White Center Now: The blog about White Center

From the Metro Matters website:

Construction crews are launching work soon in White Center to make it safer to walk, bike and access nearby King County Metro RapidRide H Line bus service.

Four blocks of new sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes will be built on Southwest 100th Street to fill in existing gaps between Greenbridge community and RapidRide H Line service on 15th Avenue Southwest. New street lighting also is planned along the road.

Completing these connections between 10th and 14th Avenues Southwest will make it easier and safer for 2,550 residents in the King County Housing Authority complex to travel to and from available bus service.

White Center vicinity map showing sidewalk improvement segment from 10th to 14th avenues southwest
Construction is planned this summer on SW 100th Street between 10th and 14th avenues Southwest.

With community input, Metro designed and built miles of RapidRide H Line safety improvements before upgrading service in 2023. Metro pursued and received federal funding to build these additional four blocks of improvements. The project is estimated to cost $3.8 million for design and construction, of which Metro allocated $2.7 million in capital funding and received $1.1 million in Federal Transit Administration grant funding.

Metro hired OMA Construction Inc. to build the project and construction is expected to continue through the summer.

In addition to street lighting for pedestrians, crews will install special motion-sensitive Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons at the White Center Pond Natural Area crossing. These crosswalk systems provide drivers a real-time warning that pedestrians are in or about to enter an approaching crosswalk.

White Center is King County’s only designated unincorporated activity center. It is an area where resources are limited and needs are high. This project will improve safety for pedestrians, people who use wheelchairs and bicyclists in this area of urban unincorporated King County.

This project also helps implement the Metro Connects long-range plan, which calls for increasing and improving safe walking and bicycling as a key strategy for access to transit. In urban areas, Metro Connects calls for 96% of people reaching transit by either walking or biking. To achieve this vision, people need to both be safe and feel safe when traveling to and from transit service.

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