Seattle, WA
SDOT Sprints Toward the End of the Move Seattle Era – The Urbanist
With a $1.45 billion transportation levy proposal in front of the Seattle City Council, attention has turned toward future investments and what they mean for the city’s collective mobility priorities. But behind the scenes, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is quietly getting projects out the door in what is on track to be the busiest year for transportation projects in Seattle, ever. The goal is to finish strong on the current Move Seattle Levy, approved in 2015, and make a compelling case for the next transportation levy, which makes up around a third of SDOT’s entire budget. But in so doing, SDOT is also showing how the department has evolved in the past nine years.
So far this year, SDOT has solicited bids from contractors on a huge array of projects, including nearly 10 seismic upgrades on bridges around the city, sidewalk projects, crossing improvements, and a number of big projects that have been in the pipeline for a long time — including the RapidRide J corridor project, the critical first phase of the Beacon Hill bike route, the next phase of Rainier Avenue transit lanes, and upgrades for King County Metro’s Route 40.
All of these projects are on different construction timelines, and different levels of visibility for everyday city residents, but they’re all part of the push at the end of the levy to get things out the door.
“The average number of construction starts we’ve had over the last few years, for contracted projects, is one a month,” SDOT Director Greg Spotts, who has been heading the department since fall of 2022, told The Urbanist. “January, February, March and April, we’ve had eight, so we’ve doubled it to two a month. That’s a step change. That’s not a incremental change. And I’m very proud of the team for doing that. And I think the pace is going to increase even further, in terms of the number of construction starts a month, most of which are levy funded projects, all the way through the end of this year.”
Spotts touts the project delivery machine that the department has been able to create in recent years as producing the results that Seattle residents are seeing in their neighborhoods, something that also extends to smaller projects, delivered by SDOT’s own crews: things like new crosswalks and all-way stops installed near many of Seattle’s elementary schools in the past year, and the pilot bike lane barriers being rolled out in existing protected bike lanes around the city.
“I have made a very significant effort to increase the tempo of how we get these projects through design, how we conduct community outreach in a way that’s efficient for us and the community members, and how we make decisions and confidently carry on and make the next round of decisions to get things into construction,” Spotts said.
But a big part of the 2024 push is attributable to the 2015 levy’s ambitious goals, which pushed the department to continually look for new resources to get closer. Even if Seattle wasn’t able to deliver seven full transit corridor projects, due in part to a lack of federal matching dollars, having that goal ensured that upgrades to the Route 40, 44, and 48 all moved forward in some capacity. Even though the city won’t hit its goal of implementing 110 miles of bike infrastructure, projects like the Georgetown-to-Downtown bike route likely wouldn’t have happened on their current timelines without that goal.
“There’s a pretty broad consensus within SDOT that we got off to a slow start on the Levy to Move Seattle, and perhaps one of the reasons why was there was kind of a assumption that existing staff could do the job. And if you just almost tripled the size of the levy, it would have made more common sense that you need to staff up,” Spotts said.
In many ways, in the area of project delivery, today’s Seattle Department of Transportation is the one that voters were promised in 2015… it just took several more years than initially expected to get there.
“SDOT’s quite a bit larger in headcount than we were in 2015-2016. And we have a very sophisticated capital projects division and project development division, who are, not just larger, but we’ve actually developed talent during this period,” Spotts continued. “We have people who are much more experienced, who are experienced working with each other; we’ve refined internal systems for collaboration and coordination. So I really believe that we have a capital projects delivery machine that didn’t exist at nearly this throughput capacity back when the Levy to Move Seattle was started.”
But Mayor Bruce Harrell’s levy renewal proposal, getting its first public hearing today at the Seattle City Council, is less ambitious in its goals and includes fewer guardrails around what specifically the city is expected to spend money on. When Move Seattle included baseline funding requirements in the city’s budget for its three main categories — safe routes, congestion relief, and maintenance and repair — this levy only specifies anticipated spending levels, no minimum requirements. Project lists are currently fairly vague, though there are some specific commitments, including one to construct 250 blocks of new sidewalks by the midpoint of the levy in 2029.
“One of the lessons we learned from the Levy to Move Seattle was to be more cautious about making early commitments that rely on optimistic assumptions about how much grant funding we will receive,” SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson told The Urbanist. Making fewer concrete commitments is a way to ensure the department doesn’t go over its skis, but it also paints a less compelling vision for the city’s transportation vision, and is one factor behind a large push by transportation advocates to make the next levy much bigger and more ambitious.
And then there’s the issue of what happens later this year, with all of these projects out the door and the fate of the next levy very much up-in-the-air. Will a lack of projects in the pipeline lead to a similar lag in project delivery like the city saw at the start of Move Seattle? Spotts says no, adding that they’re thinking differently about this than they have in the past.
