Lake Washington Blvd Keep Moving Street

Hear from people who love being on Lake Washington Boulevard

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!

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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!

Sign the Petition