SEATTLE — Pike Place Market is going car free. Kind of.
Beginning Wednesday, the 117-year-old city icon and tourist draw limited what type of traffic can access the Market at First Avenue and Pike Street. Still allowed: emergency vehicles, drivers with disabled parking permits, commercial deliveries, vendor loading and unloading, and curbside pickup for customers who placed orders.
The partial closure is tied to work by Seattle Public Utilities on Pike Place between Pine and Virginia streets, but follows Mayor Bruce Harrell’s call in his February State of the City address to make the Market “one of the greatest pedestrian experiences in the country” where people “do not have to worry about vehicle traffic.”
The debate over closing Pike Place to cars is almost as old as the Market itself, and has been described as “the third rail” for officials. Perennial efforts to block cars from entering the short, cobblestoned street of Pike Place have been foiled by worries that the move would depress business.
But following the pandemic and the reconsideration and subsequent return to public gathering spaces — and repeated attacks on crowds by drivers worldwide — Harrell threw his weight behind exploring the proposal, which jumpstarted the project, a collaboration between the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority, the mayor’s office, Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle and the Seattle Department of Transportation.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Gordon Padelford, executive director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, which found broad support for a car-less Market in a 2021 poll. “It’s been a priority of ours for years and we’re excited to see them piloting something on the street. … I’m glad they’re taking advantage of this disruptive construction to test this out.”
Rachel Ligtenberg, the market authority’s executive director, said the pilot likely would’ve occurred even without the utility work, but said Market leaders “embraced this disruption” as a way to “have as much as learning as we possibly can” before an estimated 750,000 visitors descend on Seattle during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Ligtenberg said the road closure would last through the summer. Following emergency sewer repair work along Stewart Street and at its intersection with Pike Place last year, SPU is completing final street restoration by resetting the cobblestone and bricks. The utility work will take place Monday through Friday, and is expected to be complete by August.
After the utility work, Puget Sound Energy will begin a four-week project at First and Pike to replace an asphalt patch job from last year with brick and do some curb repair.
Drivers will not be able take a northbound left turn from First and Pike to enter Pike Place. Parking enforcement will begin at 6 a.m. daily, and there will be no long-term parking between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Pike Place, except for drivers with disabled parking permits. An SDOT flagger will be on the corner of Pike Street and Pike Place to guide motorists to the Market’s parking garage on Western Avenue.
During the closure, the Market and SDOT will count how many vehicles and pedestrians are on Pike Place and in the Market, and compare those numbers with counts from last year. SDOT is working on geofencing Pike Place to ensure rideshare vehicles aren’t directed onto the closed section of road.
But Ligtenberg said the most important measures will be “fairly anecdotal,” saying she would “go and be present where the problem is being solved.”
The data, both quantitative and anecdotal, will be used to create a comprehensive street management plan for the Market, which Ligtenberg said will be done sometime this winter. It’s not clear how the market will decide whether to continue to close Pike Place to most traffic.
The particulars of the street closure, Ligtenberg said, came from meetings with the various corners of the Market community. The Market has 200 commercial tenants, 500 craftspeople and 450 residents.
Another group that propelled the conversation was the Pike Place Market Constituency, part of the Market’s governance that ensures public engagement on Market matters.
The Constituency was established in 1973 with the Market’s PDA after voters saved the Market from demolition in November 1971, and created a 7-acre historical district.
Emily Pike, who has worked at the Market for 12 years and has a pertinent if unrelated name, has been involved with the Constituency for two years. Earlier this year, she and some Market friends wrote a letter calling for the road closure, and collected 150 signatures supporting the proposal.
At the April 15 General Assembly meeting, members of the Constituency voted 41-10 in support of the letter, which called for the Market to “reduce personal vehicle traffic in the market while being mindful of business delivery needs, EMS access, and access for disabled visitors.”
Pike praised Ligtenberg’s work to make the project happen, and said the “consensus is growing” that not all vehicles are essential to the Market’s needs.
“Cars, obviously, have been driving down Pike Place for a long time,” said Pike, who currently works at Lamplight Books. “But cars are bigger and drivers are more aggressive. It’s hard not to notice these things and think we can do better.”
Inside the Market around noon on Tuesday, opinions were mixed.
Pha Lee, who owns Lee’s Fresh Produce and has sold at the Market for 30 years, was bundling flower arrangements.
“It’s OK,” Lee said of the proposal. “It’s already hard for deliveries (to reach me). Customers, too.”
She said people mostly drive to the Market, and was particularly worried about how her usually robust Mother’s Day sales will be affected by the change.
Joseph Wagner was eating a burrito while selling T-shirts and hoodies at Aiiden, where he’s worked for two years.
“I think it’s a good idea to bring more foot traffic here,” he said. Still, he was “not optimistic” that a car-free Market would last.
Tess Kittleson-Frey, who works at Choice Produce, could see both sides, and said most business owners don’t like the proposal while most visitors prefer no cars.
“If people could drive with some common decency, and look around, it would be cool,” said Kittleson-Frey, noting the Market probably wouldn’t be hurt by the project. “The Market is always going to be busy.”
Last year, the Market had 20.3 million visitors, and similar numbers are expected this year.
This summer, though, the Market will have more outdoor seating and picnic tables, below the sign and up and down Pike Place. Beginning July 9, the Market will begin a weekly farmers market on Pike Place as well, coinciding with the weekly pick-up of the summer Pike Box CSA, a 10-week program that connects subscribers with fruits and veggies from more than 40 local farmers.
Ligtenberg said she would keep a close eye on how the Market is affected by the street closure.
“We’re staying as close as we possibly can. Helping folks navigate change is very important to us,” she said. “We want to ensure there’s no disruption. If anything we want to enhance the richness of these businesses.”
