One of the few publicly accessible beaches in Ballard on Salmon Bay can be reached from the NW 57th St Shoreline street end. Looking toward Magnolia on the opposite shore.

In 1996, the city of Seattle, Washington adopted a resolution to preserve shoreline street ends (sometimes referred to as SSEs) throughout the city as public rights-of-way, to allow improvements for public uses and access.[1] This resolution gave a broad outline of considerations that would apply to public access improvements to shoreline street ends and to removing private encroachments and severely limiting future permits for private uses of street ends.[1] Three years later, this was enhanced with a statement, "Fees for use of shoreline street ends may take into consideration City policy of discouraging encroachments inconsistent with the public right of access to shorelines and may be included in the schedule of fees for use of public places under the jurisdiction of Seattle Transportation."[2]

Seattle borders Puget Sound (most notably Elliott Bay, the city's main port) and Lake Washington; the lower Duwamish River and its industrialized estuary known as the Duwamish Waterway flow through the city to Elliott Bay; the Lake Washington Ship Canal bisects the city and includes Lake Union (580 acres (2.3 km2) in its own right[3]); and there are numerous smaller lakes in the city, so many streets end in water. Since the adoption of this resolution, it has been city policy to preserve these numerous street ends for public access. Over the decades since, this has resulted not only in preserved public rights of way, but also in numerous new public parks.

As of 2016, seven of the 149 recognized sites (nine of them along the Duwamish Waterway) still lacked public access. 88 were designated in the city's fact sheet as "worth a visit," and 54 as "not yet ready for visitors." Nine sites, overlapping the last two categories, were in the design and development stage. "[N]early two-thirds" were described as being "in need of improvement, overgrown, or hav[ing] private encroachments."[4]

History

Upon becoming a state in 1889, Washington raised money by selling public tidelands. By the time the state decided in 1971 to suspend further such sales, only about 40% of tidelands remained under public ownership.[5] In 1987, the state passed a law limiting vacations of streets abutting bodies of water. This law favors "Port, beach or water access, boat moorage, launching sites, park, public view, recreation, or education" as getting automatic precedence over other uses.[6]

While by then Seattle had several parks adjacent to the water (e.g., Alki Beach Park, Golden Gardens Park, Seward Park), there were (and are) significant gaps. Community groups pushed to increase public shoreline access by improving street ends where public rights of way are platted into the water.[5] As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer put it in 2007, "city maps showed roads drawn right into Lake Washington, Lake Union, Puget Sound, Shilshole Bay, Portage Bay, Elliott Bay and other Seattle waterways."[7] In 1996, the city identified 149 such shoreline street ends and designated them for "public uses and enjoyment." A later ordinance established permit fees to discourage private uses of these lands, and directed the revenue from these fees toward the maintenance and improvement of shoreline street ends.[5] The result has been the creation and maintenance of a wide variety of public spaces: beaches, docks in industrial areas, expansions of existing parks, some providing habitat for native species, others simply providing water views.[8]

Looking north from E. Roanoke Mini Park toward E. Hamlin Street. E. Edgar Street is about halfway between; there is an easy land route from E. Edgar Street to E. Roanoke Street.

Public access to Seattle's waterfronts had not always been such a priority. One example can be found in the Eastlake neighborhood, where a longstanding foot and bicycle route along the east side of Lake Union was disrupted by a series of permits issued between 1957 and 1992, which allowed buildings and a marina to build into the historic right of way, to the point of completely preempting public passage along the shore from E. Edgar Street to E. Hamlin Street.[9]

Not all of these transitions have been easy. When the program began, many of these street ends had been de facto integrated into neighbors' yards and business areas, with access limited by fences and hedges, and with people having placed gardens, children's swing sets, and even hot tubs; some business had annexed them for equipment storage. In the late 1990s, as Seattle was establishing regulations for shoreline street ends, the citywide group Friends of Street Ends formed to support the transition of these back to public use. Meanwhile, many people living near the designated SSEs objected to "noise, traffic and people wandering into their yards."[5]

