News from King County Transportation
Release date:
Jan. 12,
2005
Metro ‘crowns’ Aurora bus stops
Artwork caps off multi-year,
inter-agency project to
improve bus service on corridor
King
County Metro Transit is giving an eight-mile stretch of Aurora Avenue
North a new look this week, as transit crews install “crowns” on 17 bus
shelters between North 46th Street in Seattle and North 192nd
Street in Shoreline.
The crowns are actually blue metal
sculptures designed by local artist Steve Gardner. The crowns cap off a bus
shelter enhancement program along Aurora that complements significant
improvements in bus service along the corridor.
Metro has been working with the cities of
Seattle and Shoreline to improve transit service along Aurora for the past
several years. Projects include: signal priority for buses at congested
intersections; removal of on-street parking in some locations to speed up
bus travel; more frequent bus service; and better bus shelters with improved
locations, lighting inside the shelters, benches, and the new crowns.
Additional crowns will be installed in 2005, as other bus zone improvement
projects are completed along the corridor.
”Metro
collaborated with the city of Seattle, the city of Shoreline and artist
Steve Gardner to come up with a low-tech, low-cost design that give the bus
stops an integrated look along the Aurora corridor,” said Metro General
Manager Kevin Desmond. “The ‘water, mountain, nature’ theme of the artwork
speaks to the idea that taking the bus is an environmentally friendly way to
travel and as natural as rainwater in the Northwest. It is also a fitting
way to ‘crown’ all our hard work to improve this transit corridor.”
One of
the first steps that made the Aurora corridor more transit friendly was the
installation of Transit Signal Priority (TSP) technology at 19
intersections, a project that was completed in 2002. TSP allows specially
equipped buses to communicate with an approaching traffic signal and ask it
to provide additional green light time for the bus.
Then
in 2003, the Seattle
Department of Transportation (SDOT) and Metro worked closely with
businesses and the surrounding neighborhoods to address congestion between
North 85th and North 105th streets. Parking was
restricted for approximately 10 blocks to help ease congestion, resulting in
better transit and traffic flow and access to businesses. A southbound
Business Access and Transit (BAT) lane was installed to provide a dedicated
travel lane during the morning commute for buses from North 50th
Street to North 40th Street. Seattle
also has plans to redevelop its section of Aurora between North 110th
and North 145th streets. The city has selected a consultant to
initiate the design and environmental phase of the project.
In September 2003, Metro significantly
increased service on
Route
358, which supplies most of the transit service on Aurora Avenue North.
The route now runs, at minimum, every 15 minutes
in both directions Monday through Saturday, and every 20 minutes on Sundays.
The schedule improvements attracted 1,000 additional daily riders in the
first year they were implemented.
Shoreline is currently working on plans to redevelop its section of Aurora.
Phase 1 is the section between North 145th and North 165th
streets. Construction will begin in 2005, and include: new curb, gutter and
sidewalk on both sides of the street; new stormwater drainage system;
transit right-turn-only curb lanes in both directions; new signals and
related communication systems; upgraded bus stops; improved street lighting;
and new access management measures to improve safety.
Overall, the busiest sections of Aurora Avenue North carry more than 40,000
cars and 7,200 bus riders daily. The city of Seattle has estimated that
Aurora will experience a 35 percent increase in traffic over the next 15
years. Plus, the Route 358 is among Metro’s top five transit routes in all
of King County, with more than 2.5 million passenger trips per year.
Ridership on the 358 has increased 20 percent in the past several years.
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