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Seattle Department of Transportation has released its proposed layout to create a westbound bus lane on two blocks of Broad Street in Belltown, to reduce chronic delays on King County Metro’s D Line bus to Ballard.

Traffic jams there are one reason RapidRide buses lose 10 minutes or more between Belltown and Uptown, causing delays and crowding throughout the Ballard corridor. Haphazard service spreads to the linked C Line, because the same buses are late to return south through downtown on their trip to West Seattle.

The city is taking comments during January (via jonathan.dong@seattle.gov) and expects to make the change this spring.  Metro and the city mentioned the Broad Street brainstorming previously, in this Seattle Times story about flaws in the D Line.

In addition to aiding RapidRide, the city says Metro routes 1, 2, 13, 29, 24, 33, 15E, 17E and 18E would benefit — altogether, an estimated 25,600 riders a day pass through the area, said city spokesman Rick Sheridan. And a bike lane would be striped eastbound. A total of 24 on-street parking slots would be removed.