For example, in 2013, the owners of the two properties adjoining Northeast 130th Street Beach discovered that 82 years earlier the title to the land had not properly been conveyed to the City, and they proceeded to fence it off as part of their respective properties. Using the threat of eminent domain, the City reached a settlement with the owners and—after nearly seven years—regained control of the land.[10][11][12][13]

List of official shoreline street ends

The following list uses the official numbering used by the City of Seattle. The list of 149 official SSEs remains unchanged since their original designation in 1996. Statuses are based on Shoreline Street Ends factsheet (2016) with updates December 2022 from the City's official interactive map. Note that street names are not necessarily unique: many Seattle streets hit bodies of water more than once.

Number Name Image Status Location Notes
1 98th St SW
"Worth a visit" West Seattle on Puget Sound
2 SW Brace Point Dr
"Worth a visit" West Seattle, on Puget Sound
3 SW Barton St
"Worth a visit" West Seattle, on Puget Sound
4 SW Alaska St
"Worth a visit" West Seattle, on Puget Sound
5 SW Carroll St
"Worth a visit" West Seattle, on Puget Sound
6 SW Andover St
"Worth a visit" West Seattle, on Puget Sound
7 SW Spokane St
"Worth a visit" West Seattle, on Puget Sound
8 SW Atlantic Pl "Not yet ready" West Seattle, on Elliott Bay
9 Fairmount Ave SW "Not yet ready" West Seattle, on Elliott Bay
10 SW Bronson Way "Worth a visit" West Seattle, on Elliott Bay
11 SW Hinds St "Not yet ready" West Seattle, West Duwamish Waterway
12 Chelan Ave SW "Not yet ready" West Seattle, West Duwamish Waterway
13 SW Spokane St "Not yet ready" West Seattle, West Duwamish Waterway
14 SW Dakota St No public access West Seattle, Duwamish Waterway
15 SW Lander St "Not yet ready" Harbor Island West Duwamish Waterway
16 SW Spokane St "Not yet ready" Harbor Island, West Duwamish Waterway
17 Chelan Ave SW No public access Harbor Island, West Duwamish Waterway
18 SW Spokane St "Worth a visit" Harbor Island, East Duwamish Waterway
19 SW Spokane St "Worth a visit" Industrial District, East Duwamish Waterway
20 S Forest St No public access Industrial District, East Duwamish Waterway
21 SW Idaho St No public access West Seattle, Duwamish Waterway
22 SW Alaska St "Worth a visit" West Seattle, Duwamish Waterway
23 SW Edmunds St "Worth a visit" West Seattle, Duwamish Waterway
24 S Oregon St "Worth a visit" Industrial District, Duwamish Waterway
25 Diagonal Ave S "Worth a visit" Industrial District, Duwamish Waterway
26 S Fidalgo St "Worth a visit" Georgetown Duwamish Waterway
27 S Front St "Not yet ready" Georgetown, Duwamish Waterway
28 S River St "Worth a visit" Georgetown, Duwamish Waterway
29 SW Michigan St "Not yet ready" West Seattle, Duwamish Waterway
30 2nd Ave S "Not yet ready" West Seattle, Duwamish Waterway
31 5th Ave S "Not yet ready" South Park Duwamish Waterway
32 S Riverside Dr "Not yet ready" South Park, Duwamish Waterway
33 7th Ave S

[more images]		 (opened 2023) South Park, Duwamish Waterway
34 S Riverside Dr "Worth a visit" South Park, Duwamish Waterway
35 8th Ave S

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" South Park, Duwamish Waterway t̓ałt̓ałucid Park and Shoreline Habitat
36 S Chicago St No public access South Park, Duwamish Waterway
37 10th Ave S "Worth a visit" South Park, Duwamish Waterway
38 S Monroe St

