Website

Route 40 Transit Plus Multimodal Corridor Project Website

Ensuring all neighboring residents and businesses stay informed while improving the reliability and safety of the Route 40 corridor.

In this project…

  • Competitor Analysis

  • Wireframing

Role: UX designer, UX writer

Overview

The Route 40 Transit Plus Multimodal Corridor Project aims to bring significant improvements to multiple Seattle neighborhoods, prompting numerous community members to seek frequent construction updates and clarity on personal impacts. Despite information being available on the website, the project team often faced repetitive inquiries, causing inefficiencies. The site’s navigation compounded these challenges due to a text-heavy, lengthy website that provided little hierarchy to guide users through.

This website redesign aims to streamline future updates and enhance navigation, reducing the need for repeated questions. It is a crucial step as the project enters its next phase, demonstrating the team's commitment to proactive community engagement and comprehensive information sharing.

Ideation

We had internal and client meetings to discuss goals of this web update and who was the target audience. In these meetings, we advocated for the importance of allocating resources toward a major web update to symbolize the department’s dedication to staying engaged with the community.

  • Make elements easy to find

  • Refresh the website 

  • Encourage subscription to email updates

I analyzed project websites within the Seattle Department of Transportation. This research focused on identifying effective elements for supporting project outreach and enhancing visual appeal to make content more accessible. Ensuring consistency with existing pages and aligning with the client’s branding were also key considerations guiding our design process.

Design

Our design enhanced the site with the following changes:

  • Condensed “what’s happening now” section to only the most recent news and added a photo to increase readability of the section and increase importance of the latest information

  • Created a banner to subscribe to email updates for a clear call to action

  • Add anchor link to FAQs for easy navigation and to encourage users to click there

  • Add “project details” tabs to condense remaining information and clearly communicate what will be discussed within the site.

  • Use cards to display other projects for a more visually dynamic way to link to other sites

  • Organize project materials into accordion tabs as the combined, long list was overwhelming to read and made it easy to miss materials for new users

  • I initially proposed updating the text to shorten the “What’s happening now” section but to address the volume of construction update information, the team proposed introducing neighborhood-specific tabs. This approach would streamline the user experience by grouping relevant information, making it easier for users to find what they need while ensuring that the latest updates remain prominent without losing access to permanent information.

  • To enhance information delivery and reduce user clicks, we decided to integrate FAQ content directly into the first section rather than using anchor links. This adjustment aims to provide immediate access to essential information, improving overall usability and efficiency.

  • The team agreed on the other elements and plan to move forward with them.

Using the high-fidelity prototype, my team presented our design to the project manager and head web designer to explain our proposal and discuss any changes. This transformed into a workshopping session with the client where we ideated how to iterate additional elements to meet our goals.

Next steps

In this project, I had the opportunity with various methods to visually condense information that could not simply be removed. Upon reflection, I would like to ensure the visual harmony is never lost while adding in several different elements. Following the workshopping session completed with our client and the main web developer, I went back to draft the agreed upon additional content and compile it for hand-off to the developers. We will continue with this design for future construction updates and monitor the site in case greater changes are needed.