Mayor Wilson marking the “Bus Only” lane on Denny Way.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is rolling out the red carpet for King County Metro Route 8. At an event on Thursday, Mayor Wilson helped mark a section of the new bus lane on Denny Way between Minor Ave and Yale Ave. Over the weekend, crews will install the eastbound business access and transit (BAT) lane between 5th Ave N and Fairview Ave. This change follows the recent closure of the Yale Ave slip lane and the reconfiguration of the Boren/Denny intersection. Drivers on Denny Way should now use Boren Ave and Howell St to access southbound I-5.
Metro Route 271 will be replaced by routes 270, 220, and 203.
Starting August 29, King County Metro and Sound Transit will be revising routes on the Eastside. These changes are primarily due to the full 2 Line opening in March 2026. Overall, this restructure is focused on reducing redundant service with the 2 Line while improving frequency and reliability. The Fall 2026 restructure also includes routes in south King County and Pierce County, as well as north King County (will be covered in a future article).
See the full list of changes below or skip to: Central (Bellevue), North (Kirkland/Redmond/Bothell/Woodinville), South (Renton/Mercer Island), East (Issaquah/North Bend), or Night-Owl.
Pierce Transit Route 500 bus manually edited to show “500000 comments!” on the headsign.
Earlier today, Brent White wrote the 500,000th comment on a Seattle Transit Blog article. Seattle Transit Blog wouldn’t be the same without you: our readers and commenters. Thank you for reading and discussing the latest transit news, route proposals, and ridership data with us since 2007. To celebrate this milestone and the incredible community that made it possible, we are hosting Seattle Transit Trivia next Monday, August 24. Join us to show off your local transit knowledge and for a chance to win one of the prizes. The details, rules, and helpful tips are outlined below.
Pierce Transit Route 500 and Sound Transit Route 574 at Federal Way Downtown station.
Starting August 29, King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Pierce Transit will be making changes to bus routes in south King County and Pierce County. Most of these changes are in response to the Federal Link Link Extension that opened in December 2025. Service changes in east and north King County will be discussed in future articles.
Across this sub-region, the biggest change is Sound Transit’s Route 574. Route 574 will be truncated at Federal Way Downtown station (instead of SeaTac) and will now run every 15 minutes. At the southern end of the route, the stop at Lakewood Transit Center will be replaced by a stop at Lakewood station.
Seattle is the opposite of every other US city. (Safety First)
Is urbanism inherently left wing? (Oh the Urbanity!) (Warning: The end contains a Canadian rant on US policies.)
The Alto high-speed rail mentioned in the video will connect Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Peterborough, and Trois-Rivières at 200 mph. It’s currently in planning. Toronto-Montreal is estimated at 3:07 hours vs 5:30 driving.
Rendering of the planned Link bridge above the Duwamish Waterway. (Sound Transit)
At the Sound Transit Board System Expansion Committee meeting on Thursday, the agency shared a series of updates on the upcoming West Seattle Link Extension. The grand opening for the 3.9 mile extension from SODO to Alaska Junction has slipped from 2032 to 2035. This delay is due to longer than expected construction time for building the new bridge to West Seattle. Starting in 2035, 3 Line trains will shuttle passengers across the Duwamish Waterway where they will transfer to the 1 Line in SODO. West Seattle passengers will need to wait until the second tunnel is complete in 2042 before they can enjoy a one-seat-ride to downtown Seattle in the first tunnel.
Sound Transit also shared a new $100 million in project savings achieved through a redesign in how key Seattle City Light infrastructure is relocated. Earlier designs required additional construction on 6th Ave for the 230 kilovolt power lines, but the new approach has moved this infrastructure to be located within the light rail corridor. These savings are part of the nearly $2 billion saved by various other design changes to the extension, including the removal of Avalon station.
Someone crashed their car into a barrier on MLK Way and pushed it into the trackway. (SDOT Traffic Camera via William Holland on Bluesky)
Correction, 8/12 11:30am: We retract the previous statement about a train derailing and have updated the paragraph below with a comment from Sound Transit. We regret this error.
After someone crashed their car into a barrier and pushed it onto the tracks along MLK Way on Monday evening, a southbound train attempted to use the pocket track at Rainier Beach station to switch to the northbound track. During this process, the train “experienced a split switch at low speed while entering the Henderson Pocket Track and once the switch was inspected, the train moved back out of the pocket under its own power.” Thanks to the quick response from Sound Transit crews, normal 1 Line service resumed about 2 hours after the initial car crash.
Transit & Streets:
A 16-year-old driver hit and killed a 37-year-old man early Tuesday morning in northwest Seattle. (SPD Blotter)
The Office of Planning & Community Development is asking the community for input on land uses near Graham St station via a survey.
Land Use & Housing:
Seattle City Council passes legislation to ban rental junk fees. (Office of the Mayor)
UW laundry site at Mount Baker station set to become affordable housing by El Centro de la Raza and Mercy Housing Northwest (Seattle Times, $)
After years of studies, Seattle continues to study housing at Fort Lawton in Magnolia. (The Urbanist)
CM Strauss proposes legislation to require RV residents to get permits. (Pubicola)
Site note: We’ve been getting an epidemic of spam comments for the past two days. The new ones apparently use AI to generate a plausible-sounding opinion or repeat a real concern for a few sentences, and then end with a link to an unrelated site. We are working to moderate and prevent such comments. In the meantime, please do not engage with or click on the links in these comments.
This is an open thread. That does not include spam comments.
Route 7 disguised as a RapidRide on Rainier Ave. (Michael Smith)
King County Metro has shared an updated high-level design of the RapidRide R Line and is asking the community for feedback. The R Line will travel between Rainier Beach station and downtown Seattle on Rainier Ave when it opens in 2032. First envisioned in the 2015 Levy to Move Seattle, work on this route was paused for a few years due to budget constraints. RapidRide R will replace Route 7, the second busiest bus route in Washington (behind the E Line).
The recent update outlines the expected stop locations and areas of focus for speed and reliability improvements and for transit access improvements (sidewalks, curb ramps, lighting, etc). Throughout the route, reliability improvements have been identified near many intersections. These will likely take the form of transit signal priority.
Segment 1: Downtown to Judkins Park Station
The R Line will follow a similar path to the current Route 7 on 3rd Ave through downtown. On Jackson St, the route will maintain most of the same stops, at 5th Ave, Maynard Ave, 8th Ave, and 12th Ave. The northbound stop at Jackson St & Boren Ave will be removed. The corresponding southbound stop on Rainier at King St will also be eliminated. This north section of Rainier will see further stop consolidation at Dearborn St where a new southbound stop will be added. The stop pair at Charles St will be removed. King County Metro has identified the section of Rainier between Charles St and Jackson St as a potential speed and reliability improvement area.
