Healthy Streets
Updated July 18, 2024
What's Happening Now?
Planter Sign-Ups Open for Aurora-Licton Springs Until July 28, 2024!
With installation approaching, we are now accepting planter requests for the segments of the Aurora-Licton Springs Healthy Street on Fremont Ave N and N 100th St west of Aurora Ave! Please sign up on the planter request form by Sunday, July 28th at 11:59 PM.
For permanent Healthy Street locations, neighbors can choose to replace the standard concrete sign bases with planters. SDOT will install planters at Healthy Street intersections based on the requests we receive from neighbors (see diagram and image below). Neighbors who request planters are responsible for maintaining the planters after installation. For more information about adopting planters and planter maintenance, visit the Healthy Street Planters webpage.
Construction is Coming Soon to Othello-Rainier Beach and South Park!
As soon as next week, you may see crews starting to mark up the street as we begin construction of the permanent installments for the Othello-Rainier Beach Healthy Street. One of the first things planned is the preparation for 12 creative street art designs developed by Dunlap Elementary and South Shore PK-8 students as part of the Bike to Books Program!
We are also excited to announce that the permanent South Park Healthy Street will be installed as soon as summer 2024!
A big thank you to all the neighbors who requested planters for signs in the intersections near their homes. You should have already been contacted to confirm locations and complete signed maintenance agreements.
Construction on the Lake City – Cedar Park Healthy Street is substantially complete!
You may still see crews out making some final adjustments and trimming trees to ensure visibility for the newly installed signage along the Cedar Park Healthy Street and the all-way stops added to the two intersections at 37th Ave NE and NE 135th St.
At intersections where neighbors requested planters, we installed the permanent signage with a planter sign base, and we hosted a plant pickup event to help them get started with a few flowers or herbs!
High Point Healthy Street is complete!
The High Point Healthy Street was completed in June 2024, adding permanent safety and traffic-calming features for people walking, rolling, and biking. This Healthy Street is connected to a larger network of Healthy Streets and Neighborhood Greenways connecting people to neighborhoods across West Seattle.
Have you visited Alki Point Healthy Street this summer?
We are excited to announce that installation of the permanent Neighborhood Greenway & Healthy Street treatments for the Alki Point Healthy Street is substantially complete! This work included:
- A 10-foot-wide shared walking/rolling space
- Three ADA parking spaces
- Stop controls at intersecting streets
- Pavement markings, parking signs, and striping public parking spaces
Over two years of outreach and engagement resulted in a final design that includes many elements requested by the community—including an additional walking, rolling, and biking area along the beachfront that is separated from cars and ensuring ADA access parking.
Safety Enhancements Coming to Aurora-Licton Springs
We’ve designed additional safety enhancements for the intersection of Fremont Ave N and N 105th St. The enhancements will improve safety for people walking and biking along the Aurora-Licton Springs Healthy Street, improve access to the Interurban Trail, and discourage high-speed cut-through traffic on Fremont Ave N. For more information about the Healthy Street design, please visit the Aurora-Licton Springs Healthy Street webpage.
Safety Enhancements Coming to North End of Central District Healthy Street
To further improve safety for people walking and biking along the north end of the Central District Healthy Street and discourage cut-through traffic, we’ve designed additional safety enhancements for the intersection of 22nd Ave and E Union St. These enhancements will include installing a new median on the south side with a cut-through for people biking, restricting vehicle turns from E Union St onto 22nd Ave, and restricting vehicle access southbound onto 22nd Ave from the intersection. For more information about the Healthy Street design, please visit the Central District Healthy Streets webpage.
Installation Timeline for Aurora-Licton Springs and Central District
We will install two Healthy Street locations, Aurora-Licton Springs and Central District, over 2024 and 2025. For Aurora-Licton Springs, the installation timeline will be:
- Summer 2024: The segments on Fremont Ave N and N 100th St west of Aurora Ave will be installed
- 2025: The remaining segments will be installed.
For Central District, the installation timeline will be:
- Summer 2024: 22nd Ave from E Union St to E Columbia St
- 2025: E Columbia St from 12th Ave to 22nd Ave will be installed.
