“Missing Link” Bike Route Study on NW Market St - Leary Ave NW - 17th Ave NW
June 2026
What's Happening Now?
We have reached 60% design for the “Missing Link” Trail on NW Market St- Leary Way NW – 17th Ave NW! Our latest design can be viewed via our 60% full roll plot. You can view our project renderings here.
We appreciate all the community members who have talked with us, emailed us, and filled out our feedback form. These comments and questions have helped us specify which changes we needed to make to reach 60% design. To learn more about the design changes we made based on community feedback to reach our latest design milestone, please read our summary of changes between 30% and 60% design. We encourage you to share your feedback on the latest design via our feedback form or through the project inbox. Please provide your feedback on the feedback form by Monday, June 29.
To learn more about what we heard during our 30% design outreach, you can read our outreach summary. We will continue to meet with community and get feedback throughout the design process.
Background
The existing conditions at NW Market St and 22nd Ave NW are shown on the left. Potential project improvements at NW Market St and 22nd Ave NW are shown in the rendering on the right.
Councilmember Dan Strauss and the previous mayoral administration requested that SDOT study this route as an option for connecting the Burke-Gilman Missing Link with an all ages and abilities bicycle facility through Ballard along NW Market St, Leary Ave NW, and 17th Ave NW. You can read more details on the original request from Councilmember Dan Strauss’s blog, which can be found here.
The Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link is the long-planned multi-use trail safety improvements along 1.4 miles of Salmon Bay east of the Ballard Locks connecting the two existing sections of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Ballard.
SDOT has a 100% design for a proposed route along Shilshole Ave NW, however construction along this route has been paused due to ongoing litigation for over 25 years. This route remains an option if these legal challenges are resolved. Please see this website for more information on the Shilshole alignment.
Moving forward with designs for the Market/Leary/17th route will help us understand how this project can connect the Burke-Gilman Trail, improve connectivity in the bike network, as well as potential impacts.
We've launched a design and public engagement process to study what a “Missing Link” connection using 17th Ave NW, Leary Ave NW, and NW Market St would look like and mean for community members and businesses.
Route
The newly proposed route would extend along NW Market Street two blocks east from 24th Ave NW and then run along Leary Ave NW to 17th Ave NW where it re-joins the Shilshole Route as designed to connect to the Burke Gilman Trail.
Project Elements
- A 10 ft wide minimum and over a half a-mile-long multi-use trail connection as part of the Burke Gilman “Missing Link.” Multi-use trails allow for two-way, off-street use for people walking, biking, rolling, and using other mobility devices. This trail would provide convenient access to businesses, residences, and other points of interest along Market, Leary, and 17th for all ages and abilities. Visit our Shared Use Design Standards webpage to read more about the variety of bike facilities we build.
- Only the south side of Market, southwest side of Leary, and west side of 17th would be reconstructed as part of this proposed design to move the curb line out.
- Safety improvements including:
- New ADA-compliant curb ramps
- Additional curb bulbs
- Raised crossings at some intersections
- Traffic signal updates to accommodate trail crossings
- Loading/parking lanes along the southwest side of Leary would be preserved. Around 50 additional back-in angle parking spots could potentially be added on NW 48th St and 22nd Ave NW and Leary Ave NW with the proposed operational changes to those roads.
- Replacing all existing trees that would need to be removed to accommodate the additional space for a trail connection at a 3 to 1 ratio within the project area. At this point around 30 trees would be impacted and require around 105 replacement trees.
View this PDF for more graphics explaining this 60% design.
17th Ave NW
The graphics below show proposed plan views and cross section of 17th Ave NW between Leary Ave NW and Shilshole Ave NW, before and after improvements looking north.
Improvements along this section of the route include:
- The 10’ multi-use trail standard across this design.
- Increased sidewalk coverage, including a 6’ sidewalk on the west side of the street. The existing east side sidewalk would remain as it currently exists with upgraded ramps at the crossings.
- Parking would be retained along the west side of 17th Ave NW.
- The crossings of both NW 48th Street and Ballard Ave NW would be raised.
- Additional parking would be designed on NW 48th Street as back-in angle with eastbound traffic only permitted from NW 48th Street onto 17th Ave NW.
- Changing northbound off Leary Ave N to 17th Ave NW would be changed ingress.
- Adding a neighborhood greenway crossing through Leary Ave N, going south and north on 17th Ave NW and realigning the curb and driveways.
17th Ave NW & Leary Ave NW & NW 48th St
17th Ave NW & NW Ballard Way & Shilshole Ave NW
Before:
After:
Leary Ave NW Improvements
The graphics below show plan views and cross sections of Leary Ave NW between 17th Ave NW and NW Market St, before and after improvements looking northwest.
Improvements along this section of the route include:
- The 10’ multi-use trail standard across this design, and wider than 10' where possible.
- Increased sidewalk coverage, including an 8 to 10’ sidewalk on the southwest side of the street.
