Photo courtesy of Greg Gilbert / The Seattle Times
Long known for its traffic – in both buses and drugs – Third Avenue will now be an area of focus for the City Council. The goal is to transform the street from one marked by empty storefronts and a “wall of buses” to one that feels inviting to visitors and residents.
As Councilmember Andrew Lewis, whose council district includes downtown, stated, “Third Avenue should be treated as the front door to the city” Lewis continued, “It’s the first thing you see … We aren’t setting a good impression as a city.”
This “transformation” planning is expected to take a long time to complete. On September 20, the Council passed a nonbinding resolution endorsing the Downtown Seattle Association’s 2019 “vision” for Third Avenue. The myriad of problems flowing from the Covid pandemic forced the City to put the Third Avenue transformation aside for a few years.
