Downtown Seattle has around 79,574 parking stalls, with an average occupancy rate of 65%, which means we have at least 54,500 cars parked in lots downtown. Traffic flow downtown is around 96,400 cars per day. If we assume that 90% of these cars drive in and out of the city every day, that means that 96% of car traffic in the city can disappear if we remove the parking lots.
You might call this idea insane. How will people go to work, or the movies, or go shopping? That’s where the idea gets interesting. You probably recall that we’re almost done building a light rail line through the city to the south, and we’ll soon continue it northward. What if we built a giant parking structure south of the city, and another one north of the city, and located them both right at our new light rail line?
For every new stall we build, let’s remove one from downtown. This will free up room downtown for more retail, more businesses, and more residential units. As traffic declines we can add streetcars and make some areas pedestrian-only areas. The freeway will clear up as fewer cars queue up at exit ramps on I-5.
We’ll keep some cars around – they’re great for delivering goods to businesses, or if you need to get through downtown to somewhere else less accessible by rail/bus. But our downtown is very walkable, so it’s a shame we’ve given up so much to cars.
The 520 tolling commission says we should only toll the bridge, not the approach roads. While somewhat disappointing, this is unsurprising, considering the neighborhoods on either side seem to have incredible amounts of political clout, and don’t want to see traffic increase in their neighborhood. What’s specifically disappointing is that the committee is using the wrong metric:
"State staffers and consultants estimated that charging tolls beyond the ends of the bridge would raise just 7 percent more in toll revenue. "I don’t think we receive a lot of money (considering) the consternation costs," Hammond said."
The increase in toll revenue has never been the issue. It’s about using tolls to manage demand, especially West of I-405. As it sits, the commission’s recommendation rates a 1 out of 6 on the old congestion pricing aggressiveness scale.
On the plus side, it looks like we’ll need to toll I-90 to hit the $2B revenue target, so that’s a start.
SEATTLE – Working to support the city’s growing number of bicyclists, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will create on-street bicycle parking in neighborhoods around Seattle. With a goal of having one to two per neighborhood, the department will install these unique bike facilities at three locations starting next week.
Taking the place of one to two motor vehicle parking spaces, on-street bike parking will be filled with bicycle racks and surrounded by a raised curb. Bicyclists can enter the parking area from the sidewalk and each car-sized space will accommodate up to eight bikes.
This new program addresses the expanding need for bicycle parking and is part of the ongoing implementation of the Bicycle Master Plan, which seeks to triple the number of people bicycling in Seattle over ten years.
By mid February the new bike facilities will be installed:
? Mid block of Broadway E between E Harrison Street and E Republican Street (by Broadway Market)
? At the corner of 12th Avenue and E Spring Street (by Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Café Presse)
? At the corner of Woodlawn Avenue NE and NE 70th Street (by the Greenlake Condominium)
SDOT is planning additional on-street bicycle parking locations for 2009.
Transit amendment in the stimulus up for a vote tomorrow. As I’ve said before, the stimulus isn’t the be-all and end-all for Obama-administration transit funding, but we do need to send a message to advisers like Larry Summers that you can’t just trade it away for something as short-sighted as tax-cuts. At the very least, we can try to put back what got taken away.
Was apparently electric. And was driven all the way from Chicago in 1900. This appears to be a photograph of its arrival, and the HistoryLink article is here.
(update) Oops. I was wrong about the picture. That’s the Shawmut, the winner of the AYP race nine years later.
I’d love to see this in the US, and hopefully some city will get its act together and implement it. I’m not super-optimistic, though, both because of different attitudes toward privacy in the States, and the attitude that all car-transit should be magically free. But things could change!
The plan is set. In a few years, the tunnel will be under construction. Assuming we can dig really deep for funding, around 2018 the state will have a new car bypass past Seattle. After that, the viaduct will be taken down. Many dislike this decision. I agree. And Dan Bertolet at hugeasscity has put into words exactly why this is such a terrible idea.
So what do we do about it? The die is cast, the decision is made. But wait, that’s a long time from now. What if we can convince Seattle and our state that the Viaduct isn’t needed. San Francisco did this with the Embarcadero – they tore it down with the plan of building a tunnel, but then things worked out so well they decided not to build a tunnel.
My proposal: Let’s tear the Viaduct down now. If we can build enough support, couldn’t we convince the city or state to close the Viaduct? It is terribly unsafe, after all. Yes, there will be many complaints about slowing down traffic, but we can make the argument that it’s only a short-term decision. We’ll have a tunnel soon, don’t worry.
After the Viaduct is gone we’ll be able to see if it really affects the city, and to what extent. If it grinds things to a halt, then we’ll have a new way through soon enough. But if not… we could save $4 billion to be used on something more useful.
Cleaner air over the past two decades has allowed Americans to live an average of 21 weeks longer. In areas such as New York that have dramatically changed air quality this has gone up to 43 weeks longer.
Of course, we also know the cancer rates along freeways and highways are dramatically worse than elsewhere in Seattle.
The relevancy to this blog is left as an exercise for the reader.
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