The King County Council’s Mobility
and Environment Committee approved the future RapidRide G alignment
from Downtown to Madison Valley on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Getting the
$121.4 million project started, however, still hinges on the Federal
Transit Authority coming through with 50 percent of the funding. The
apparent passage of Initiative 976 may also throw a wrench into
service plans.
The Seattle Department of
Transportation has led the Madison Bus Rapid Transit project design
and environmental analysis process, but it will be King County Metro
that owns and operates the RapidRide G fleet.
Metro is spending $10.5 million to
implement the RapidRide G service, which includes $3.4 million to
acquire 13 diesel-hybrid buses. Electric trolleybuses had originally
been planned for the line, but vendor New Flyer couldn’t create a
vehicle that could handle Madison’s steep grades. The hybrid buses
will include five doors to accommodate center platforms planned along
the route: Madison and Terry streets; Madison between Summit and
Boylston avenues; and Madison between 12th and 13th avenues.
The Madison BRT remains at 90-percent
design, and is working with the FTA to secure a critical $60 million
in funding through the Small Starts grant.
King County Council staffer Leah
Krekel-Zoppi told the committee Tuesday that an amendment to the
ordinance approving the alignment allows Executive Dow Constantine to
enter a project agreement with SDOT and the FTA that defines
RapidRide G’s level of service for the first five years of
operation. This is required to move the Small Starts grant
application process forward, she said.
The King County Council will adopt
service levels in either 2021 or 2022, which is when the RapidRide G
line is expected to start. The service hours are estimated at 35,700,
costing $16.5 million in the 2022-23 biennium budget, Krekel-Zoppi
said. There will also need to be a restructuring of service along the
Madison Street corridor, she said, because the RapidRide line will
replace Routes 11 and 12, resulting in a lack of service on 19th
Avenue.
The service agreement Constantine is
authorized to enter with SDOT and the FTA would be for all RapidRide
lines, and needs to be finalized by the end of 2019, Krekel-Zoppi
said. There will likely be a waiver in the agreement that would allow
Metro to reduce service if necessary, she said, but it’s unlikely
that would happen with the G line due to the anticipated high usage.
The Madison Street corridor provides connections in dense employment
sectors, to multiple medical facilities in First Hill, and would
serve a large and diverse population in the Central District. It also
would provide a connection to the First Hill Streetcar to the east
and Colman Dock to the west, Krekel-Zoppi said.
RapidRide G is expected to reduce the
average travel time by 5-7 minutes, or 32-46 percent compared to
current conditions, she said.
Bill Bryant, Metro’s managing
director of service development, told the county council there are
always trade-offs when making service changes. Stops were put closer
together than with typical RapidRide corridors — less than a
quarter mile — due to the steepness of Madison and the density
around commercial offices downtown and medical facilities in First
Hill. The number of shelters and benches were limited based on
Metro’s assessment of how many people would use them, he said.
There will be 21 stations total — 10
in each direction — and a western terminal on First Avenue. Three
stations will be on Spring Street, at First, Third and Eighth
avenues.
The final stop in Madison Valley was
moved to 27th Avenue, to limit congestion at the bus layover station
at MLK Jr. Way and East Arthur Place.
SDOT is trying to alleviate any issues
from the removal of 160 parking spaces to accommodate bus-only and
new bike lanes by creating new loading zones: Spring Street, east of
First; Seventh Avenue, south of Madison; Spring Street, west of
Eighth; Ninth Avenue, south of Madison; and East Denny Way, north of
Madison Street.
Maria Koengeter, SDOT’s Transit-Plus
Multimodal Corridors Program manager, told the county council the
alignment needed to balance access with left-turn restrictions and
having station locations as level as possible given the grade changes
up Madison.
The King County Council’s Mobility
and Environment Committee voted 7-0 to approve the alignment and
authorize Constantine to enter an agreement with FTA and SDOT. The
vote occurred hours prior to the first statewide ballot counts, which
showed Tim Eyman’s I-976 passing by more than 55 percent. I-976
sets a cap on annual car tab fees at $30, and is expected to result
in the loss of $4 billion in statewide transportation funding.
It will also result in a loss of $20
billion of voter-approved funding for Sound Transit projects. On top
of federal funding, the Madison BRT project identified Sound Transit
3 and the Levy to Move Seattle as other funding sources.
The City of Seattle is also expected to
lose $36 million a year in funding through its transportation benefit
district as a result of Eyman’s initiative.
Sound Transit Board chair and Redmond
Mayor John Marchione issued a statement Wednesday morning regarding
I-976 and plans to address its impacts during the board’s Nov. 21
meeting.
“The Board will hear presentations
from the agency’s finance staff as well as our general counsel,”
a portion of the statement reads. “The Board will consider Sound
Transit’s obligations to taxpayers who want their motor vehicle
excise taxes reduced, as well as how to realize voters’ earlier
direction to dramatically expand high capacity transit throughout the
Puget Sound region.”
The full King County Council will consider the RapidRide G alignment during its Nov. 13 meeting.