Please visit the Aurora-Licton Springs Healthy Street webpage and Central District Healthy Streets webpage to learn more and see maps illustrating when each segment will be installed!
What are Healthy Streets?
Healthy Streets are closed to pass through traffic, but open to people walking, rolling, biking, and playing. The goal of this program is to open up more public space for people to use—improving community and individual health.
Since 2022, we have been evaluating and updating Healthy Streets across Seattle based on the trends we’ve seen in terms of community use and public feedback. Healthy Streets are a commitment to the Mayor's Transportation & Climate Justice Executive Order and SDOT's work to prioritize and expand actions that equitably reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) within the transportation sector.
Alki Point - 12 on map
Aurora-Licton Springs - 4 on map
Ballard - 5 on map
Beacon Hill - 9 on map
Bell Street - 8 on map
Central District - 7 on map
Columbia City - 10b on map
Delridge - 14a on map
Greenwood - 3 on map
Georgetown - 11 on map
Highland Park - 14b on map
High Point - 13 on map
Hillman City - 10c on map
Lake City - Olympic Hills - 1a on map
Lake City - Cedar Park - 1b on map
Little Brook - 2 on map
Mt Baker - 10a on map
Othello - 16a on map
Rainier Beach - 16b on map
South Park - 15 on map
Wallingford - 6 on map
How do Healthy Streets work?
- Healthy Streets can incorporate safety features like easier crossings at busy streets, speed humps to slow down drivers, and sign and pavement markings to help people find their way
- Healthy Streets have fixtures like concrete block bases and new painted curb bulbs at each intersection of permanent healthy streets
- In some cases, SDOT may install traffic calming, street murals, and additional pedestrian design elements
- Street Closed signage is installed in the space directly adjacent to the intersection where parking is already not authorized, so no legal street parking spaces are removed
What this means for Healthy Street Neighborhoods:
- People driving who need to get to homes and destinations along Healthy Streets can still drive on these streets
- Drivers should use extra caution and yield to people
- People enjoying the street should be mindful of drivers trying to get to homes and destinations
- Healthy streets can be used for neighborhood activities (like hopscotch and basketball) that you would otherwise need to get a street closure permit for
- Healthy Streets can also be used to host Play Streets and block Parties without needing a permits
- Planters for Healthy Streets can be requested, and neighbors are responsible for maintaining them.
How Healthy Streets Started
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 we upgraded 25 miles of existing Neighborhood Greenways to ‘Stay Healthy Streets’, by closing them to pass through traffic. Later, this program was renamed to simply ‘Healthy Streets’.
We selected streets by working from the 45-mile Neighborhood Greenway network and avoiding impacts to businesses, fire response routes, transit operations and layover, and COVID19 response efforts like healthcare provider parking.
What's Next for Healthy Streets
We’ve heard from the people of Seattle that Healthy Streets are a valued part of many neighborhoods and there is a strong desire to add more locations. In 2022 Mayor Harrell signed the Executive Order on Climate Change and confirmed Seattle’s commitment to make 20 miles of Healthy Streets permanent.
As a first step towards that goal, we’re focused on evaluating and upgrading locations that were installed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. People across Seattle are also sharing their vision for how Healthy Streets can be a part of the People Streets and Public Spaces component of the Seattle Transportation Plan. You can learn more and engage in sharing your thoughts on the Seattle Transportation Plan page.
The Healthy Streets program currently focuses on Neighborhood Greenways, and we do not have an open application process. If future funding is identified to make this an ongoing program, we will develop a process to identify and prioritize future locations.
Community Feedback
When Healthy Streets started, we chose which neighborhoods to focus on using the Race and Social Equity Index. We also considered neighborhoods that already had greenways in areas with dense housing or not much public open space. This way, more people could have places to go outside and enjoy nature without having to go far from their homes. We also made sure to include neighborhoods that had access to important services and businesses that people need in their daily lives. This way, everyone in those neighborhoods could have better opportunities to live healthy and active lives.
