(Image: @fixthel8.bsky.social)
The 8 is on its way to not being late. Over the weekend, the Seattle Department of Transportation put the pieces in place for the opening of the first phase of changes on Denny Way hoped to streamline transit service on the key artery between Capitol Hill and the city.
Over the weekend, SDOT changed the flow with new markings and signs directing drivers headed to I-5 south from eastbound Denny to turn onto Boren instead of the previous route on Yale Ave. The next phase will bring the big update with loads of new red paint to mark an extended dedicated bus lane through the corridor.
The first adjustment is hoped to be like un-kinking Denny’s traffic hose and will provide a new short stretch of bus-only lane for the 8 to push up to Capitol Hill. SDOT says a previous test showed this reroute maintained highway capacity while boosting eastbound Denny Way travel times by up to 15%.
SDOT says “Phase 2” construction is beginning and “will take a few weeks to complete.”
1. First: Signs, Markings, and Temporary Street Configuration (early August)
- Crew work will begin with installing new signs, pavement markings, and signal adjustments. This includes removing some parking on Boren Ave in the block south of Denny Way, and on Minor Ave north of Howell St, as well as adding left-turn restrictions from westbound Denny Way onto Lenora St and Boren Ave.
- During this stage, crews will also temporarily close the eastbound curb lane on Denny Way between Minor Ave and Stewart St, as well as install interim barriers at Yale Ave and Denny Way to permanently restrict right turns from eastbound Denny Way onto Yale Ave (see graphic below).
2. Second: Bus Lane Installation and Signal Work (mid-late August)
- Once the initial street adjustments are complete, crews will paint and finalize the new eastbound bus lane, install a new westbound bus stop between Minor Ave and Stewart St, and complete signal work to restrict the left turn from eastbound Denny Way onto Dexter Ave N.
As physical striping and signage wrap up, SDOT says it will move into post-construction monitoring. Engineers will track real-time bus speeds and traffic flow along Denny Way, making signal and lane adjustments as needed to keep transit moving smoothly.
These changes fulfill Mayor Katie Wilson’s $4 million Denny Way Bus Reliability Project to fix Route 8. Serving 7,000 daily riders, the route has long suffered from heavy gridlock, with rush-hour buses crawling as slow as 3 mph. The project began with queue jumps in Lower Queen Anne before expanding into nine new blocks of Business Access and Transit (BAT) lanes from 5th Ave to Fairview Ave N, alongside pedestrian safety redesigns at Boren and Lenora.
The Yale slip lane is now permanently closed, with Boren handling all I-5 traffic! We had a great time meeting the SDOT crew and can’t wait to see the improvements this will bring for the L8!
We’ll head back down later today to share some more photos after everything is fully installed.
— Fix the L8 (@fixthel8.bsky.social) August 2, 2026 at 3:13 PM
The plan for overhauling Denny does not include enforcement changes. While the Seattle Police Department has mostly moved away from standard traffic stops, Seattle has begun to slowly add transit lane enforcement cameras to core areas.
Backed by the voter-approved Seattle Transportation Levy and Seattle Transit Measure funding that will boost Metro service by adding 50 weekly trips to Route 8, Seattle is preparing to expand these transit-priority designs to other notorious bottlenecks. SDOT is evaluating nine additional corridors across the city for similar bus-lane upgrades, including Route 43 and 48 service along the east side of Capitol Hill.
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