On Tuesday, February 21st, Mayor Bruce Harrell took to the podium to give his State of the City speech. The mayor looked back on his first year in office with pride and hope for the future. His speech touched on a lot of hot-button issues around Seattle, from revitalizing Seattle’s downtown to the ongoing homelessness crisis. It also highlighted some major goals that the Department of Transportation (SDOT) has attained and continues to strive for.

The State of the City address noted successes for SDOT.

One of the big successes that Mayor Harrell noted in his speech was the completion of the West Seattle Bridge repair. The city closed the bridge in early 2020 to repair major cracks in the bridge’s foundation. Some of the cracks were as large as two feet wide in places. Former Mayor Jenny Durkan’s administration started the work on the bridge, which Harrell’s administration completed in September.

The speech also noted a recent success: receiving a grant from the USDOT. As part of the USDOT’s Safe Streets initiative, Seattle will get $25.6 million in federal money to help make its roads safer for all. This money will definitely help Harrell’s administration get closer to its Vision Zero goal.

But a lot of work still needs to be done.

While the mayor celebrated his administration’s successes, he also made sure to say that the city had a lot of work left to do. One of the things the city still needs to work on is expanding its light rail system. The city has been rumored to be working on expanding the light rail to Ballard and West Seattle for years. The mayor confirmed that the city would keep working towards these goals. After all, expanding public transit systems is never a bad idea.

However, the big area for improvement has to be in traffic and public safety. As noted in a recent report by SDOT, roadway fatalities and accidents have been increasing in Seattle over the last few years. Harrell noted the city was going in the wrong direction in this regard. While completely eliminating traffic deaths will be difficult, it’s what Harrell is aiming for. Hopefully, he can get closer to that goal in his second year in office.