Health

Making changes for Madison Bus Rapid Transit project

The Seattle Department of Transportation has started working on changes along Madison Street in anticipation of a 2018 start time for the Bus Rapid Transit project.

Residents came out for open houses, or weighed in online, in March about the latest designs for a bus rapid transit line that will transform Madison, from First Avenue downtown to Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Madison Valley. SDOT received 450 comments.

“By this fall we will be coming back to businesses and property owners along the corridor with more information about construction in 2018,” according to an SDOT news release. “We will also be at local community events and festivals this summer.”

The future destination for a RapidRide G line, the Madison BRT project first has to put in dedicated bus lanes, new bus platforms, set up smart manipulation of traffic signals and more.

This past weekend SDOT crews put in red, bus-only striping on Spring Street, between Third and Sixth avenues. SDOT is also shifting a bike lane on Spring to the north side, extending it from First to Sixth avenues.

“Once Madison Street BRT is built and operational (late 2019), approximately 60% of the corridor will have red, bus-only lanes to improve transit speed and reliability,” the news release states.

Whatever work was not completed will be continued this weekend (May 27-28).

SDOT will begin soil testing and confirming the location of existing utilities on Madison this month and into June: at the corner of 11th Avenue and East Madison; the corner of 14th Avenue and East Pike; east of the intersection of East John Street; and on the street island at the intersection of MLK Jr. Way East and East Harrison Street.

Sidewalks near worksites will be temporarily closed.