SEATTLE — Pike Place Market goes automobile free. Sort of.
Starting Wednesday, the 117-year-old metropolis icon and vacationer draw restricted what sort of visitors can entry the Market at First Avenue and Pike Road. Nonetheless allowed: emergency automobiles, drivers with disabled parking permits, business deliveries, vendor loading and unloading, and curbside pickup for patrons who positioned orders.
The partial closure is tied to work by Seattle Public Utilities on Pike Place between Pine and Virginia streets, however follows Mayor Bruce Harrell’s name in his February State of the Metropolis tackle to make the Market “one of the greatest pedestrian experiences in the country” the place folks “do not have to worry about vehicle traffic.”
The controversy over closing Pike Place to vehicles is nearly as outdated because the Market itself, and has been described as “the third rail” for officers. Perennial efforts to dam vehicles from coming into the brief, cobblestoned road of Pike Place have been foiled by worries that the transfer would depress enterprise.
However following the pandemic and the reconsideration and subsequent return to public gathering areas — and repeated assaults on crowds by drivers worldwide — Harrell threw his weight behind exploring the proposal, which jumpstarted the challenge, a collaboration between the Pike Place Market Preservation and Improvement Authority, the mayor’s workplace, Seattle Metropolis Councilmember Bob Kettle and the Seattle Division of Transportation.
“This has been a long time coming,” mentioned Gordon Padelford, govt director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, which discovered broad help for a car-less Market in a 2021 ballot. “It’s been a priority of ours for years and we’re excited to see them piloting something on the street. … I’m glad they’re taking advantage of this disruptive construction to test this out.”
Rachel Ligtenberg, the market authority’s govt director, mentioned the pilot doubtless would’ve occurred even with out the utility work, however mentioned Market leaders “embraced this disruption” as a option to “have as much as learning as we possibly can” earlier than an estimated 750,000 guests descend on Seattle through the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
After the utility work, Puget Sound Vitality will start a four-week challenge at First and Pike to exchange an asphalt patch job from final yr with brick and do some curb restore.
Drivers will be unable take a northbound left flip from First and Pike to enter Pike Place. Parking enforcement will start at 6 a.m. each day, and there can be no long-term parking between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Pike Place, apart from drivers with disabled parking permits. An SDOT flagger can be on the nook of Pike Road and Pike Place to information motorists to the Market’s parking storage on Western Avenue.
In the course of the closure, the Market and SDOT will rely what number of automobiles and pedestrians are on Pike Place and within the Market, and examine these numbers with counts from final yr. SDOT is engaged on geofencing Pike Place to make sure rideshare automobiles aren’t directed onto the closed part of highway.
However Ligtenberg mentioned an important measures can be “fairly anecdotal,” saying she would “go and be present where the problem is being solved.”
The info, each quantitative and anecdotal, can be used to create a complete road administration plan for the Market, which Ligtenberg mentioned can be performed someday this winter. It’s not clear how the market will determine whether or not to proceed to shut Pike Place to most visitors.
The particulars of the road closure, Ligtenberg mentioned, got here from conferences with the varied corners of the Market group. The Market has 200 business tenants, 500 craftspeople and 450 residents.
One other group that propelled the dialog was the Pike Place Market Constituency, a part of the Market’s governance that ensures public engagement on Market issues.
The Constituency was established in 1973 with the Market’s PDA after voters saved the Market from demolition in November 1971, and created a 7-acre historic district.
Emily Pike, who has labored on the Marketplace for 12 years and has a pertinent if unrelated identify, has been concerned with the Constituency for 2 years. Earlier this yr, she and a few Market buddies wrote a letter calling for the highway closure, and picked up 150 signatures supporting the proposal.
On the April 15 Normal Meeting assembly, members of the Constituency voted 41-10 in help of the letter, which referred to as for the Market to “reduce personal vehicle traffic in the market while being mindful of business delivery needs, EMS access, and access for disabled visitors.”
Pike praised Ligtenberg’s work to make the challenge occur, and mentioned the “consensus is growing” that not all automobiles are important to the Market’s wants.
“Cars, obviously, have been driving down Pike Place for a long time,” mentioned Pike, who at present works at Lamplight Books. “But cars are bigger and drivers are more aggressive. It’s hard not to notice these things and think we can do better.”
Contained in the Market round midday on Tuesday, opinions had been combined.
Pha Lee, who owns Lee’s Recent Produce and has bought on the Marketplace for 30 years, was bundling flower preparations.
“It’s OK,” Lee mentioned of the proposal. “It’s already hard for deliveries (to reach me). Customers, too.”
She mentioned folks largely drive to the Market, and was significantly frightened about how her often strong Mom’s Day gross sales can be affected by the change.
Joseph Wagner was consuming a burrito whereas promoting T-shirts and hoodies at Aiiden, the place he’s labored for 2 years.
“I think it’s a good idea to bring more foot traffic here,” he mentioned. Nonetheless, he was “not optimistic” {that a} car-free Market would final.
Tess Kittleson-Frey, who works at Alternative Produce, may see each side, and mentioned most enterprise house owners don’t just like the proposal whereas most guests choose no vehicles.
“If people could drive with some common decency, and look around, it would be cool,” mentioned Kittleson-Frey, noting the Market in all probability wouldn’t be damage by the challenge. “The Market is always going to be busy.”
Final yr, the Market had 20.3 million guests, and comparable numbers are anticipated this yr.
This summer season, although, the Market may have extra out of doors seating and picnic tables, beneath the signal and up and down Pike Place. Starting July 9, the Market will start a weekly farmers market on Pike Place as nicely, coinciding with the weekly pick-up of the summer season Pike Field CSA, a 10-week program that connects subscribers with fruits and veggies from greater than 40 native farmers.
Ligtenberg mentioned she would preserve an in depth eye on how the Market is affected by the road closure.
“We’re staying as close as we possibly can. Helping folks navigate change is very important to us,” she mentioned. “We want to ensure there’s no disruption. If anything we want to enhance the richness of these businesses.”
