Accessible Lake Washington Boulevard

Lake Washington Boulevard (LWB) is one of Seattle’s greatest parks. Year-round, Seattle residents can enjoy walking, biking, rolling, swimming, and more along the three-mile shoreline between Mt. Baker Beach and Seward Park.

As our Seattle has grown, car traffic on LWB has also grown dramatically. Each year more and more drivers use LWB as a highway, rather than as a scenic drive or bike ride as it was originally designed, threatening the safety of other drivers and park users alike.

The proposed renovations on the Boulevard between Mt. Baker Beach and Seward Park are a positive step towards shared safety, but they must go further. Several of the most dangerous straightaways and intersections will receive no improvements under the current Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) proposal. The current design allows for dangerous speeds and violent crashes which will continue without additional improvements and the park experience will continue to deteriorate.

CURRENT OBJECTIVES FOR LAKE WASHINGTON BOULEVARD

• Support Extensive Capital Improvements for Traffic Calming Funded by
  • Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Metropolitan Park District
  • Washington State Transportation Improvement Board Grant.
  • Projected completion 2025
    
• Promote Rainier Valley Greenways Safe Streets (RVGSS) position per document LWB
  
• Renovation Project Responses to SPR Design Concepts Spring 2024 LWB Renovations Project Responses
  
• Respond to SPR decisions and actions as the project proceeds
  
• Promote the Expansion of Bicycle Weekend programming beginning in 2025 and into the future
  • More total scheduled days, including Federal Holidays’ 3-day weekends
  • Longer hours
    
• Document User Comments / Concerns - tabling and other outreach
  
• Networking
  • Expand our group of supporters, mailing lists
  • Keep current supporters engaged and informed
    
• Inform public
  • Project status/updates
    
• Lobby Electeds, Board of Park Commissioners, Superintendent of Parks and Recreation

Seattle Parks and Recreation and SDOT

Current Project Status

• Working Document - Seattle Parks' (SPR) “Lake Washington Boulevard Renovations Project
  • Design Concepts - Spring 2024 - Under review by SPR and SDOT
    
• Funding available for this document’s scope of work
  • $204,000. Metropolitan Park District
    
• Forthcoming SPR / SDOT announcements under review - pending this summer
  • Final design (90%) - Design Concepts Spring 2024
  • Results /summary of survey (closed May 19) and outreach
    
• Additional Scope of Work - Under review - planning and development, public process
  • Washington Transportation Board Grant$220,000
    
• Traffic Calming Projects scheduling