Lake Washington Blvd Keep Moving Street

Hear from people who love being on Lake Washington Boulevard

Keep Lake Washington Boulevard open to walking, biking, and rolling!

Update: 7/14/2023

Parks Announces Renovations on Lake Washington Boulevard

Last Fall, CM Tammy Morales (District 2 - Southeast Seattle) successfully secured $400k in Parks levy (property taxes) funding for design and implementation of safety improvements on Lake Washington Blvd at the urging of RVGSS and other neighborhood advocates. This funding was designated for implementation of near unanimous recommendations for safety improvements from the Community Visioning Task Force. Recommendations include:

• Adding traffic calming infrastructure, including stop signs, speed humps, raised crosswalks, etc.
• Improving sidewalks and pedestrian paths to be ADA-compliant.
• Creating a consistent and predictable bicycle day/weekend program.
• During SPR-led implementation, continuing to conduct robust community engagement that targets historically underserved and under-resourced communities in South Seattle.

Unfortunately, Seattle Parks and Recreation has indicated that construction is not set to begin until 2025, despite having a clear mandate for simple, easy-to-implement solutions like crosswalks and stop signs. At least three cyclists have been hit by drivers on Lake Washington Blvd in the last year, and at least two drivers have crashed off the road and into the lake. Park users, including drivers, should not have to wait two years or more for safety solutions we know work and are universally agreed upon. We recommend Seattle Parks and Recreation immediately implement proven, consensus solutions on Lake Washington Boulevard!

Since Lake Washington Boulevard was temporarily closed to traffic in 2020, Seattle Department of Transportation out reach has consistently found overwhelming support for reducing vehicle speeds and traffic volumes and reallocating space for park users away from through traffic. Seattle Parks and Recreation is continue to build on the outreach started by SDOT in recent years. Please comment on their Community Engagement Hub for the renovations project and find upcoming opportunities to directly share your feedback with the project team at this recent Blog Post.

2023 Bicycle Weekends

Seattle Parks and Recreation has announced Bicycle Weekends for 2023 on a reduced schedule relative to recent years. More information on this year's program can be found here: LINK.

• In 2021, Lake Washington Blvd was open for people walking, running, riding, rolling, and playing every summer weekend from 7pm Friday through 7am Monday, with open weekends extended for holidays, including Thanksgiving.
• In 2022, this schedule was reduced to 10 select weekends.
• In 2023, the schedule was further reduced to include only 10am Saturday through 6pm Sunday, removing two weekend evenings and one weekend morning from the calendar.

These changes are not consistent with neighborhood requests for a more consistent summer schedule and represent a deterioration of summer opportunities on Lake Washington Boulevard. This is why returning to the 2021 schedule is our number one recommendation in our recent letter to Seattle Parks and Recreation for how to improve summer programing at the park: LINK.

We also advocate for improved signage and branding for Bicycle Weekends. We recommend a new name for the event more inclusive of non-cycling uses of the park, including walking, swimming, gathering with friends, fishing, wildlife watching, and more. We also recommend improved information on the barricades, indicating to drivers the purpose of the event, that the street is local access only, and suggesting appropriate and clear detours. Please express your support for re-investing in and rebranding Bicycle Weekends to Seattle Parks and Recreation through their outreach process.

City Speed Study Shows High Speeds, Few Drivers on Lake Washington Blvd

We believe the City should share the facts about how Lake Washington Blvd is used and make their decisions based on data. Below are the results of a recent week-long speed study conducted by SDOT on Lake Washington Blvd showing fewer than 4,000 daily trips on the road with vehicles consistently traveling well above speeds safe for sharing space with other park users. (Seattle Parks estimates that on a typical Bicycle Weekend day, 5,000 people use the park: SOURCE.) We recommend continued improvements to Lake Washington Blvd until vehicle speeds are consistently (85% of vehicles or more) at or below the 25 MPH speed limit.

Update: 5/19/2022

from 7 PM Friday through 7 AM Monday, three miles of Lake Washington Boulevard, from Mt. Baker Park to Seward Park, will re-open to people walking, running, riding, rolling, and playing and close to people driving. And mark your calendars for the following dates:

May 20-23; 27-31 
June 10-13; 24-27 
July 1-5; 15-18 
August 12-15; 19-22 
September 2-6; 16-19 

Getting to the boulevard:

For people taking transit, Lake Washington Boulevard is within walking/rolling distance of Metro routes 50 & 14, and is a mile from the Mt Baker Light Rail station and the Columbia City Light Rail station.