- A center turn lane between the two driving lanes, and a bus lane on the east side of the street going northbound, consistent with the Route 40 project north of Ione.
- A 5’ minimum planting strip separating the multi-use trail from the preserved parking lane on the southwest side of Leary Ave NW.
NW Vernon Pl & 20th Ave NW & Leary Ave NW
Before:
After:
NW Market St Improvements
The graphics below show plan views and cross sections of NW Market St between NW Leary Ave and 24th Ave NW, before and after improvements looking east.
Improvements along this section of the route include:
- The 10’ multi-use trail standard across this design.
- No changes to the north side of NW Market Street proposed with this project.
- An 8’ sidewalk on the south side of the street.
- Redesigned eastbound bus stop for Route 40/44 with 10 ft wide pedestrian loading area closer to 22nd Ave NW. A 5’ planting strip where additional street trees will be planted, separating the multi-use trail from the vehicular travel lane.
- Retain existing space for 6’ minimum street cafes on both sides of the street.
Leary Ave NW (North of NW Vernon Pl)
We have been working closely with stakeholders on the project design on Leary Ave between NW Market St and 20th Ave SW. We have two design alternatives for this block and will continue to engage nearby stakeholders as we head towards 90% design.
Alternative A:
Alternative B
NW Market St Improvements
The graphics below show plan views and cross sections of NW Market St between Leary Ave NW and 24th Ave NW, before and after improvements looking east.
Improvements along this section of the route include:
- The 10’ multi-use trail standard across this design.
- No changes to the north side of NW Market Street proposed with this project.
- An 8’ sidewalk on the south side of the street.
- Redesigned eastbound bus stop for Route 40/44 with 10 ft wide pedestrian loading area. A 5’ planting strip where additional street trees will be planted, separating the multi-use trail from the vehicular travel lane.
- Retain existing space for 6’ minimum street cafes on both sides of the street.
- This project area now includes the Market Street AAC Paving project between 24th Ave NW and Leary Ave
- NW as part of the “Missing Link” project to minimize neighborhood construction impacts.
- We’ll also be upgrading the 100-year-old water main between 24th Ave NW and 22nd Ave NW as part of this work.
NW Market St between 24th Ave NW and Leary Way NW
22nd Ave NW & NW Market St & Leary Ave NW
Before:
After:
Funding
The design phase of this project is funded through the Levy to Move Seattle. Approved by voters in 2015, the 9-year, $930 million Levy to Move Seattle provides funding to improve safety for all travelers, maintain our streets and bridges, and invest in reliable, affordable travel options for a growing city.
The Seattle Department of Transportation will use these existing funds allocated to the Burke Gilman Trail Project to develop 100% design for the Missing Link Connection along Market/Leary/17th.
In July 2024, Seattle City Council added $20 million of the city's new transportation levy to fund construction of this project, which was approved by Seattle voters in November 2024.
Timeline
We’ve reached 60% design. We have received direction to continue to work towards 100% design. Reaching 90% design will be the next step along the way to completing a full design.
- Please sign up for our listserv to follow us for next steps on the project.
- We are continuing to collect community feedback on this route via the online feedback form or, through our project inbox through June 29.
Public Engagement
Councilmember Dan Strauss held stakeholder meetings during our early design phase in January 2023 and in February 2024 with Bicycle, Industrial, and Commercial interests to receive feedback on this proposed route for completion of the “Missing Link”. The initial feedback he received in 2023 specified both corridor-wide and street-specific design considerations. More details were posted on Councilmember Dan Strauss’s blog which can be found here.
At the 10% design milestone, we held an early design public meeting, tabled at the Ballard Farmers Market as well as on the corner of Market and 24th Ave NW, and completed a community survey that had over 1700 respondents. When we reached 30% design, we tabled at the intersection of NW 20th Ave and Leary Ave NW and again at Bergen Place, and completed another community survey that had over 200 respondents.
Additionally, at both 10% and 30% design, the outreach team has met individually with business and property owners along the route, and conducted multiple sessions of door-to-door flyering along the route. We also mailed project information postcards to all 3,625 adjacent property owners of record along the route at 10% design.
The results of our engagement process can be found in our 10% design outreach summary and 30% design outreach summary.
Project Documents
30% Design Outreach Summary (November 2024)
30% Design Fact Sheet (Summer 2024)
30% Design Plans (Summer 2024)
30% Design Graphics (Summer 2024)
Changes between 10% and 30% Design (Summer 2024)
10% Outreach Summary (March 2024)
Presentation from Councilmember Stakeholder Meetings (February 2024)
Project Fact Sheet Document (November 2023)
Survey Report Parts One and Two (Summer 2023)
Draft 10% Design Plans On 11X17 Aerial (November 2023)
Draft 10% Design Roll Plot (November 2023)
Draft 10% Design Graphics November 2023)
Q&A From the Open House (August 2023)