“We’re exploring whether there’s some projects that the current levy can’t afford to construct, but could afford to complete design on,” Spotts said. “We want to have basket of projects that could be shovel ready for the next levy.” The department has already received grant funding for two corridor repaving projects, one on E Marginal Way S north of the South Park Bridge, and another on Roosevelt Way NE from NE 92 St to Pinehurst Way NE. Those projects, expected to have multimodal components, are set to be the first to move forward under the new levy.
Spotts also touts the planned goal of protecting 30% of the existing bike lanes in the city with more substantive barriers. “We think we could take that Better Bike Barrier program, and scale it with funds from the new levy. We could be dropping Toronto [style] barriers into existing bike lanes that currently have the paint and post, and that’s something we can do with city forces.”
What SDOT seems to be showing the city in 2024 is that the department is prepared to hit the ground running if voters approve the next levy. But what’s missing is how that levy will actually push the City towards achieving a collective vision that can endure no matter who’s in the Mayor’s Office or at the top of SDOT.
The Seattle City Council is holding the first of two public hearings on Mayor Bruce Harrell’s transportation levy proposal today at 4:30pm. You can sign up to testify virtually starting at 3:30pm, or submit written comments anytime, here.
For more information, The Urbanist has analyzed the mayor’s levy proposal in a series of articles:
Ryan Packer lives in the Summit Slope neighborhood of Capitol Hill and has been writing for the The Urbanist since 2015. They report on multimodal transportation issues, #VisionZero, preservation, and local politics. They believe in using Seattle’s history to help attain the vibrant, diverse city that we all wish to inhabit. Ryan’s writing has appeared in Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, Bike Portland, and Seattle Bike Blog, where they also did a four-month stint as temporary editor.
The Seattle Mariners have emerged as one of two front-runners in trade talks with the St. Louis Cardinals for utilityman Brendan Donovan, The Athletic’s Katie Woo reported on Saturday.
Drayer: How Polanco’s departure impacts Seattle Mariners’ offseason
Woo reported a league source said trade discussions between the Mariners and Cardinals have been heating up since the Winter Meetings, and that switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje and outfielder Lazaro Montes – two of Seattle’s top-seven prospects, per MLB pipeline – are two names St. Louis has inquired about, among others.
The Cardinals will not trade Donovan unless they are “blown away” by the return, and it’s believed they are looking for at least two prospects, per Woo’s reporting.
The San Francisco Giants were the other of the two front-runners Woo named. She also said that both the Mariners and Giants remain engaged in talks with the Arizona Diamondbacks about second baseman Ketel Marte.
Can the M’s give up what Arizona wants for a Ketel Marte trade?
Donovan, who will turn 29 next month, has two years of club control remaining. He’s played every position except catcher during his four-year career, with the majority of his time coming at second base and left field. He would figure to mainly factor in at second base and third base for the Mariners, who have young players like Cole Young, Ben Williamson and Colt Emerson vying for time at those positions.
Donovan was a first-time All-Star in 2025, batting .287 with a .353 on-base percentage, .422 slugging percentage, .775 OPS, 32 doubles, 10 home runs and 50 RBIs in 118 games. His 13% strikeout rate ranked in the 92nd percentile of big league hitters and his 13.4% whiff rate in the 95th percentile, per Baseball Savant.
Over four MLB seasons, Donovan has a career .282 average with a .361 on-base percentage, .411 slugging percentage, .772 OPS, 97 doubles, 40 homers and 202 RBIs in 492 games. He won the NL Gold Glove for utility players during his rookie season in 2022.
As for the prospects Woo reported the Cardinals inquiring about, the 22-year-old Cijntje is Seattle’s No. 7 prospect, per MLB Pipeline. The unique pitcher had a 3.99 ERA and 1.22 WHIP while holding opponents to a .207 average, striking out 120 batters and walking 51 in 108 1/3 innings pitched over 26 appearances (23 starts) across High-A and Double-A in 2025.
The 21-year-old Montes is considered to be the best power-hitting prospect in the Mariners’ farm system and is their No. 3 overall farmhand, per MLB Pipeline. The slugging outfielder hit .241 with a .354 on-base percentage, .504 slugging percentage, .858 OPS, 19 doubles, seven triples, 32 home runs, 89 RBIs, 83 walks and 169 strikeouts over 131 games across High-A and Double-A this year. Montes finished tied for third in home runs among minor leaguers across all levels.
The report that the M’s are one of the top contenders for Donovan came on the same day as they lost out on re-signing their top remaining free-agent target, second baseman/designated hitter Jorge Polanco, who reportedly agreed to a two-year, $40 million deal with the New York Mets.
