Elliott Way opens, a key piece in Seattle’s $750 million waterfront project (Brady: city hall)

[homesinseattle]

“Seattle’s Elliott Way officially opened to traffic over the weekend, creating a new connection for drivers, cyclists and freight between Alaskan Way and the Belltown neighborhood.

The four-lane road — one key piece of the $750 million redevelopment of Seattle’s waterfront — runs from near the aquarium, below and to the west of Pike Place Market, and ends at the same location the erstwhile Alaskan Way Viaduct once unloaded thousands of vehicles a day.

Its completion has been both celebrated and scorned — sold as either a convenient thruway for freight and bicyclists or a megaroad plopped into an area thick with pedestrians.

Either way, it marks a major step toward the conclusion of the entire waterfront project sometime in 2025. The overhaul, funded by the city, the state, private donors and a special tax on downtown property owners through a local improvement district, includes the new Alaskan Way, sidewalks, bike and bus lanes, additions to the aquarium and newly rebuilt piers. The marquee development is the Overlook Walk that will connect Pike Place Market to the waterfront via a behemoth pedestrian walkway spanning Elliott Way.

The street — given the honorary name Dzidzilalich, or “little crossing-over place,” in Lushootseed, one of the languages of the Coast Salish tribes — banks east from the waterfront near the Pike Street Hillclimb. Heading north, it begins with two lanes in either direction before splitting like a snake’s tongue. The two northbound lanes feed into Western Avenue near Bell Street while the southbound lanes start on Elliott Avenue near Blanchard Street.

A southbound bike path, built flush with the sidewalk, runs along the new road’s west edge and into Alaskan Way. The northbound bike lane is only partially open, beginning at Lenora Street, as construction continues on the Overlook Walk.

It’s the first time in history that we’ve had a multimodal connection between Belltown and the waterfront,” said Angela Brody, director of the Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects.

Additionally, Elliott Way bypasses the train tracks along the waterfront, making movement of freight easier, said Brody. Now that Elliott Way is completed, construction can proceed more easily on the waterfront park. Elliott Way is predicted to carry about 18,300 vehicles a day by 2030, according to the city’s waterfront office.

Although plans for Elliott Way were laid years ago, its urbanist critics renewed their concerns as it approached its opening, comparing its width and capacity for cars to the deconstructed viaduct.

Belltown resident Brittany Brost called the new road a “surface highway” that would zoom people past the neighborhood without anything to slow them down. She would have preferred a two-lane road with wider bike lanes and sidewalks.

“It’s not designed for a slower speed limit,” she said. “People go as fast as they feel comfortable.”

Brady resisted comparisons to a highway, arguing that the traffic into Belltown will be much less than what the viaduct dropped off.

This is a city street, it’s not a highway,” she said. “We haven’t built a highway.”

Hanoch Yeung runs a YouTube channel in which he narrates his bike rides in and around Seattle. He took his first test run of Elliott Way over the weekend, and gave it mixed reviews.

“I love the incremental change,” he said. “It opens another bike lane for people and for me there’s never a downside to that.”

At the same time, he found the lanes themselves to be narrow. Heading south to the waterfront was a challenge because the sidewalks and bike lane quickly become clogged with the tourists, creating a chaotic scene.

For some in City Hall, the opening of Elliott Way and the completion of the waterfront is key to a larger downtown recovery.

“Let there be no doubt about it, the transforming of our waterfront is a huge part of our downtown activation plan,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said during an event last Monday.

The next major piece to be completed this fall — a footbridge connecting Marion Street to the new Colman Dock — is also slated to open later this year. The Overlook Walk should be completed by the middle of next year, Brady said.“

[Hemlock140]

I drove it to the office yesterday, and due to the number of signal lights on Alaskan Way, and with two lanes each direction, the new Elliot Way saves time. The only real problem is that if you are going to a destination between Lenora and the Olympic Sculpture Park (Cruise or Conference at P66, World Trade Center, Clipper Ferry, or Edgewater) you will have to cross the railroad tracks and may get delayed. As long as you don't run into a train this is a big improvement. I didn't see a speed limit sign on the new road, but it was moving at about 40. I'm guessing it would be 25 like Alaskan Way.

[jabogitlu]

It was moving at 40 probably because it got designed like a highway.... just like every other city street (7th Ave, etc.) that gets rebuilt around here.