At their August meeting, the Feet First Board of Directors voted to endorse the Seattle Transportation Levy that will be on the ballot this November. The $1.55 billion Transportation Levy will partly fund the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT). This expands upon the previous $930 million levy financing SDOT projects. The new levy would last eight years, and fund transportation fixes from street paving to bridge building. It includes $193 million for pedestrian safety, including $70 million for Vision Zero projects and $14 million for Safe Routes to School programs and projects.
Seattle’s pedestrian network is in dire need of help. Almost half of the city’s sidewalks need to be repaired, and a quarter of the city streets don’t have any sidewalks at all. The transportation levy is key to securing adequate funding to save Seattle’s deteriorating sidewalks.
The original Levy draft from the Mayor’s office did not contain enough sidewalk repair funding to improve Seattle’s streets in a timely manner. Twenty-seven new sidewalk blocks are currently added per year. At that rate, it would take several centuries for all of Seattle’s streets to get sidewalks. Estimates place the cost of repairing all of Seattle’s sidewalks between $500 million and $1.3 billion.
Feet First wrote to the Seattle City Council in March with a clear set of recommendations to prioritize sidewalks and pedestrians in the levy budget. Our central request was for the levy to be transparent about what projects are planned and where tax dollars are headed. Feet First asked that twenty-five percent of levy funding be allocated toward sidewalk repair, including filling gaps and general maintenance. This funding is integral to alleviating the years of neglect of Seattle’s sidewalks, which has prevented walkability, rollability, and equal access to communities throughout the city. Feet First stressed that workers with disabilities have a higher chance of facing obstacles using Seattle’s sidewalks. Beyond that, missing sidewalks increase the risk of traffic deaths. Making Seattle more walkable would also help the city meet its goal of lowering carbon emissions.
Other ideas Feet First put forth include:
- Fund Sidewalk Rangers teams to address sidewalk issues more quickly
- Partner with developers to complete orphan sidewalks
- Work with property owners to address sidewalk repairs on their properties
- Revive local improvement district (LID) programs to help finance repairs initiated by self-organized block groups
- Improve intersection visibility
A May 2024 update to the Levy draft announced that twenty-six million more dollars were allocated to fund pedestrian safety endeavors. This includes twenty million for new sidewalks, five million for a task force to increase sidewalk repair rates, and one million dedicated to fixing sidewalk gaps. Following the updated proposal, the City Council unanimously voted to put the Levy on the ballot on July 9.