We can all agree on one thing: It’s a pain in the ass to get in and out of Ballard.
The sleepy fisherman town of the past is no more. Central Ballard grew by 54 percent in the last decade, according to a 2018 report by the Seattle Times. It’s a food lover’s wet dream, a thrifting and consignment goldmine, and home to a new, world-renowned Nordic Museum.
A new water taxi route from Ballard to downtown and West Seattle could free up some of the neighborhood’s transportation woes.
Currently, there are three main routes from Ballard to downtown: I-5, State Route 99 Highway, and 15th Avenue NW. These are usually clogged. The influx of anywhere between 4,500 and 8,000 Expedia employees and a 2,300-space parking garage at the company’s new Interbay campus certainly isn’t helping things along 15th Ave NW.
Last year, King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles included a feasibility study within King County’s supplemental budget to explore water taxi service to Ballard, as well as to Kenmore. Another council member also snuck in one for Renton! There are only two existing King County water taxi routes, one to West Seattle and one to Vashon Island.
Metro opened up a public survey to “better understand how community members travel and whether a passenger-only ferry could be an option” according to Torie Rynning, a public information officer with King County.
“A record-setting 6,575 people responded to our survey,” Rynning told The Stranger over email. Currently, those results are being processed and will be submitted to the King County Council in July.
Kohl-Welles said that this had been explored by Metro’s marine division in the past but nothing came of it. She originally wanted to update the study because Metro had cut bus service for insufficient usage along Seaview Avenue years ago and hadn’t replaced it. While other transportation options were suggested—like an on-demand commuter van—Kohl-Welles had a better idea.
“Why not look at this in terms of right on Puget Sound and Elliot Bay?” Kohl-Wells told The Stranger. “The thought now with the passenger ferry would be that not only could people use that passenger ferry as an option to go to work, shopping, or whatever the reason but also for people to come to Ballard.” She specifically mentioned the Nordic Museum. “It’s a real hot spot!”
Dan Strauss, who represents District 6 on the Seattle City Council, isn’t directly involved with the process at this current stage but is all in favor of giving Ballard more transportation options.
“My role sitting on the regional transportation committee is looking ahead to what our different options are for getting around the city,” Strauss told The Stranger. “Ballard has a history of multimodal connections.”
Strauss referenced the old Black Ball Ferry Line that used to run out of Ballard and the Burlington Northern Line, a train route that used to have a station in Ballard. “We need to rebuild our infrastructure and look at options that have been historically used,” Strauss said.
He believes there’s real “interest and economic value” to having ferry service to downtown and West Seattle.
However, the Ballard District Council (BDC), a coalition of Ballard and Crown Hill organizations, hasn’t heard much about the future water taxi yet, according to Brent Lackey, BDC president.
It’s currently not on their radar in these beginning phases and there has yet to be any outreach to the BDC about the water taxi.
Lackey explained that the transportation gap Kohl-Welles was intending to fill with the water taxi mostly concerns “lots of small apartment dwellers and senior citizens,” Lackey wrote in an email. “Most of these folks are not worried about a new boat service so much as basic bus support.”
But, “if it turns into any kind of actual project,” Lackey expects the BDC to spend more time discussing it.
According to Torie Rynning at King County, a water taxi to Ballard depends on three things: “if communities want it, if council will approve it, and funding.”
