- BALLARD NEIGHBORHOOD -

The addition of a 24/7 north bound bus-only lane on Leary Avenue NW between 20th Avenue NW and NW Market Street will have a substantial access impact on small businesses, as well as residential and retirement communities located all along the corridor. 

Leary Avenue NW is a highly trafficked throughput and connector for residents, workers and visitors headed northwest into Ballard. SDOT’s proposed road diet and dedicated bus lanes on Leary Ave NW will force car trips off Leary and further complicate already very congested neighborhood traffic patterns.  

In addition, NW Ballard Ave is now mostly one-way and one-lane in some areas, with heavily reduced on-street parking due to the street cafes. 

With both important north and south neighborhood streets already feeling the strain of multiple transit, bicycle, pedestrian, and general through-put objectives, reducing car throughput for Leary Avenue NW and east/west via NW Market Street is very problematic. 

Equally impactful, the 24/7 bus lanes in both directions of NW Market Street between Leary and 24th Avenue NW – along with new curb bulbs – will eliminate two travel lanes, as well as already scarce on-street parking spaces and load zones that are very needed for the small businesses located along this corridor. 

Accessing west Ballard via Leary Avenue NW or NW Market Street, mostly via car, is the primary route for the tens of thousands of tourist visitors who head to the Ballard Locks and National Nordic Museum. Even for the tens of thousands of local visitors who attend the extremely popular annual events in the heart of downtown Ballard (SeafoodFest, Syttende Mai Parade), most do not arrive via bus.

In addition, the proposed changes do not consider that the city is also still considering Leary Ave NW as a possible Burke-Gilman Trail ‘missing link’ alignment alternative and the compounding impact these changes would have on this important route through Ballard. 

PLEASE VIEW THE IMAGES ABOVE TO SEE A DETAILED VIEW OF WHAT SDOT IS PROPOSING FOR BALLARD.