Time to vote on Ballard street improvement projects

A number of street improvement projects have been proposed for Ballard, and it’s time to vote on which projects you want to see funded.

The Neighborhood Street Fund Projects voting period is open until May 5, and there are several ways to vote. You can do it online here, in person at any Seattle Public Library, or at a pop-up event (locations listed here).

Here is the full list of projects proposed for District 6:

Voting is open to anyone age 11 and up who lives, works, goes to school, worships, receives services, volunteers, or is part of a program in the City of Seattle. Each voter may cast one ballot per district and may choose up to five projects per district. If you choose more than five on your ballot, your vote won’t be counted.

The winning projects will be announced in June.

Photo: Pedestrian crossing at NW 83rd and 15th Ave NW

22 thoughts to “Time to vote on Ballard street improvement projects”

    1. Can’t tell if you are being sarcastic or not, but I think it should be closed to traffic except for deliveries during limited hours. The bars and restaurants could move seating onto the sidewalks, and we could even put the missing link through there.

      It would make a great town square area. I know it will never happen, but I can still dream.

        1. I don’t think most of the businesses along Ballard have other options for deliveries, so giving them time during non-peak hours for deliveries would be easily workable.

      1. NO! The Missing Link cannot go along Ballard Avenue. What would happen on Sundays? The weekend has the highest amount of “traffic” on the BGT.

        1. It wouldn’t be hard to accommodate the BGT and the Farmer’s Market on Ballard Ave. And back in the day, the Farmer’s Market was at and around Ballard Commons Park.

          1. HB – when was the Farmers Market at Ballard Common’s Park? What “day” was that? It used to be a Safeway, is the the “market” you were thinking about?

  1. Voting age is 11 and up. Why so high? Don’t 4 year olds have opinions too?
    Seriously, this is a bizarre way to prioritize. I would welcome the chance to vote AGAINST some of these projects.

    1. Although I think it’s a little silly, an 11 year old is in 5th or 6th grade which is a great time to get them involved in local civics. I guess at that age they are walking to school and going to friends’ houses alone too so they do have a good sense of where crosswalks are needed.

      1. Another possibility:
        They will vote as prompted by their teachers, or (rarely) by their parents. They will make no effort to research the dozens of proposals.
        Children who develop the habit of casting ill-informed votes in obedience to their teachers are at risk of becoming political sheep. Not healthy for the rest of us.

  2. Great! The ones I’m most interested in are:

    • Connecting 8th Ave NW to the Burke Gilman Trail – Agreed this bike trail needs to be connected. Precarious as it is currently crossing so many lanes and unclear to someone new where to go.
    • Ballard Avenue Festival Street – Would love to see this street continue to flourish.
    • Connect Salmon Bay to Whittier Heights – 70th street is an awesome and unique nook, and 15th st is such a pedestrian divide

  3. Lots of good ideas here. I’d like to also see many of the streets repaved. They are bad and dangerous for all types of transportation.

  4. Ah, good. More pork spending projects for the army of city employees with questionable citizenship.
    Double time-and-a-half pay!

  5. As someone that regularly walks/runs/bikes/drives along 83rd and 15th, I think that a crosswalk at that location would be an obvious improvement. As is, it’s quite rare that I see a driver actually yield to pedestrians trying to cross 15th (despite the fact that this is the law). The curb cutout in the median is already there, so all you need is some paint and signs. At the most, go for flashing lights like at 80th and 1st. This is a relatively minor project that would drastically improve safety at this intersection and would cost very little to implement.

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