719 Second Avenue Suite 1250 Seattle, WA 98104 206.382.9800 www.dksassociates.com
FINAL DRAFT MEMORANDUM
DATE:
October 1, 2015
TO:
Jonathan Dong and Reiner Blanco, Seattle DOT
FROM:
Chris Long, DKS
SUBJECT:
Pine Street BAT Lane Analysis
P#14005-010
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this project is to evaluate the benefits and impacts of installing a business access and transit (BAT) lane on Pine Street from north of 9
th
Avenue to 2
nd
Avenue. The study area is shown in Figure 1. Pine Street serves as the start and end of multiple transit routes that travel through downtown Seattle. Multiple trolley routes loop through downtown using Pine Street down to 2
nd
Avenue and back out on Pike Street. Multiple regional routes come into downtown off the I-5 ramp to Seneca Street in the morning, connect to 4
th
Avenue and stop at the zone between 4
th
Avenue and 3
rd
Avenue. The PM trips for these routes all start on 2
nd
Avenue and do not use Pine Street. 33 buses an hour travel this corridor in the PM peak; these routes are 10, 11, 43, 47 and 49, 216, 218 and 219. They will all travel the length of Pine Street in the study area and then make a left turn at 2
nd
Avenue. 22 buses an hour travel this corridor in the AM peak; these are routes 10, 11, 43, 47 and 49. There are an additional 18 buses (route 143, 157, 158, 159, 179, 190, and 577) entering the corridor from 4
th
Avenue and exiting on 2
nd
Avenue during the AM peak period.
Figure 1: Study Area
Memorandum Pine Street BAT Lane Analysis Page 2 of 16 This memorandum presents a summary of existing conditions on the corridor and provides a description of the steps taken to perform the corridor analysis. The memorandum concludes with a summary of the impacts from channelization changes on the corridor.
EXISTING CONDITIONS
Appendix A of this memorandum provides the existing channelization for the corridor. The north end of the project corridor starts with a two-way, two-lane cross-section over I-5, which gradually widens to two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane at 9
th
Avenue. This cross-section continues to 8
th
Avenue. Pine Street becomes one-way west of 8
th
Avenue and has a three-lane cross-section. The block between 8
th
and 7
th
Avenues has a short section of on-street parking on the south side of the street. The three-lane cross-section continues to 5
th
Avenue. From 5
th
Avenue to 4
th
Avenue, Pine Street is narrowed to two travel lanes and a parking pullout on the south side of the street. The block between 4
th
and 3
rd
Avenues has been reconstructed to remove a westbound transit island. The space from the island and the southern curb lane has become back-in angle parking, leaving two westbound travel lanes. These two lanes continue to 2
nd
Avenue. The traffic signals currently run on an 80-second cycle length with standard two-phase operation. The one exception is at 6
th
Avenue, where a westbound protected right turn phase is provided following the pedestrian interval to help clear the heavy right turn to 6
th
Avenue. The westbound left turns to 5
th
Avenue and 2
nd
Avenue have a dedicated left turn lane and a shared left and through lane. One of the proposed improvements is to eliminate the shared lane to promote pedestrian safety at 5
th
Avenue. There are three bus zones in the study area on Pine Street; they are located farside of 9
th
Avenue, nearside of 5
th
Avenue, and farside of 4
th
Avenue. Table 1 shows the number of passengers boarding and alighting at each bus zone. The bus volumes, turn locations and bus stop locations are shown in Figure 2
9
th
Avenue and Pine Street 118 984 5
th
Avenue and Pine Street 226 2407 4
th
Avenue and Pine Street 257 2923
Memorandum Pine Street BAT Lane Analysis Page 3 of 16
Figure 2: Bus Stop Locations and Volumes
Field observations showed that the majority of buses would immediately move into the new westbound lane that forms at 9
th
Avenue and stay in this lane through 7
th
Avenue. Buses change lanes after 7
th
Avenue to avoid the queue of right turning vehicles at 6
th
Avenue, and then merge back to the north curb lane (right lane) to stop at the bus stop between 6
th
and 5
th
Avenues. The bus will stay in the right lane through 5
th
Avenue, and then change lanes again to avoid the right turn queue at 4
th
Avenue. The buses merge back to the right lane after 4
th
Avenue for the bus stop. All the trolley buses travel in the left lane after leaving the 3
rd
Avenue stop because they need to be in the south curb lane (left lane) on 2
nd
Avenue to make an immediate left turn onto Pike Street. Other routes will turn from the shared through and left turn lane so they can get into the BAT lane on 2
nd
Avenue. The westbound left turn at 2
nd
Avenue will occasionally backup to 3
rd
Avenue. When this occurs, buses will cross 3
rd
Avenue and wait in the right lane until they can merge over to the left lane. This backup is primarily caused by congestion on Pike Street that causes the left turn from 2
nd
Avenue to Pike Street to fill the left turn pocket between Pine Street and Pike Street. All the intersections have heavy pedestrian movements, but the east-west crossings at 3
rd
, 4
th
, 5
th
and 6
th
Avenues are exceptionally heavy with over 1,000 pedestrians counted during the peak hour in each crossing. Table 2 shows the existing AM and PM pedestrian and bicycle volumes at the intersections on Pine Street.