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K Line RapidRide briefing: Metro seeks local endorsements as council asks for more impact analysis
Summary
King County Metro and city staff briefed the council on the K Line RapidRide design and timeline. Staff outlined speed-and-reliability projects, station proposals and signal-priority upgrades; council members asked for more analysis of corridor impacts, costs and effects on existing routes.
City transportation staff and a Metro representative briefed the Kirkland City Council on Jan. 21 on the K Line RapidRide project, the proposed locally preferred alternative (LPA) process and the next steps for applying to Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Small Starts grant funding.
Kimberly Scribner of the city’s transportation team and Ryan Whitney from King County Metro described the project components under consideration: a package of speed-and-reliability treatments, passenger facility upgrades, station pairs and numerous intersection signal upgrades. Metro has narrowed the project to about 10 speed-and-reliability projects, five improved access-to-transit projects, roughly 18 station pairs and as many as 40 intersection priority upgrades, staff said.
Staff told council that RapidRide-style improvements — dedicated treatments, transit signal priority (TSP) and higher-quality station stops — increase speed and reliability without requiring right-of-way takings. Metro’s modeling shows an end-to-end time savings on the corridor of roughly 23–26 minutes compared with the same alignment if operated as conventional bus service, and a projected weekday ridership near 5,000 passengers.
Council members sought more analysis and clarity. Members asked Metro and staff to: (1) show updated data that incorporates more recent traffic counts and post-COVID travel patterns; (2) quantify costs and city capital needs associated with transit signal priority and any required replacements of signal cabinets; (3) show whether planned treatments will remove parking on Central Way and other local impacts and list exact curb and property impacts; and (4) explain whether and how existing routes such as the 255 would be restructured and whether service hours supporting current routes could be diverted to the K Line.
Staff said Metro would return with more detailed memos and that the city would bring three record-of-support memos to council on Feb. 18 and March 4. The locally preferred alternative is expected to be presented to the council in March, followed by a King County Council review; Metro will apply for Small Starts funding in 2025 pending local approvals. No formal council endorsements were requested or taken at the Jan. 21 study session; council members asked for more detailed analysis before any record-of-support or LPA endorsement.
