SEATTLE — A temporary construction pause during the 2026 World Cup will be implemented by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT).

SDOT said the hiatus will run from June 8 at midnight until July 7 at midnight and will apply to “most work” on streets, sidewalks, and alleys.

“By reducing construction activity, we aim to keep traffic flowing and ensure our streets, sidewalks, and public spaces remain open and accessible while Seattle hosts the world,” SDOT said in a release. “Public space managed by the Seattle Public Library and Seattle Parks and Recreation is not included in the construction pause.”

SDOT said with hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting Seattle for the soccer matches, the pause will help reduce road congestion, clear sidewalks and streets for pedestrians and bicyclists, and allow neighborhoods to “look their best for the festivities.”

RELATED | Seattle agencies map out transit plan for downtown FIFA World Cup 2026 matches

The planned pause will conclude a week earlier than initially scheduled to help projects stay on schedule.

WSDOT separately announced in November a pause for the “Revive I-5” project that has shut down part of the Ship Canal Bridge on the major artery through Seattle.

RELATED | Long road ahead: 2 of 4 lanes of NB I-5 over Ship Canal Bridge now closed for most of year

All lanes of I-5 will be reopened from June 8 to July 10, before construction continues through the remainder of 2026.

Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, called for fewer taxes on businesses in the city, saying in a recent speech, “We don’t need more business taxes in Seattle. We need more businesses in Seattle paying taxes.”

He told “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio that while the idea seems straightforward, lawmakers haven’t responded that way.

“We’ve got plenty of space for more businesses to be in Seattle, paying taxes. What’s been unfortunate over these last couple of years is there’s a billion dollars of new employer taxes that our city government has imposed on folks doing business in our city,” Scholes said.

Consequently, taxes are pushing out employers, hurting job growth, and leading to a higher vacancy rate.

“[Taxes have] contributed to jobs leaving our city and job growth on the other side of the lake, and that’s contributing to a significant office vacancy rate, collapsing commercial office values in downtown Seattle, which is then shifting the property tax burden to residents and to small businesses through their leases,” Scholes explained. “So this is something we have to reckon with as a city.”

Scholes argued Seattle’s tax structure has put the city at a competitive disadvantage compared to neighboring cities like Bellevue.

“We’ve made ourselves an outlier when it comes to where you may want to locate jobs as an employer in this region, given the different tax structures,” Scholes said. “These are taxes you’re not paying in Bellevue and other parts of the region, and it’s having an effect on where those jobs are located. So I think the attitude of city government over the years is ‘We need a lot of business taxes to raise a bunch of money and make more investments, etc,’ but it’s driving businesses out. We need more businesses paying those taxes. That’s how we strengthen and grow the job space.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Seattle’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade brought a sea of green and joyful noise to the Emerald City on Saturday. It also included a new view, marching down Seattle’s revitalized waterfront, instead of the usual route through downtown Seattle. Bagpipes, drummers, dance teams and community groups from across Puget Sound participated in the colorful parade. The Irish Heritage Club is celebrating 40 years of Seattle being a sister city with Galway, Ireland. There was a mixed pot of weather for the parade, but we can all agree that “May the wind always be at your back.” (Image: Elizabeth Crook / Seattle Refined) March 14, 2026