Since the program began, we’ve regularly talked to communities and distributed surveys to understand how Healthy Streets are working, where they can be improved and expanded, and where it might make sense to go back to a Neighborhood Greenway. We also observed and reviewed each Healthy Street to help inform our decision-making. For more information about how community feedback was used, please review our Healthy Street Evaluations in the materials section below.
Our family loves the 25th Ave Healthy Street. I've been surprised by how much it's impacted our neighborhood's quality of life. What has been a wonderful, unexpected aspect is seeing how the whole neighborhood uses the space. — M. Mainland, Central District
Additional Languages
Check out our PowerPoint videos for more info: English • Español • አማርኛ • Tiếng việt • af-Soomaali • 한국어 • 简体中文 • 繁体字 • Tagalog • ትግርኛ
Translations:
If you need this information translated, please call (206) 900-8760.
如果您需要此信息翻譯成中文 請致電 (206) 900-8760.
Kung kailangan mo ang impormasyon na ito na nakasalin sa Tagalog mangyari lamang na tumawag sa (206) 900-8760.
Si necesita traducir esta información al español, llame al (206) 900-8760.
Odeeffannoon kun akka siif (206) 900-8760.
Nếu quý vị cần thông tin này chuyển ngữ sang tiếng Việt xin gọi (206) 900-8760.
የዚህን መረጃ ትርጉም ከፈለጉ፣ በዚህ ስልክ ቁጥር ይደውሉ፡ (206) 900-8760.
ናይዚ ሓበሬታ ትርጉም እንተደሊኹም፣ በዚ ቁጽሪ ስልኪ ይድውሉ፡ (206) 900-8760.
당신이 번역이 정보를 필요로하는 경우에, (206) 900-8760? 전화 해주십시오.
Program Library
- Frequently Asked Questions (March 2023)
- Overview presentation (March 2021)
- Traffic diversion data analysis (shows traffic diversion after Rainier Ave S changes and during the Lake Washington Blvd Keep Moving Street - March 2021)
- Play on your Healthy Street flyer (May 2023)
- Play on your Healthy Street printable sign (May 2023)
- Healthy Streets Planter Requests
- View photos on our Flickr site
- Email update archive
2023 Healthy Street evaluations:
2021/2022 Healthy Street evaluations:
- Alki Point
- Aurora Licton Springs
- Ballard
- Bell Street
- 22nd Ave East (Central District)
- 25th Ave South (Central Distict)
- East Columbia Street (Central District)
- Delridge-Highland Park
- Georgetown
- Greenwood
- Lake City
- Little Brook
- North Beacon Hill
- Rainier Valley North
- Rainier Valley South
Current Healthy Streets survey:
Previous Survey Results:
- Online survey results dashboard
- Click for PDFs of question 5 and question 19 which don't show up well in the dashboard)
- Lake Washington Pilot Summary
- Lake Washington Pilot Public Comments
- Lake Washington Blvd Public Comments (Aug 30 - Sept 4)
- Announcing Stay Healthy Streets (April 2020)
- Stay Healthy Streets continue this week and will add 3 new neighborhoods this weekend (April 2020)
- 2020 bike investments to accelerate, including 20 miles of Stay Health Streets to become permanent in Seattle (May 2020)
- 4 Miles of Stay Healthy Streets Announced along with a 5-day Pilot on Lake Washington Blvd (June 2020)
- Lake Washington Blvd opens to people walking, rolling, and biking 24/7 from July 28 to September 8 (July 2020)
- Three miles of Lake Washington Blvd will stay open to people walking, rolling, and biking until the week of Oct. 5 (September 2020)
- Starting 4th of July weekend, 3 miles of Lake Washington Blvd (from Mt Baker Park to Seward Park) will open to people walking, rolling, and biking on weekends & holidays through at least September (June 2021)
- Trick or Streets are back! Here's how you can participate this year (October 2021)
- Find out what’s next for Healthy Streets in Seattle (October 2022)
- Share your input on the design of the Alki Point Healthy Street (November 2022)