The Mercer Corridor stretches through Seattle’s urban core, from I-5 to a major arterial through a dense, newly-developed area called South Lake Union. Locals and tourists alike have spent more time than they wanted to along this route, which is a crucial one for transit, freight, general purpose traffic, bicyclists, and pedestrians. It’s always been thought of as, well, a bit of a mess. But things are looking up! The City is well underway with the design and construction of a series of improvements, turning one-way Mercer Street into a two-way road that will move all modes of traffic more efficiently.
But implementing these improvements is hard on everyone who uses the corridor, and just hanging a “pardon our progress” sign wasn’t an option. So we went to work.
EnviroIssues has been an integral part of developing and implementing the Seattle Department of Transportation’s outreach and communication strategy, stakeholder and agency relations, business and resident outreach, and media relations efforts. We created and manage community outreach and communication tools such as a 24-hour construction hotline and email, communications and comment management system, printed materials and traveling displays, the project website, and we plan and staff community events.
We believe that surprises should be left to birthday parties and presidential elections, so our strategy includes tools that allow businesses, residents and all travelers to successfully plan around construction activities on a day-to-day basis. We can’t avoid the impacts, but we can minimize them. We work closely with the Seattle Center, Gates Foundation, Vulcan, Amazon, UW Medicine, the Alaskan Way Viaduct program, and the broader community to make sure construction efforts are coordinated and that everyone knows what’s coming next.