Denny Way
Denny WAY | |
---|---|
Former name(s) | Depot Street |
Namesake | David Denny |
Maintained by | Seattle Department of Transportation |
Length | 3.5 mi (5.6 km)[1] |
Location | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
West end | Western Avenue in Lower Queen Anne |
Major junctions | |
East end | Madrona Place (38th Avenue) in Madrona |
Denny Way is an east–west
.Street description
Denny Way begins as an offshoot of Western Avenue, two blocks uphill from
From Westlake, Denny Way climbs a steep grade towards the
Past
From Downtown Seattle to Olive Way on Capitol Hill, Denny Way is classified as a major arterial street and as part of the National Highway System, a network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility.[7][8] It also forms the northern boundary of the Belltown street grid, which is oriented towards a section of Elliott Bay, 49 degrees from true north. As a result, the street has several triangular blocks and irregular intersections on its south side, including Tilikum Place park.[9] Denny Way is one of the busiest streets in Seattle, with an average weekday traffic volume of 39,100 vehicles in Lower Queen Anne. Its least-traveled section, near Madrona Drive, carried only 2,500 vehicles on an average weekday in 2016.[10][11]
History
The original 1852 survey for the town plat of Seattle began with a stake driven at what is now the west end of Denny Way.[12] It also formed the boundary of pioneer David Denny's 1869 plat of "North Seattle", in what is now Lower Queen Anne.[13]: 7 Denny initially named the road "Depot Street", as part of an unsuccessful attempt to build a major train terminal at its western end.[14] The city government completed construction of a sewage tunnel under Depot Street in 1894, serving as the main outflow for northern Seattle.[13] The street was renamed to Denny Way in 1895, as part of a city-wide name change to harmonize the names of grid-defining streets; other boundary streets to the east of downtown, including Decatur and Hawthorne avenues, were also merged into the new Denny Way.[15]
The street originally ran across a section of
During excavation of Interstate 5 from 1962 to 1964, Denny Way was periodically closed or rerouted onto temporary roads or bridges built atop fill.[17][18] The freeway overpass was opened to traffic on October 16, 1963, expanding the street to four lanes and adding several traffic signals.[19][20]
A section of Denny Way between Broadway and Nagle Place was closed for the construction of the Capitol Hill light rail station and was redeveloped into a woonerf. It was renamed Barbara Bailey Way in 2019 to honor a local businesswoman and LGBTQ activist.[21][22]
Buildings
Notable structures on Denny Way include the
Transit service
Denny Way is primarily served by
The route crosses two Link light rail stations on north–south lines: Capitol Hill station at Broadway, opened in 2016,[5] and a future light rail station at Westlake Avenue that is planned to open in 2035.[28] Transit advocates have also considered Denny Way as a potential cross-town light rail corridor,[29] which was not considered in the Sound Transit 3 plan.[30]
In the 2010s, transit advocates also suggested that Denny Way could be served by an aerial tramway system, with stops between the Olympic Sculpture Park and Capitol Hill station.[31]
Major intersections
The entire highway is in
mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.0 | 0.0 | Western Avenue | |||||
0.6 | 0.97 | SR 99 (Aurora Avenue) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||||
0.9 | 1.4 | Westlake Avenue | |||||
1.3 | 2.1 | I-5 | Southbound exit and entrance only | ||||
1.7 | 2.7 | Broadway | |||||
2.6 | 4.2 | Madison Street, 22nd Avenue | |||||
Gap in street | |||||||
2.6 | 4.2 | 23rd Avenue | |||||
2.9 | 4.7 | Martin Luther King Jr. Way | |||||
3.5 | 5.6 | Madrona Place, 38th Avenue | Continues east as Madrona Drive towards Madrona Park | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi |
References
- ^ a b c d e f Google (August 9, 2018). "Denny Way" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Burton, Lynsi (December 17, 2015). "P-I globe now a city landmark". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ O'Hagan, Maureen (February 28, 2012). "The Seattle Times news ticker now delivering the news". The Seattle Times. p. B1. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