[more images]		 (within a park) South Park, Duwamish Waterway Now part of Duwamish Waterway Park
39 75th Ave S
"Worth a visit" South Rainier, Lake Washington
40 72nd Ave S
"Worth a visit" South Rainier, Lake Washington
41 S Cooper St "Not yet ready" South Rainier, Lake Washington
42 S Norfolk St "Not yet ready" South Rainier, Lake Washington
43 S Perry St "Not yet ready" South Rainier, Lake Washington
44 S Carver St "Not yet ready" South Rainier, Lake Washington
45 S Willow St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Seward Park, Lake Washington
46 S Brighton St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Seward Park, Lake Washington
47 S Warsaw St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Seward Park, Lake Washington
48 S Eddy St
"Worth a visit" Seward Park, Lake Washington
49 S Holgate St "Not yet ready" Mt. Baker/Leschi Lake Washington
50 S Massachusetts St "Not yet ready" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
51 S Atlantic St "Not yet ready" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
52 S Irving St "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
53 S Judkins St "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
54 S Norman St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
55 S Charles St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
56 S Dearborn St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
57 S King St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
58 S Jackson St "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
59 S Main St "Worth a visit" Mt. Baker/Leschi, Lake Washington
60 E Pine St "Worth a visit" Denny-Blaine, Lake Washington
61 E Olive Ln "Worth a visit" Denny-Blaine, Lake Washington
62 E Howell St "Worth a visit" Denny-Blaine, Lake Washington
63 E Harrison St "Worth a visit" Denny-Blaine, Lake Washington
64 E Mercer St "Not yet ready" Denny-Blaine/Madison Park, Lake Washington
65 E Prospect St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Denny-Blaine/Madison Park, Lake Washington Also known as Prospect Nature Preserve.
66 E Highland Dr

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Denny-Blaine/Madison Park, Lake Washington
67 E Lee St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Denny-Blaine/Madison Park, Lake Washington
68 37th Ave E

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Madison Park on Union Bay a.k.a Beaver Lodge Sanctuary
69 E Roanoke St "Not yet ready" West side of Portage Bay
70 E Edgar St "Worth a visit" West side of Portage Bay
71 E Hamlin St "Worth a visit" West side of Portage Bay
72 E Shelby St "Worth a visit" West side of Portage Bay
73 E Allison St "Not yet ready" West side of Portage Bay
74 E Martin St "Not yet ready" West side of Portage Bay
75 University Bridge
"Not yet ready" Portage Bay/Lake Union
76 Fuhrman Ave E

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Lake Union/Portage Bay Combined with South Passage Point Park (under Interstate 5 Ship Canal Bridge)
77 E Martin St
"Worth a visit" Lake Union/Portage Bay Good Turn Park
78 E Allison St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Lake Union/Portage Bay
79 E Hamlin St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Lake Union/Portage Bay
80 E Edgar St
"Not yet ready" Eastlake, Lake Union
81 E Roanoke St "Worth a visit" Eastlake, Lake Union Roanoke Street Mini-Park
82 E Louisa St "Worth a visit" Eastlake, Lake Union
83 E Boston St "Worth a visit" Eastlake, Lake Union
84 E Newton St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Eastlake, Lake Union Terry Pettus Park
85 Yale Ave N "Worth a visit" Eastlake, Lake Union
86 Terry Ave N

