Delridge RapidRide: Faster buses or safer bikes?

Seattle Department of Transportation and King County Metro are deciding between two options for sidewalks, roads, and bike lanes around the Delridge RapidRide corridor, and are looking for public input.

1.4 miles of bus-only lanes from the West Seattle Bridge through Alaska Street are part of both plans for RapidRide H, which follows the same route as King County Metro Route 120 from Downtown Seattle through Delridge to Burien.

Option one sets a laser focus on bus speed by adding additional, peak, bus-only lanes. It would also widen about a mile of sidewalk.

Option two protects and expands bikeability along Delridge. It keeps and expands existing bike lanes on Delridge Way SW—totaling nearly three miles of protected lane. Option one only includes a third of a mile.

Option two doesn’t include any sidewalk widening, and includes less landscaping than option one.

Both options would also bring greenway connections, improve pedestrian crossings, and make some changes to bus stop locations to optimize speed.

So how much bus speed would be sacrificed for bike lanes? Option one would be about 16 percent faster—while option two would be 12 percent faster. Either way, your ride would get, appropriately, a little more rapid.

You can tell SDOT which plan sounds better to you at their online open house, or at various locations along the corridor next week.

RapidRide H is scheduled to replace Route 120 in 2020, and is one of seven new RapidRide lines, including Rainier, Roosevelt, Market, Fremont, and 23rd Avenue. The only other RapidRide line to get its letter name so far is Madison: RapidRide G, scheduled to open in 2019.

• RapidRide H Line [SDOT]
• DELRIDGE RAPIDRIDE DECISION: ‘Online open house’ for H Line asks you to choose between 2 options [WSB]
• RapidRide G Line coming to Madison Street in 2019 [CS]