FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - May 22, 2013 UW Transportation Services applying for $12 million federal TIGER grant

for improvements to the Burke-Gilman Trail

SEATTLE - Some 10,000 walkers and bikers could see improved commutes with the big changes in the works for the 1.7 mile segment of the Burke-Gilman Trail owned by the University of Washington. UW Transportation Services is applying for a highly-competitive $12 million U.S. DOT Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant, or TIGER grant, in hopes to finish the entire University-owned segment of the trail before Link Light Rail begins service to the University of Washington Station in 2016. Planning and design work is already underway for the 1.7 mile corridor and construction on improvements near the new Mercer Court Apartments concluded earlier this month. UW Transportation Services has been competitive in grant competitions before; last year the Puget Sound Regional Council awarded them with a $3.02 million grant for improvements to a .3 mile section running from Rainier Vista west to 15th Avenue Northeast. Construction on that section will begin late this fall. If selected for TIGER funding, the UW will accelerate work on the remainder of the corridor, delivering the entire project in time for Link Light Rail and avoiding the possibility of trail disruptions during the five years that the University hosts Link Light Rails northern terminus. The new trail design includes widening the trail, separating bicyclists and walkers onto different trails, adding bicycle parking facilities, enhancing lighting, upgrading the trails ADA accessibility, building public spaces and creating safer intersections between popular footpaths, roadways and the trail. UW Transportation Services has specific information about the improvements, including a concept plan, available on its project website: http://uw.edu/bgt. The department has also encouraged members of the public to sign-on and endorse the trail using that same website. One of the factors U.S. DOT will consider in evaluating our application is whether there is clear public support for the project, said UW Transportation Services Director Josh Kavanagh. We have a growing list of citizen supporters on our website; we want to make it easy for the thousands of individuals that use the Burke-Gilman for commuting and recreation to add their name to the list as a project endorser and tell U.S. DOT how important these safety and capacity improvements are. TIGER is a highly competitive program, with only four percent of applicants receiving grants from U.S. DOT. But the region has been competitive in the past, with the City of Seattle winning grants for the Mercer Street reconstruction and Sound Transit winning a grant to extend light rail to the south. Bicycle and pedestrian trails and connections also tend to stand out from the crowd. Without the TIGER grant, the University will have to complete improvements in smaller sections as funding becomes available. This could mean trail construction and detours well after the University of Washington Link Light Rail station opens in 2016. The PSRC grant will help pay for the first section which should begin construction after the 2013 football season wraps up, said UW Active Transportation Analyst David Amiton. UW Transportation Services already completed a section next to the Mercer Court Apartments because it made sense to coordinate with construction that was already taking place.

The UW also captured the opportunity to test some of the innovative approaches that the project design incorporates. The improvements near the Mercer Court Apartments demonstrate how different pavement and design treatments work on the trail, and serves as a test area for improvements being considered for other sections of the trail. Construction on the Mercer section finished in mid-May, and a ribbon-cutting event is planned for this summer after landscape work is more complete. Current Conditions In spring 2010 we started looking at the trail and conducting studies on trail use and future utilization and demand, Amiton said. The data shows that the trail is not operating well under current conditions, and that those conditions will only degrade further over time. Currently the trail experiences overcrowding at peak times of day. Using the studys data, Transportation Services used a levelof-service calculator from the Federal Highway Administration and found that the trail is rated as very poor or failing for the entire portion that falls on University property. The poor conditions include dicey intersections, mixing of speedy bikers and slower walkers, tree roots contributing to sudden bumps and cracks in portions of the trail and crumbling asphalt along some edges. The University wants to improve conditions for active commuters and prepare for increased demand in the future, Amiton said. Not only will there be the new light rail station, but the renovated stadium, a new SR-520 trail, new west campus residence halls, and the future light rail station on Brooklyn Ave. will all contribute to increased use of the Burke-Gilman Trail. With all of those changes coming to the U-District, a Transportation Services study shows that bicycle trips during peak hours could increase 238 percent, and pedestrian trips could increase 92 percent by 2030. The grant from the PSRC will cover most of the costs for the .3-mile section beginning construction this fall, and UW Transportation Services will provide roughly $1.6 in matching funds for that segment. Transportation Services also invested $150,000 in the Mercer Court demonstration section. All funding from UW Transportation Services comes out of campus parking citation revenue. Were excited for what this work means not only for the UW community, but the thousands of users who rely on the trail as a regional connection to downtown, Fremont, Ballard and other neighborhoods, said Alicia Halberg, a communications coordinator with UW Transportation Services. The original rail line provided an important link for the Puget Sound in its formative years, and the trail that replaced it still provides commuters and recreational users with a key connection to the entire region today. A copy of the concept design and final report can be found online at http://uw.edu/bgt, or by contacting UW Transportation Services. UW Transportation Services Communications & Marketing Alicia Halberg, Elena Fox and Ari Kasapyan (206) 685-9480 halbergx@uw.edu, eefox@uw.edu, kasapa@uw.edu University Transportation Center 3745 15th Ave. NE Seattle, WA ### 970 words