Seattle, Wash., voters to see transportation levy on November ballot

Seattle Wash., Mayor Bruce Harrell has added a transportation levy onto Seattle voters’ ballots for November 2024. The legislation was approved in a 9-0 vote by the city council and signed into law by the mayor.

If approved by voters, the eight-year $1.55 billion transportation levy will provide funding to enhance the city’s transportation infrastructure, including building sidewalks, paving streets, repairing bridges and improving transit connections. The levy includes investments in the safety, maintenance and modernization needs of Seattle’s transportation infrastructure and incorporates robust community input.

“For the past 18 years, Seattle voters have consistently shown their commitment to maintaining and improving our city’s transportation infrastructure,” Harrell said. “This transportation levy is a detailed action plan to build on that effort, addressing the urgent needs of our streets, bridges, sidewalks and transit systems. These investments will help Seattleites get where they need to go and enhance safety across our transportation system, no matter how they get around – bolstering bridges, strengthening connections to light rail and transit and improving routes to walk, bike and roll.”

The current Levy to Move Seattle, which expires at the end of 2024, represents roughly 30 percent of the Seattle Department of Transportation’s budget. The proposed transportation levy would renew and expand the funding source to build a broad range of projects that address the city's transportation needs and priorities.

Highlights of the transportation levy include:

• 350 new blocks of sidewalks and walkways (about 22 miles) and 34,000 repairs to existing sidewalks.
• 160 projects to improve bus trip reliability and connect people to light-rail stations while prioritizing safety, reliability and accessibility.
• A new preventative bridge maintenance program and planning for longer-term replacements.
• 15 paving projects to maintain and modernize Seattle’s streets and get people and goods where they need to go.
• Improvements to Seattle’s bicycle network with new protected bike lanes, added bike lane barriers, regular bike lane sweeping, completing the gap in the Burke-Gilman Trail and more bike facilities in south Seattle.

“This consensus levy is about us all coming together to invest in a better future for our city,” said Seattle City Councilmember Transportation Chair Rob Saka. “This levy is about building a stronger, more reliable transportation system. It’s about saving lives by making critical safety improvements on our roads. It’s about creating good, living-wage, union jobs for people in our community. It’s a big investment to be sure but it’s one that we’re making with utmost accountability and care. The people of Seattle are worth it.”

A list of key transportation levy investments can be found here.