For people driving, all of the parking lots are still accessible from side streets (see map below). 

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible! But we aren't done yet. We are working hard to advocate for permanent improvements to Lake Washington Boulevard that will make it more accessible to people year round. 

Here are four ways to celebrate and keep the momentum going:

1. Get outside and share a photo! Tag us on social media, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook using the hashtag #AccessibleLWB, or email info@seattlegreenways.org. 
2. Email Councilmember Morales and thank her for her continued leadership on this.
3. Join our volunteer group by emailing AccessibleLWB@gmail.com.
4. Donate to Seattle Neighborhood Greenways to keep this campaign going. 

We are asking the City to:

• Open Lake Washington Boulevard from Mt Baker to Seward Park: Close LWB entirely to cars and open it to people from Mt Baker Beach to 43rd Ave S, and close the water-side, northbound, travel lane from 43rd Ave S to Seward Park to cars and open it to people (creating a temporary, ADA accessible, trail like space using sturdy barriers). This hybrid design would allow 100% driver access to all homes and Parks Department parking lots via a one way southbound travel lane, while creating an accessible space for people to walk, bike, and roll from Mt Baker to Seward Park.
• All year: Open it all year so that it is easier for the community to understand what is going on, reduce frustration from confusion, and allow people to adapt.
• Equitable community engagement: Conduct equitable community engagement to co-design a permanent design while the pilot is happening, not afterwards. This will allow community members to experience the potential design first hand. It will also allow the city to measure impacts (like cut-through traffic), respond to community identified needs, and test solutions in real time.

Thanks for letting the City of Seattle know where you stand on this important issue! 

The City of Seattle has begun a Visioning Process for Lake Washington Boulevard which will continue through the end of 2022. The Community Task Force includes SE Seattle community members, representatives from community organizations, and community advocates. See more information from the City of Seattle here.

Update: 11/23/2021

Here are two reasons to be thankful of the progress we're making together on Lake Washington Boulevard this week:

1. On Monday, the Seattle City Council passed Councilmember Morales' $200,000 budget proposal to fund equitable community engagement to create a design for permanent improvements for Lake Washington Boulevard.  
2. Thursday through Sunday (the 28th), three miles of Lake Washington Boulevard, from Mt. Baker Park to Seward Park, will re-open to people walking, running, riding and rolling, and close to people driving.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this possible! Here are four ways to celebrate and keep the momentum going:

1. Get outside and enjoy Lake Washington Boulevard during the Thanksgiving break from November 25-28th, and share a photo of you and your friends or family and tag us on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), use #AccessLWB, or email info@seattlegreenways.org. 
2. Email Councilmember Morales and thank her for her continued leadership to make Lake Washington Boulevard a better and more accessible space to walk, bike, roll, skate, and play on. 
3. Join our volunteer group to help create an Accessible Lake Washington Boulevard by emailing AccessibleLWB@gmail.com.
4. Donate to Seattle Neighborhood Greenways to keep this campaign going next year. 

Update: 6/30/2021

The city will re-open the Lake Washington Boulevard from Seward Park to Mt Baker for weekends this summer!

Thanks to your advocacy, the city will be re-opening all three miles of Lake Washington Boulevard for people to walk, bike, run, and roll from Mt Baker Beach to Seward Park to people every weekend through September.

Previously they had only announced the opening of the northern mile. Unlike last year, the parking lots will be open from the nearest cross street to provide access for people who are car dependent.

We are excited that the city will be opening this beloved park street for people to escape the heat this summer, but this announcement falls short of what the public wants.

SDOT's own survey of nearly 7,000 people found that 65% supported keeping the street open to people all the time (not just on weekends) including a majority of 98118 residents, and respondents who identified as BIPOC.

Keeping it open on weekends only received 22% of support. Additionally, Seattle City Council just voted unanimously to find funding for equitable engagement to potentially create a permanent improvements.

We hope Seattle's next mayor will give the Parks and Transportation departments the support, funding, and direction they need to implement what the public wants for Lake Washington Boulevard.

In the meantime, the city should ensure the success of the pilot project by monitoring and fixing any issues that arise, and conducting equitable engagement.

For our part, we will continue to build momentum for this beloved public space. We are working on plans to do additional tabling and outreach this summer, and if you're interested in helping, send a note to info@seattlegreenways.org.

We hope you will get out and enjoy the open street, share your photos with us, and continue to ask your elected leaders for progress.