- ^ "SR 5 – Exit 166: Junction Olive Way/Stewart Street/Denny Way" (PDF). Washington State Department of Transportation. February 29, 2012. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ a b Lindblom, Mike (March 14, 2016). "Take a look inside Capitol Hill's long-awaited light-rail station". The Seattle Times. p. B1. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Turnbull, Lornet; Bhatt, Sanjay (December 23, 2008). "Sledders take to area streets, and injuries sometimes follow". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Seattle Roadway Classification (Map). Cartography by ArcGIS. Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
- ^ "National Highway System Routes – Washington State". Washington State Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
- ^ "Denny Way Streetscape Concept Plan" (PDF). Seattle Department of Transportation. September 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ 2016 Seattle Traffic Flow Map (PDF) (Map). Seattle Department of Transportation. October 2017. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ "2017 Traffic Report" (PDF). Seattle Department of Transportation. December 2017. p. 34. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ "First Platting of Seattle Done 100 Years Ago". The Seattle Times. June 22, 1952. p. 6.
- ^ a b Lentz, Florence K.; Sheridan, Mimi (October 2005). "Queen Anne Historic Context Statement" (PDF). Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Conover, C. T. (April 11, 1960). "Seattle Street Names Give Insight on City's History". The Seattle Times. p. 16.
- ^ "New Street Names". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. December 23, 1895. p. 3. Retrieved August 9, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Crowley, Walt (May 10, 1999). "Seattle Neighborhoods: Belltown-Denny Regrade — Thumbnail History". HistoryLink. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
- ^ Harvey, Barney (July 2, 1962). "Confusion? That's Name For Freeway". The Seattle Times. p. 1.
- ^ Barr, Robert A. (September 23, 1963). "Denny Way Overpass To Open Soon". The Seattle Times. p. 1.
- ^ "Denny Overpass Opens Wednesday". The Seattle Times. October 11, 1963. p. 35.
- ^ "Denny Way Bridge to Open Tomorrow". The Seattle Times. October 15, 1963. p. 29.
- ^ "Coming soon: the corner of E Barbara Bailey Way and Broadway". Capitol Hill Seattle. July 3, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
- ^ Robertson, Kipp (July 7, 2019). "Seattle renames stretch of Denny Way after 'early pioneer' for LGBTQ+ rights". KING 5 News. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
- ^ Walt Crowley (March 23, 2005), "Seattle establishes its first public park, Denny Park, on site of the city's first municipal cemetery on July 10, 1884.", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink
- ^ Bhatt, Sanjay (August 27, 2015). "Two more tall towers join parade along Denny Way". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Gupta, Himanee; Gonzales, Neil (February 13, 1995). "Crosstown bus makes official debut: from one hill to another". The Seattle Times. p. B1. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Lindblom, Mike (December 14, 2016). "Busy Denny Way will lose traffic lane for buses to speed up Route 8". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ Nelson, LeAnne (August 24, 2018). "Making The 8 Less L8!". On the Move Blog. Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
- ^ Lindblom, Mike (March 25, 2018). "Sound Transit seeks two light-rail stations in South Lake Union, only five blocks apart". The Seattle Times. p. B1. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
- ^ Groover, Heidi (December 2, 2015). "Seattle Subway's Case for "Going Big" on the Light Rail Measure We'll Be Voting on Next Year". The Stranger. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
- ^ Kelety, Josh (March 25, 2016). "Sound Transit 3: Big, long, Ballard by 2038". Capitol Hill Seattle Blog. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
- ^ Lindblom, Mike (February 19, 2013). "Gondolas could help Seattle rise above traffic mess, some say". The Seattle Times. p. A1. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
External links
- Media related to Denny Way, Seattle at Wikimedia Commons