More Seattle Mariners offseason coverage
• Backup catcher target emerges for Seattle Mariners, per reports
• Drayer: Mariners’ plan for 2B and 3B coming more into focus
• Salk: What we know and think about Seattle Mariners’ offseason needs
• Why Nolan Arenado could make sense as a Seattle Mariners trade target
• Drayer: Mariners’ plan for 2B and 3B coming more into focus
• The one move Passan says could make Mariners the AL favorites
Tonight’s spotlight lights are courtesy of Al, who sent this photo from a stop during The Beer Junction‘s wassail ride tonight – he says it’s in North Admiral, SW Atlantic between California SW and 44th SW. As for the ride, Al reports 17 people pedaled about six miles:
Wherever and however you find lights worth sharing, westseattleblog@gmail.com – with or without a pic! (To see what we’ve shown already, scroll through this WSB archive!)
The Seattle Mariners’ offseason will not be completed in a nice, neat, run-it-back bow, with reports Saturday morning that Jorge Polanco and the Mets are in agreement on a two-year, $40 million contract.
Drayer: Mariners’ plan for 2B and 3B coming more into focus
The number was stunning, with most industry insiders estimating Polanco would be looking at something closer to $12-15 million per year. Even ESPN’s Jeff Passan, one of the few to estimate Polanco would receive above $15 million per year, was likely to be surprised Saturday morning.
“He’s not getting $20 million a year,” Passan told Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Tuesday. “I think at the end of the day, it’s probably going to be $14-17 million a year. If there are two teams duking it out at the end, maybe it goes up a million a year. It looks like it is going to be a three-year deal, but something along the lines of three (years) for $45-50 (million). I think that’s about right.”
The one move Passan says could make Mariners the AL favorites
The estimated $17 million salary sounded outrageous to the show hosts, but a lot can change this time of year, namely the Mets losing Pete Alonso to the Orioles. In comparison, Polanco is not exactly a splash after the loss of Alonso, but his versatility and offense when healthy (an .821 OPS in 2025) were attractive to the Mets.
Polanco going elsewhere was certainly a possibility – perhaps established as a good possibility when he failed to sign quickly, unlike the Mariners’ No. 1 target of the offseason, Josh Naylor. They were well aware of this with president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently admitting the odds were technically against them with numerous teams involved. The Mariners valued Polanco but were outbid by a team that needed to make a move. So they must move on.
While the Mariners remained engaged in talks with free agents this week, it is the trade market where the most attractive candidates reside, with the Cardinals expected to trade Brendan Donovan and the Diamondbacks making Ketel Marte available.
Donovan and Marte would be great fits on the field and on the salary spreadsheet for Seattle, but they would come at the cost of prospect capital with the Cardinals, and to a lesser extent Diamondbacks, dealing from a position of leverage.
The Cardinals do not have to deal Donovan, who has two years remaining under club control, but his value presents new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom the opportunity to make a significant early organizational mark.
In the case of Marte, the leverage he brings the Diamondbacks is short-lived as he will become a 10-and-5 player in the first weeks of the season, meaning he will be able to veto any trades at that point.
Can the M’s give up what Arizona wants for a Ketel Marte trade?
On the free agent market, despite reports that agent Scott Boras reached out to the Mariners about third baseman Alex Bregman having some interest in the team, the big-ticket players appear to remain off limits for the Mariners. They have maintained that the door would be open for Eugenio Suárez in the right circumstances. Assuming that would be a one-year deal, that signing seems unlikely to happen. The remaining free agent infielders appear to be more stopgap options of the take-a-chance variety with names like Willi Castro, Luis Rengifo or even Adam Frazier available.
The loss of Polanco and his production at the plate put Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander in the position where they are going to have to make a gamble. They have a track record of making trades that end up requiring lower-ranked prospects than expected. If that is not the norm this winter, then do they make that painful prospect trade, or trade a starter from the big league roster? Does ownership decide it can make a gamble in expanding the budget for a higher-priced free agent, or does it take the gamble of making smaller moves, essentially staying where they are, seeing how it plays out and attempting to make big moves at the trade deadline once again?
The Mariners and Mariners fans have just been hit with a large dose of uncertainty. In the uncertainty are opportunities, however, and the remainder of the offseason should not be quiet.
More Seattle Mariners offseason coverage
• Backup catcher target emerges for Seattle Mariners, per reports
• Salk: What we know and think about Seattle Mariners’ offseason needs
• Why Nolan Arenado could make sense as a Seattle Mariners trade target
• Seattle Mariners pick two, lose one in minor league phase of Rule 5 draft
• With a tweak, Jose Ferrer could be special in Seattle Mariners’ bullpen
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