Denny Way: New route to I-5 starts Sat. as bus project enters final phase | LOCALLY FUNDED

Starting on Saturday, buses and cars merging onto the freeway won’t need to compete for the same lane of Denny Way near Interstate 5, one of Seattle’s busiest streets.

This change is part of the final phase of our Seattle Transportation Levy-funded Denny Way Bus Reliability Project, which will bring a new bus-only lane to the corridor this month.

Mayor Katie Wilson announced the changes in April to better manage the flow of traffic and make buses more reliable.

More bus service is on the way, too. Thanks to the current Seattle Transit Measure, King County Metro will add 50 bus trips per week to Route 8 (on top of over 75 trips per week we added last year). That means buses will come more frequently throughout the day, including on nights, mid-days, and weekends.

Denny Way is one of the city’s few east-west streets that crosses I-5 and serves transit, including Route 8 — one of Seattle’s busiest bus routes.

Route 8 carries about 7,000 riders each day and is one of Metro’s top 10 routes by ridership. But it tops another list, too.

Heavy traffic on Denny Way also makes it one of Seattle’s least reliable routes.

To help keep traffic flowing, people driving to I-5 south from eastbound Denny Way will turn right on Boren Ave and left on Howell St instead of using Yale Ave.

This new configuration was tested when new housing construction needed to close Yale Ave and a lane of Denny Way for a work zone. We looked at the data after that closure and found the same number of drivers could reach the I-5 south on-ramp during peak hours while travel times on eastbound Denny Way improved by up to 15%.

SDOT traffic planning map of Denny Way in downtown Seattle showing planned street changes. A new business access and transit lane runs east along Denny Way from 5th Ave N to Boren Ave, continuing as a reconfigured bus lane to Yale Ave. New turn restrictions are marked at 7th Ave N, Boren Ave and Yale Ave. A recommended alternate route to Interstate 5 runs via Boren Ave and Howell St, with parking removed along both streets. — *Graphic: SDOT*

By adding the new bus-only lane and giving drivers a new travel path to I-5 south, this project will improve transit reliability and traffic flow to help keep people moving.

We’ll continue to monitor bus travel times and traffic patterns after construction is complete.

This project is locally funded

With support from the Seattle Transportation Levy, we’re improving traffic flow on one of the busiest streets in Seattle with updated infrastructure; and with support from the Seattle Transit Measure (STM) we’re able to provide more transit service.

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