selected option): This option uses 30th Ave NE to make a direct connection between NE 125th St and Lake City Way NE. This option was chosen because it supports bus travel times with a more direct connection and requires less paving work. It also creates an opportunity to build a sidewalk on the east side of 30th Ave NE between NE 125th St and Lake City Way NE.

Option 3: This option makes a direct westbound connection between Lake City Way NE and NE 125th St. It was not selected because it would require a full redesign of the NE 125th St and Lake City Way NE intersection. To support westbound bus movements between Lake City Way NE and NE 125th St, we would need to remove sections of the existing planted median on Lake City Way to create a left turn lane. For eastbound buses, we would need to route buses onto 30th Ave NE because there is not enough room for buses to turn directly onto Lake City Way NE without a major redesign of the intersection. 

Option 4: This option makes the same westbound connection to NE 125th St as Option 3 but uses the curbside lane and a transit-only left turn signal. Westbound buses would get a turn arrow to turn in front of northbound traffic. For eastbound buses, we would need to route buses onto 30th Ave NE because there is not enough room for buses to turn directly onto Lake City Way NE without a major redesign of the intersection. In addition to the issues noted for Option 3, this option also presented safety concerns for buses turning in front of northbound traffic.

Funding

This project is funded by the Seattle Transit Measure and King County Metro.

Project Materials

Project Fact Sheet

• Fact Sheet (English)
• የዕውነታ ወረቀት (Amharic)
• صحيفة وقائع (حقائق)t (Arabic)
• 概況介紹 (Chinese Traditional)
• Xaashida xaqiiqada (Somali)
• Hoja informativa (Spanish)
• Talaan ng Kaalaman (Tagalog)
• TỜ THÔNG TIN (Vietnamese)

Nearby projects

• • NE 130th St & NE 125th St Mobility and Safety Project
  • N 130th St - Bitter Lake to Haller Lake Mobility Improvements Project
  • Sound Transit’s Pinehurst Station
  • King County Metro Lynnwood Link Connections (Service Restructure)
  • SPU Lake City Floodplain Park