The southbound curb lane of Aurora Avenue North has been converted into a bus and right-turn-only lane, also known as a “BAT” lane (Business Access and Transit). According to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), the lane will start south of the Dexter Avenue off-ramp and continue south to Mercer Street. Crews worked on striping over the weekend, and the lane is now in service.
SDOT says King County Metro Transit will be starting RapidRide E Line service on Aurora Avenue North in 2013, but asked the City to install the lane earlier to keep buses moving during several ongoing construction projects. The Aurora corridor serves around 30,000 passengers everyday, and SDOT says using the southbound BAT lane will allow Metro to, “establish the travel pattern for both current and future service on Aurora, instead of changing it repeatedly to work around construction projects.”
