There’s going to be a sweet discussion at the Pacific Science Center’s monthly Science Café tonight, revolving around “Unlocking the Secrets of Dark Chocolate.” Dr. Andy McShea, the Chief Operating Officer at Seattle’s own Theo Chocolate will be leading the talk.

Like always, the Science Café will begin at 7:30 p.m. at TS McHugh’s, located at 21 Mercer Street in Lower Queen Anne.

(Photo courtesy of Brad Mohr via his Flickr page.)

Metro is planning to close a number of bus stops along the #3 and #4 routes beginning Saturday, June 26, as part of its stop-spacing consolidation project for both lines.

Much like a similar project announced for the #28 route back in March, this plan would remove 27 of the 116 stops north of Denny Way and east of 5th Avenue, many of which are in Queen Anne along Taylor Ave N, Boston St., Queen Anne Ave N and other streets.

Metro says the plans to remove closely spaced stops along this stretch “will help buses move faster and operate on a more reliable schedule, cut energy consumption, and reduce Metro’s operating and maintenance costs.”

Sixteen stops in Queen Anne are on the chopping block, including both the north and southbound stops at Second Ave N and Blaine Street, Queen Anne Ave N and W Howe Street, Fifth Ave N at Crockett Street, and Taylor Ave N at Galer and Garfield streets. Get the full list of proposed closures here. In addition to the closings, Metro plans to open two more stops: one northbound at Taylor Ave N and Prospect Street, the other westbound at Boston Street and 2nd Ave N.

Currently the average distance between stops for these two routes is about 700 feet. After the stop-spacing project is complete, Metro estimates the average distance between stops will be closer to 950 feet. According to Metro, these changes will only directly affect eight percent of riders, who will now have to catch their bus at a different stop than they have in the past, stating that “When the project is completed, all riders should have a faster, more reliable trip.”

A few readers have expressed concern with the proposed changes. Jeff writes,

While some of the stops aren’t used much, they are cutting some of the more popular stops such as Galer and Taylor that is off of the stairs that run up the hill that many people access. I know of several disabled riders that get on at the Taylor condos that would have to walk several blocks down or up the hill to get to a stop. Cutting the rarely used stops I understand, but it seems like they cut based on spacing ignoring the riders that use the stops.

The public is invited to comment on the proposed consolidation project through Friday, June 11. Metro says it will be considering comments sent in from the community and will keep the neighborhood updated with any changes to the plan. You may comment on the project by filling out this online survey, sending an e-mail to community.relations@kingcounty.gov ( be sure to put “Route 3+4″ in the subject line), or calling Metro’s message line at (206) 296-4511 and leaving a message that includes the location of your stop.

(Thanks to Jeff and Luke Hizer for the tips!)

With so much debate over the proposed changes to Nickerson Street, we thought we should provide a survey for our readers. As we have been reporting, the plan to put Nickerson street on a ‘road diet’ has generated passionate comments. Community groups have formed to oppose and support the change.

Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced that this summer Nickerson Street will change to include one driving lane in each direction and a center two-way turn lane. The new configuration will reduce the number of car lanes and add an uphill bicycle lane. The downhill traffic lane will have shared lane markings for bicycles.  There will be marked crosswalks installed at Jesse Avenue West, Cremona Street, and Dravus Street.

Click here to take the survey and tell us what you think. Please only vote once. We know that this survey is not scientific but we think it will be interesting to see where people stand on the issue.  We will keep you posted on results.