[more images]		 N/A/ South Lake Union Incorporated into Lake Union Park
87 Galer St "Worth a visit" Westlake, Lake Union
88 Blaine St "Worth a visit" Westlake, Lake Union
89 Crockett St "Worth a visit" Westlake, Lake Union
90 McGraw St "Worth a visit" Westlake, Lake Union
91 5th Avenue N
"Not yet ready" Near south foot of Aurora Bridge on Lake Union
92 Fremont Bridge "Worth a visit" South side of Fremont Cut along South Ship Canal Trail
93 3rd Ave N/Etruria St
"Worth a visit" South side of Fremont Cut along South Ship Canal Trail
94 Cremona St
"Worth a visit" South side of Fremont Cut along South Ship Canal Trail
95 Bertona St
"Worth a visit" South side of Fremont Cut along South Ship Canal Trail
96 Queen Anne Ave N
"Worth a visit" South side of Fremont Cut along South Ship Canal Trail
97 3rd Ave W
"Worth a visit" South side of Fremont Cut a.k.a West Ewing Mini Park, along South Ship Canal Trail
98 6th Ave W
"Not yet ready" South side of Fremont Cut
99 Gilman Ave W
"Worth a visit" Magnolia on Salmon Bay Immediately west of Commodore Park, effectively part of the park.
100 W Cramer St "Worth a visit" Magnolia on Salmon Bay
101 W Sheridan St "Worth a visit" Magnolia on Salmon Bay
102 47th Ave W "Not yet ready" Magnolia on Shilshole Bay
103 48th Ave W "Not yet ready" Magnolia on Elliott Bay
104 W Bertona St "Not yet ready" Magnolia on Elliott Bay
105 W Dravus St "Not yet ready" Magnolia on Elliott Bay
106 W Barrett St "Not yet ready" Magnolia on Elliott Bay
107 W Armour St "Not yet ready" Magnolia on Elliott Bay
108 W Raye St  ? Magnolia on Elliott Bay
109 W McGraw St
"Worth a visit" Magnolia on Elliott Bay accessible from Perkins Lane. At low tide you can access Fourmile Rock, depicted here.
110 32nd Ave W

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Magnolia on Elliott Bay a.k.a. 32nd Avenue West Park, 32nd Avenue West Beach Access
111 30th Ave W

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Magnolia on Elliott Bay A.k.a. Magnolia Tidelands Park, reachable from the Elliott Bay Marina
112 W Thomas St "Worth a visit" border between Myrtle Edwards Park and Centennial Park on Elliott Bay
113 Bay St "Worth a visit" border between Olympic Sculpture Park and Myrtle Edwards Park on Elliott Bay "pocket beach"
114 Broad St
"Worth a visit" south tip of Olympic Sculpture Park on Elliott Bay "pocket beach"
115 Vine St "Worth a visit" north side of The Edgewater hotel on Elliott Bay
116 Battery St "Worth a visit" between Pier 66 and the Edgewater on Elliott Bay just a stretch of sidewalk atop the Alaskan Way seawall
117 Virginia St "Not yet ready" immediately north of Pier 63 on Elliott Bay
118 University St
"Worth a visit" south side of Pier 57 on Elliott Bay
119 Madison St
"Worth a visit" adjacent to Fire Station No. 5 on Elliott Bay
120 S Washington St

[more images]		 As of December 2022: closed since 2014[14] former Washington Street Public Boat Landing Facility on Elliott Bay
121 S Holgate St no public access part of Terminal 30, a bit south of Jack Perry Memorial Park
122 NE 135th St no public access Lake City on Lake Washington
123 NE 130th St
"Worth a visit" Lake City on Lake Washington Northeast 130th Street Beach
124 NE 90th Pl "Not yet ready" just south of Matthews Beach Park on Lake Washington
125 NE 85th St "Not yet ready" Sand Point on Lake Washington
126 NE 43rd St
"Worth a visit" Laurelhurst on Lake Washington
127 51st Ave NE
"Worth a visit" Laurelhurst on Lake Washington
128 NE 33rd St "Not yet ready" Laurelhurst on Lake Washington
129 NE 31st St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Laurelhurst on Lake Washington
130 NE 31st St

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" Laurelhurst on Union Bay
131 NE 32nd St "Not yet ready" Laurelhurst on Lake Washington on Union Bay
132 Brooklyn Ave NE

