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On The Move

Advisories from the Seattle Department of Transportation

Streetcar construction at S. Jackson Street intersections through mid-Nov.

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The Seattle Department of Transportation is constructing streetcar tracks on South Jackson Street in Pioneer Square and the Chinatown/International District for the First Hill Streetcar project. One of the intersections on South Jackson Street between the Second Avenue Extension and Fifth Avenue South will be partially closed weekends between now and mid-November. South Jackson Street will remain open to east-west traffic, but drivers on the intersecting avenue (Second Extension, Fourth or Fifth) will not be able to cross straight through the intersection, and left turns will not be allowed. No more than one of the crosswalks at an intersection will be closed at a time. 

This stretch of South Jackson Street is a raised roadway, and the intersections are a series of bridge decks, some over the train tracks that enter the underground train tunnel under downtown Seattle.  The structural considerations in this area makes the installation of streetcar tracks more challenging and time consuming than elsewhere on the route from Pioneer Square to Capitol Hill.  SDOT’s contractor hopes to complete the streetcar tracks through this segment of South Jackson Street by Thanksgiving. 

Jackson Street intersections are scheduled to be closed as follows:

  • Oct.  5-6, Fifth Avenue South
  • Oct. 12-13, Oct. 18-20, and Oct. 26-27, Fourth Avenue South
  • Nov. 1-3 and Nov. 8-10, Second Avenue Extension South

If work is scheduled on the weekend of a Seahawks game or Sounders match, the intersections will open two hours before the event and will be open for two hours after the event.

SDOT is issuing traffic advisories in advance of each closure with more details including times and traffic restrictions. Also, each upcoming closure will be posted on the project website, http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/firsthill.htm.

When complete, the First Hill Streetcar will have ten stations along a two and one-half mile route from S Jackson Street and Occidental Avenue S to Broadway Avenue and Denny Way.  The City of Seattle is developing the First Hill Streetcar in partnership with Sound Transit, with funding provided through the 2008 voter approved Sound Transit 2 (ST2) transit expansion plan.  Completion is planned for mid-2014.  For further information, visit the project website at http://www.seattlestreetcar.org/firsthill.htm.