Drivers will enjoy improved traffic flow along Aurora Avenue through Shoreline seven years earlier than expected under the final proposed Regional Transportation Investment District package adopted by the RTID Planning Committee at its June 8 meeting. The so-called Business Access and Transit lanes, or BAT lanes, championed by Metropolitan King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson, are part of the “Roads and Transit” package that is headed for the November ballot. The RTID measure was expanded in January to include $40 million for the BAT lanes at Ferguson’s urging.

BAT lanes are outside lanes designated specifically for buses and access to businesses. They give buses a dedicated lane out of the flow of traffic to stop for passengers, and allow vehicles easier and safer access into and out of businesses along the corridor. As part of the current Highway 99 improvement project, BAT lanes have recently been completed on Aurora inside the city of Shoreline from 145th to 165th. The RTID package would fund the final stretch of the Shoreline project between 165th and 205th.

Ferguson, a member of the RTID Planning Committee, worked with Shoreline and North Seattle leaders to speed up the timing of the Shoreline BAT lanes. Earlier drafts of the RTID “Blueprint for Progress” did not call for funding for the Shoreline project until 2019-2021, at the end of the RTID project. Ferguson actively lobbied to move up the $40 million for the Shoreline project to the early end of the RTID project, in 2012-2014, near the beginning of the project.

“The city permitting and design process for the final component of the Aurora Corridor Project is in an advanced stage,” said Ferguson. “This transit-oriented project is critical to relieving congestion when the Alaskan Way Viaduct is torn down. I would like to thank the RTID Board, staff, and Shoreline leaders for their support in moving the final stretch of Shoreline BAT lanes to the front of the line.”

“The RTID funding is critical to the businesses and citizens of Shoreline to complete the Aurora corridor street reconstruction for safety and access,” said Shoreline City Manager Bob Olander. “The funding will provide transit lanes to support implementation of Bus Rapid Transit service between the King-Snohomish County line all the way into Seattle. Shoreline has just completed construction of the Aurora project from 145th to 165th and bus speed and reliability has improved and evidence of business reinvestment and economic development are in evidence throughout the corridor.”

RTID was created by the Washington State Legislature and charged with developing a transportation package to be submitted to voters this fall for improving significant highways and bridges in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. The “Blueprint for Progress” builds on current state investments in roads, bridges and freight routes. It now joins Sound Transit’s Phase 2 transit package on the November general election ballot as the combined “Roads and Transit” plan.