[more images]		 "Worth a visit" University District on Portage Bay Adjacent to (and effectively part of) Sakuma Viewpoint, next to Fritz Hedges Park (formerly Portage Bay Park)
133 Eastlake Pl NE "Not yet ready" University District on Lake Union under University Bridge
134 Latona Ave NE
"Worth a visit" Northlake, Lake Union
135 Sunnyside Ave N
"Worth a visit" Northlake, Lake Union
136 Fremont Bridge
"Worth a visit" under the Fremont Bridge on the north side
137 NW 39th St
"Not yet ready" Fremont/Ballard ("Frelard") on the Fremont Cut
138 6th Ave NW "Not yet ready" "Frelard", on the Fremont Cut limited public access
139 NW 40th St "Not yet ready" "Frelard", on the Fremont Cut
140 11th Ave NW
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay
141 14th Ave NW
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay a.k.a. 14th Avenue NW Boat Ramp
142 15th Ave NW "Not yet ready" Ballard on Salmon Bay under the Ballard Bridge
143 20th Ave NW
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay
144 24th Ave NW
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay
145 28th Ave NW
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay
146 34th Ave NW
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay
147 36th Ave NW
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay
148 NW 57th St
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Salmon Bay beach access
149 NW 60th St
"Worth a visit" Ballard on Shilshole Bay NW 60th Street Viewpoint

Other shoreline street ends

Waterway 15 on North Lake Union, 2022

Besides the 149 officially recognized shoreline street ends, there are numerous other places where waterfront public access is available at the end of a street in Seattle. Some of these, such as Lynn Street Mini Park in Eastlake on Lake Union, predate the ordinance.[15] Others are designated as "waterways", open to the public based on longstanding boat access rights of way. Examples of this are Waterway No. 1, a former ferry landing at the foot of NE 35th Street in Laurelhurst on Union Bay[16] and the elaborately landscaped Waterway 15 immediately west of Ivar's Salmon House at the foot of 4th Ave NE on the north shore of Lake Union/Portage Bay.[17] Others remain in a bit of a limbo, such as Gateway Park North, the street end of 8th Avenue South in Georgetown on the northeast side of the Duwamish Waterway, open to the public but undeveloped, with jurisdictional issues still being sorted out.[18]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Seattle City Council (1996-09-23). "Resolution 29370". City of Seattle. Retrieved 2022-12-28. The PDF of the resolution includes a map showing 149 shoreline street ends.
  2. ↑ Seattle City Council (1999-09-27). "Ordinance 119673". City of Seattle. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  3. ↑ "Lake Union Monitoring Overview". King County. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  4. ↑ "Shoreline Street Ends (factsheet)" (PDF). City of Seattle. March 2016. Retrieved 2022-12-28. This also includes a map.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Shoreline Street Ends Program". Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  6. ↑ "RCW 35.79.035 Limitations on vacations of streets abutting bodies of water—Procedure". Washington State. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  7. ↑ Mulady, Kathy (2007-03-01). "Street-end pocket parks stir neighborhood friction". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  8. ↑ Feit, John (2022-02-05). "Seattle Street Ends: Fremont to the University Along Lake Union and Portage Bay". The Urbanist. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  9. ↑ "Shoreline Pathway Gap (Edgar/Hamlin)". Eastlake Community Council. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  10. ↑ Lacitis, Erik (June 28, 2015). "Lake City residents fight to regain use of now-private beach". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  11. ↑ Lacitis, Erik (August 13, 2015). "Sell or we'll use eminent domain, Seattle mayor tells owners of beach lot". The Seattle Times. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  12. ↑ "NE 130th Street End". City of Seattle. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  13. ↑ Lacitis, Erik (June 24, 2019). "After 7-year battle, Lake City neighbors rejoice as Lake Washington dead end becomes a public beach". The Seattle Times. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  14. ↑ Historic Seattle (2015). "Washington Street Boat Landing". Historic Seattle. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
  15. ↑ "A walking tour of public shoreline sites in Eastlake". Eastlake News. Eastlake Community Council. Retrieved 2022-12-30. …built in 1971 by local volunteers… soon became the responsibility of the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation… which rebuilt it in 1976.
  16. ↑ "Waterway No. 1". Laurelhurst Community Club. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  17. ↑ "Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop" (PDF). City of Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation. May 2011. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  18. ↑ "Gateway Park North". Seattle Parks Foundation. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
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