• JoshHolland
• April 8, 2024
• • Seattle Transportation Levy

To make more progress towards our city’s climate, safety, and equity goals, at least 50% of the Seattle Transportation Levy must go towards improvements that directly benefit people walking, rolling, biking, and riding transit. SDOT’s Transportation Plan shows communities’ overwhelming support for transformational change, and polling indicates voters will support a $1.7 billion levy. Even that is not sufficient to achieve the goals laid out in the Seattle Transportation Plan. The city must aggressively explore additional transportation funding sources to meaningfully improve the lives of people who live, work, and play in Seattle so that:

• Travel by walking, rolling, biking, and taking transit is safe, attractive, time-competitive, and a dignified way to get around for people in every neighborhood.
• Historic inequities in our transportation system are righted through neighborhood and community investment.
• Our city is accessible for the 40% of residents who are nondrivers, including people with disabilities, elders, youth, and more.
• The city is set up to support the growth of our population and economy.

ADVOCATES DEMAND THAT THE CITY:

Dedicate at least 50% of levy funding to improvements for people walking, rolling, biking, and riding transit.

Center levy investments on communities that have been most harmed and neglected by an unjust transportation system and include stronger oversight policies to hold SDOT accountable.

Propose a larger levy that reflects the city’s polling and Seattle Transportation Plan community engagement: a levy total of at least $1.7B, including:

1) Pedestrian Programs: Fully fund vital programs and build more sidewalks.

• Add $32 million to reverse cuts to vital programs like Sidewalk Maintenance, ADA Accessibility, and Pedestrian Crossings & Markings.
• Increase funding to make progress on building missing sidewalks to $380 million. The Mayor’s proposal will build 250 blocks of sidewalks – only 2% of the city blocks where they are currently missing. At this rate, people with disabilities will have to wait over 400 years to move safely and freely in our city. We demand the levy invest in building 2,500 blocks of new sidewalks and sidewalk alternatives in order to put us on track to complete all missing tier 1, 2, and 3 sidewalks by 2044.

2) Transit Corridors & Connections: Add $52 million to reverse the cut in transit capital project funding. STBD funds, which SDOT says can fill some of the gap, are intended to be additive, not a replacement funding stream. We need all of these funds in order to achieve Seattle’s goal of more than doubling transit ridership by 2030.

3) Bike Safety Program: Add $20 million to maintain bike programs, adjusted for construction cost inflation. Prioritize bike projects to right the historical lack of investment in safe, connected bike networks in south Seattle.

4) Neighborhood Street Improvements: Add $30 million for community-led planning and land acquisition to prepare for light rail expansion in Graham Street and C/ID. Light rail expansion to these neighborhoods will have dramatic impacts on existing BIPOC communities. In both neighborhoods, communities have put together plans and strategies to ensure that their communities remain rooted in place, but need continued investment to keep those plans moving forward. Funding should include capacity-building dollars to key organizations leading planning efforts and land-acquisition funds for equitable transit-oriented development.

5) Vision Zero & School Safety: Add $20 million to ensure adequate funding to support safety redesigns on Seattle’s five most dangerous streets: Aurora Ave N, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way S, Rainier Ave S, 4th Ave S, and Lake City Way.

6) Climate & Resiliency: Add $40 million for urban freeway mitigation design/construction, and local matching funds for projects that modernize the integration of highways in communities and mitigate their environmental, social, and economic impacts. Candidate projects include redesigning highway elements (e.g. SR-99) and lidding some segments of freeways (e.g. I-5), particularly in centers with high and growing population densities, areas where streets can be reconnected, neighborhoods with deficient public open space, or areas identified as priorities for equity investments.

7) People Streets & Public Spaces: Add $10 million to add accessible public restrooms to transit hubs and light rail stations to make our transportation system accessible for families, elders, unhoused people, and more.

Eight-year funding needs are defined by the Seattle Transportation Plan EIS as per our February 2024 report.