Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed an updated, $1.45 billion version of the 2024 Transportation Levy on Friday that would increase levy funding by about $100 million, accelerate the construction of 250 blocks of new sidewalks, and commit funds to some specific priority projects, providing more specificity than the lengthy “candidate project” lists in the first draft of the proposal released in April. The amended levy would cost the median Seattle homeowner $41 a month and last eight years.
Speaking at Fritz Hedges Waterfront Park in the University District Friday morning, Harrell said his office and the Seattle Department of Transportation heard support from the public for a larger, more ambitious levy. As PubliCola has reported, advocacy groups expressed disappointment that the levy backed off on bike, pedestrian, and transit projects, emphasizing road paving and maintenance over dedicated funding for sidewalks, new bike infrastructure, and safer routes to transit stops.
“If there’s one thing we should be proud of, it’s that we’re not perfect, but we strive to listen,” Harrell said. “I’ve been around the block a few times. You just can’t please everyone, but you can try to listen to everyone and try to calibrate a package that makes good sense, centered around our need for safety.”
The plan Harrell rolled on Friday includes modest boosts to funding for bike, transit, and pedestrian improvements, including $20 million in new funds to “expand the bike network, with a focus on South Seattle” and $20 million to build 30 blocks of new sidewalks on transit routes in the city’s urban centers. Additionally, the proposal would frontload sidewalk construction to the first four years of the levy, with the goal of building all 250 blocks of new sidewalks by 2029. There’s also $5 million for new pedestrian lighting, $3 million more for preventative bridge maintenance, and another $10 million for electric vehicle charging stations, a key part of the levy’s “climate and resiliency” section.
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Growing evidence shows that EVs themselves cause substantial environmental harm and do nothing to reduce car dependence and sprawl. Large trucks, whether EV or not, are extremely dangerous to pedestrians and smaller vehicles because of their weight and low visibility. The Move Seattle Levy Oversight Board did not include subsidized EV infrastructure in their recommendations for this year’s levy renewal.
In 2023, SDOT released a “Top-to-Bottom Review” of the city’s efforts to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030, a commitment known as Vision Zero. Like other cities, Seattle has seen increases in deaths and serious injuries caused by vehicles over the past several years. Asked how confident he as that the nine-year levy will move the needle on Vision Zero, SDOT Director Greg Spotts said, “we’ve infused safety within all aspects of the different categories of investments.”
For example, Spotts said, the latest version of the plan added “modernization” to the the “street maintenance” category, reflecting a commitment to “making investments in better connectivity for walking, biking, and transit” as part of maintenance. “So we’re not just going to lock in an outdated street design from the ’60s, we’re going to actually update it and make it safer.”
Although the new levy will be larger than the Move Seattle voters passed in 2015, it will still spend less, after adjusting for inflation, on pedestrian and transit improvements than previous levies, according to an analysis by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways’ Ethan Campbell. Transportation Choices Coalition, Cascade Bicycle Club, and Disability Rights Washington are supporting the plan, and appeared alongside Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO Rachel Smith and Lake City Collective director César García at Friday’s event.
The Seattle City Council will hold its first discussion of the transportation levy proposal next Tuesday. Once it’s amended and approved by the council, the final measure will go on the November ballot.