Update: 5/26/21

City to re-open northern mile of Lake Washington Boulevard for weekends, with major decision still to come.

Thanks to your advocacy, the city will be re-opening the norther mile of Lake Washington Boulevard for people to walk, bike, run, and roll from Mt Baker Beach to Genesee Park to people for Memorial Day weekend!

They also say "We’re finalizing plans for what the rest of the summer will look like on Lake Washington Blvd. In the meantime, we’ll close 1 mile (Mt Baker Park to Genesee Park) on weekends and we’ll share more as soon as plans are finalized."

We hope that the city will listen to the over 700 people who wrote in asking them to extend it to Seward Park, keep it open all year, and conduct equitable engagement! Extending it to Seward Park would create better access for all of SE Seattle. Opening it all year would give the most time for community members to enjoy the space, and be the easiest option to communicate. Conducting equitable engagement would allow for the community to co-design a permanent welcoming space for all.

We hope you will get out and enjoy the open street, share your photos with us, and get your friends to sign our petition.

Thank you!

Update: 4/29/21

City pledges to re-open Lake Washington Boulevard! Asks for your input. 

The April opening of Lake Washington Boulevard was a huge success! And now, thanks to people like you, who volunteered at our outreach table, wrote to your elected leaders in support, or just got out and enjoyed the space, the city has agreed to re-open it this year! 

Families enjoying the April 2021 opening

Now the city is asking for your feedback by May 10th (EDIT: this survey has closed) on four options to re-open the street this year. Please rank the "3 Mile Option" as your first choice. In our outreach we heard that extending the street all the way to Seward Park is critical to making it more accessible from all parts of SE Seattle. We also heard that intermittent openings are confusing and hard to plan around, which is why we are happy to see the "3 Mile Option" would be open all the time. Even if you have filled out a previous SDOT survey, or signed our petitions, you still need to fill out this latest survey to have your vote counted, so please take two minutes and let the city know what you think (EDIT: this survey has closed). Thank you for your time!

Also, check out this one minute YouTube video that our volunteers, Andrew and Simon, made by interviewing people enjoying the April opening. Consider sharing the video with your friends and family on social media. 

UPDATE: 2/12/21

The Mt Baker Park to Genesee Park section will re-open to people for walking, biking, rolling, running, skating, and playing Friday 4/9 to Sunday 4/18. For more details see SDOT’s webpage.

Last summer, the City of Seattle opened Lake Washington Boulevard to people walking, biking, running, and playing, as well as local access for vehicles. These “Stay Healthy Streets” and “Keep Moving Streets” have been a lifeline for safe and socially-distant recreation. They’ve been a crucial commuting link for people-powered transportation. They have also dramatically increased public access to green spaces and lakefront views in a time when most parks, gyms, and community centers have been closed.

This program was so popular that the Lake Washington Boulevard Keep Moving Street was extended from the original end date of September 8th until October 5th. Weekend after weekend, enthusiasm for this new urban park continued to build.

Unfortunately, on October 5, 2020, SDOT announced that Lake Washington Boulevard would revert to vehicle traffic.

The good news is a community-led campaign, with voices in the thousands, has been growing to keep this critical resource open and accessible for people of all ages and abilities to use.

TAKE ACTION

This is your chance to contact the City and let them know how important it is to keep Lake Washington Boulevard open to community recreation during the pandemic and beyond. ACT NOW by signing the petition.

We are asking the City to:

• Open Lake Washington Boulevard from Mt Baker to Seward Park: Close LWB entirely to cars and open it to people from Mt Baker Beach to 43rd Ave S, and close the water-side, northbound, travel lane from 43rd Ave S to Seward Park to cars and open it to people (creating a temporary, ADA accessible, trail like space using sturdy barriers). This hybrid design would allow 100% driver access to all homes and Parks Department parking lots via a one way southbound travel lane, while creating an accessible space for people to walk, bike, and roll from Mt Baker to Seward Park.
• All year: Open it all year so that it is easier for the community to understand what is going on, reduce frustration from confusion, and allow people to adapt.
• Equitable community engagement: Conduct equitable community engagement to co-design a permanent design while the pilot is happening, not afterwards. This will allow community members to experience the potential design first hand. It will also allow the city to measure impacts (like cut-through traffic), respond to community identified needs, and test solutions in real time.

Thanks for letting the City of Seattle know where you stand on this important issue! 

Low-Vision Mom Commutes by Bike on Lake Washington Blvd

Jawara O'Connor: "This is a good place for people"