| Vision 2014 |
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| On Capitol Hill one can easily get around without using a car. Jobs, commercial districts, transit stations, and amenities are located within walking distance of residential areas. There are pleasant, safe routes for walking and bicycling throughout the neighborhood. Public transportation is convenient and easy to use. Bicycle routes and transit connections to other parts of the city are good. There is adequate parking to support commercial areas. |
| Community Objectives |
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| Highest Priorities: • Preserve and enhance pedestrian access. • Expand transportation modes that provide alternatives to using a car. • Improve bus connections to Capitol Hill. • Integrate RTA planning with Capitol Hill's neighborhood plan. • Improve bicycle routes and amenities. |
| Other Objectives: • Calm traffic in residential areas. • Integrate transportation improvements with housing and job growth. • Provide adequate parking capacity in commercial districts. |
Preserve and enhance pedestrian access. Creating transportation systems that favor pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit over cars is a top priority of the Capitol Hill community. Capitol Hill residents value the ease with which they can get around the neighborhood by walking. Improved crosswalks would make pedestrian routes even more usable and safe. Community members would like a comprehensive neighborhood pedestrian route and safety plan that designates key pedestrian streets and recommends streetscape amenities. See also: "Retain Capitol Hill's pedestrian scale and character," p. 38, and "Enhance commercial streetscapes," p. 39.
Expand transportation modes that provide alternatives to using a car. Although many Capitol Hill residents get to work by driving alone, high numbers of residents travel to work by bus or walking. [Figure 16.] Thirty-six percent of residents do not own a car, and the community averages only 0.8 vehicles per household. Although community members rated mobility within Capitol Hill from good to excellent, they expressed concern about traffic congestion. Improving alternative transportation modes is the community's preferred approach to minimizing traffic congestion. Developing a car co-op is another intriguing idea that has the potential to succeed in a dense urban community like Capitol Hill.
Improve bus connections to Capitol Hill. Although bus access from Capitol Hill to downtown and to the U-District is good, bus connections to other neighborhoods and destinations is more difficult. Suggestions for improving bus service focused on expanding direct routes between Capitol Hill and other destinations throughout the city and the east side and creating better transit connections to the 15th Avenue area. Residents also requested van shuttle service and a free-ride zone on Capitol Hill. Bus service improvements should be coordinated closely with Metro's long-term service planning.
Integrate RTA planning with Capitol Hill's neighborhood plan. Capitol Hill residents strongly favor light rail transit. With planning for the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) light rail system now under way, it will be critical for community members to participate in determining the location and design of the planned Capitol Hill RTA station. Residents also indicated interest in the possibility of constructing two RTA stations to serve the Capitol Hill urban village. RTA planning should be integrated with the neighborhood's long-term planning objectives and should also be coordinated with planning for the First Hill RTA station.
Figure 16. Modes of transportation to work utilized by Capitol Hill residents.
The location of Capitol Hill's RTA station will be critical to successfully supporting growth in the community. The station should be located where it can effectively serve major employers, institutions, commercial districts, and housing density. The location must also have the capacity to provide intermodal connections for busses and bicycles. Although the RTA station itself will be underground, station access points will be at street level, and design will greatly impact surrounding land uses, visual character, and traffic circulation.
Improve bicycle routes and amenities. Community members would like a comprehensive bicycle plan that includes bicycle routes both within the neighborhood and connecting to other parts of the city, especially to Wallingford, Fremont, Ballard, and Queen Anne. A bicycle plan might include creating more dedicated bicycle routes and widening bike lanes along commuting corridors. Community members also requested more bicycle racks of good quality, especially at grocery stores along Broadway. See also: "Create new trails," p. 47.
Calm traffic in residential areas. An important concern of Capitol Hill residents is protecting residential areas from the effects of heavy traffic. Recommendations for calming traffic in residential areas included installing traffic diversions and applying the city's green street designation on more streets. Summit and Bellevue were mentioned as streets that particularly need traffic calming. Creating a Residential Parking Zone (RPZ) west of Broadway, where housing concentration is already high, was also suggested. A comprehensive plan for calming traffic in residential areas could address these issues.
Capitol Hill Urban Center Village: Transportation Issues. (Insert Table Here)
Integrate transportation improvements with housing and job growth. As population in the urban village grows, so will neighborhood residents and employees increasingly rely on effective public transit. Planning for future bus and RTA transit service must anticipate expected growth patterns in the urban village. The city's preliminary analysis of expected growth on Capitol Hill indicates that housing density will substantially increase east of Broadway and most of the projected 3,000 new jobs will be located at the Group Health campus. See also: "Increase the number of households on Capitol Hill," p. 28, and "Increase the number of jobs on Capitol Hill," p. 36.
Provide adequate parking capacity in commercial districts. According to the BIA survey, the difficulty of parking in Capitol Hill's commercial districts discourages some people from shopping there; 28% of survey respondents cited lack of parking as one of the reasons they do not come to Broadway. However, community opinion is split about whether the solution to the neighborhood's parking difficulties lies in creating more parking. Many community members favor promotion of alternative transportation modes as a way to mitigate the need for more parking for fear that increasing parking will just encourage car use. Others, especially local merchants, believe that increasing parking capacity is necessary to support commercial districts. Ideas for alleviating the area's parking difficulties include exploring potential partnerships to make better use of existing but underutilized parking facilities and creating new parking in mixed-use structures. To establish a basis for evaluating possible solutions to the parking dilemma, the neighborhood planning effort should conduct an inventory of existing parking capacity and an analysis of parking needs. See also: "Support neighborhood commercial districts," p. 34.