kingcounty

Cars Vs. People

By Frank on June 6, 2007

Ok, so I’m a little late in noticing it, but this is a really big deal:

Last week, the state’s project manager for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, David Dye, told a surprised city council that the state department of transportation was “looking forward to… working with the city and the county to really fully develop the surface/transit option” for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct. What the state learned from last year’s election, Dye said, is that “if we continue to define the problem in the way we’ve defined it”—as the need to move cars, not people—”the solutions likely won’t change. We need to take a fresh look at the whole arterial network and how all those pieces fit together with substantially enhanced transit and freight mobility.”

What changed? Besides the election, in which voters rejected both waterfront highway options, the law itself was literally rewritten. Last session, the state legislature quietly adopted a bill that could have huge implications for road projects across the state. The legislation redefines roadway “capacity” to mean a road’s ability to move people and goods—not cars.

A while back I lamented the fact that the state DOT was so car-centric. This is a huge big shift in the opposite direction. Props where due.

(Via CIS)

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Buying Rail

By Frank on May 13, 2007

It’s good to see WSDOT taking control of more rail lines in Eastern WA:

The purchase of the CW Branch of the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad (PCC) is part of a nearly six-year effort to preserve the PCC, which is important to Eastern Washington’s agricultural industry. The state will pay $9.0 million for all track and right of way on the CW Branch, which runs from Coulee City to Cheney and Spokane, and certain real property on the PV Hooper and P & L Branch not previously purchased. The state will also receive the operating rights on all three branches.

“Rail is a vital part of our transportation system and supports a large portion of Washington’s agricultural community,” said Paula Hammond, WSDOT Chief of Staff. “This purchase conforms to the recommendations of the recently completed statewide Rail Capacity and System Needs Study and supports Governor Gregoire’s goals for economic growth in our communities.”

This is especially interesting in light of the article in today’s New York Times about the state of the dams in WA’s Lower Snake River. The focus is on opening the dams for salmon runs, but it also notes that the dams allow for barges to float wheat down river. Get rid of the dams, and you need to find an alternative transportation network, like rail.

Of course, you can own all the track you want, it doesn’t make a difference if the train doesn’t stop, as happened with the new intermodal facility at the Port of Quincy, WA.

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Reading Tea Leaves Inside the Viaduct Timeline

By Frank on May 9, 2007

Even if we don’t know what we’re going to do with the main section, work is starting on the rest of the structure. Here’s the plan, courtesy of the P-I:

Closing parts of the Battery Street Tunnel from mid-2008 to 2010 for seismic strengthening, a new ventilation system and possibly to lower its floor for greater vertical clearance. Detours may be needed. John Pehrson of the Belltown Neighborhood Association said new ventilation towers may block views of Elliott Bay.

Retrofitting a 3.5-block segment of the structure, between Lenora Street and the tunnel, which planners intend to connect to whatever replaces the 1-mile viaduct segment along the central waterfront. Todd Vogel of the Allied Arts Waterfront Committee said the retrofit could prevent burying viaduct lanes under Elliott and Western Avenues to reduce noise.

A $545 million removal of the old viaduct between Holgate and King streets, from 2009 to 2012, and building a new intersection between the sports stadiums.

Part retrofit, part rebuild, and part… wait-and-see. But here’s the interesting thing for surface-transit supporters. You’ll recall that Governor Gregoire said the day after the vote that the time frame for deciding the fate of the viaduct is “two years, before the state’s next biennium budget is approved.”

The surface-transit option’s best hope is that the Viaduct is closed for a significant portion of those two years, to prove that we can live without it before a decision is made. It should go without saying that no one wants to see the road destroyed in an earthquake or an Oakland-style disaster. But a construction closure, like the one being planned between Holgate and King, would be just the ticket to prove that we can, in fact, live without it.

But the timeline doesn’t work: the state budget will be passed in 2009, probably before the Holgate-King section gets closed. Why not start tearing it down sooner? It’s risky to close the thing down for construction without a final plan, but if we’re serious about what it’s going to

Either way, it’s going to be close: the 2008-9 budget will get approved any day now. So assuming the 2010-1 budget is similarly approved in May of 2009 — and assuming the viaduct doesn’t get hashed out in the final, frenzied days of the approval process — the fate of the viaduct will likely be decided before it closes for reconstruction. If you’re a rebuild supporter, that’s a good thing.

On the other hand, if you’re Greg Nickels, and you don’t want to see another viaduct, this is your only chance:

Early next year state crews also will begin moving Seattle City Light power lines from the 1953-vintage viaduct and burying them underground.

Gee, Mayor Nickels. . . It sure would be a shame if Seattle City Light had to close the viaduct down while it moves the power lines, wouldn’t it? I mean, if the public utility decided that, hey, in the interest of public safety, the viaduct had to close for a few months and people had to find another way to get around. That wouldn’t help your argument at all, would it? (wink, wink)

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Route 509 Expansion

By Frank on May 5, 2007

When I first heard mention of a $1B line-item in the RTID to connect SR 509 with I-5, I assumed they were talking about eliminating the stoplight where 509 meets 518 and making it an “all freeway” exchange. It struck me as an odd thing to spend a billion bucks to get rid of a single traffic light.

But I was wrong! The proposed connection, which is nearing approval would happen south of Sea-Tac. The P-I article, though, still doesn’t answer the question of what problem the expansion is designed to solve.

WSDOT’s website, though, provides an answer:

Extending SR 509 will ease congestion on I-5, improve service between industrial districts by allowing up to 9,000 trucks per day to bypass I-5, SR 99 and local streets, and provide for southern access to Sea-Tac International Airport.

It also seems like calling it a “509 expansion” is a bit misleading: in addition to the 3 miles of new 509 freeway, the project will also add a lane to I-5 for the 6 miles approaching the 509 interchange. I’m sure the 509 piece is more expensive (because it’s brand-new freeway), but still, a good chunk of this project is widening I-5.

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MacDonald Resigns

By Frank on April 28, 2007

Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald is resigning, leaving some unifinished business, notably the new 520 bridge and Alaskan Way Viaduct.

I found this quote ver revealing:

Duke Schaub, governmental affairs director for the Associated General Contractors, said MacDonald’s successor also will need to deal with a host of issues in state ferries, which are wrestling with financial problems.

“If there’s one area that I feel is toughest for the DOT administrator to deal with, it’s the ferry system,” he said.

Now, I don’t know who Duke Schaub is and maybe he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but assuming he’s right, it suggests a fundamental myopia at WSDOT. The ferry system is essentially a very large mass transit system, and the fact that the road-centric WSDOT sees it almost as an annoyance is troubling. Puget Sound’s copious waterways could be an asset to our transportation planners, not simply a liability.

To be sure, WSDOT does work on a host of valuable rail projects, as we’ve noted before. But those are dwarfed by the roads.

It would be nice if the next WSDOT director took a holistic approach to transportation planning — integrating roads, ferries, and rail — with a focus on moving people and freight, not cars and trucks.

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WSDOT's Responsibility for Transit

By Frank on March 12, 2007

Ezra Basom writes:

Lets call a spade a spade, and stop pretending that WSDOT offers this state a plan for transportation. The “Washington State Department of Transportation” has a plan for building, maintaining and expanding highways, at a time when we need to be rethinking our auto-centric transportation system. We simply haven’t been asking the right questions about how to solve our transportation problems. By revising state transportation goals, we can reframe the questions and have the ability to explore more innovative solutions.

It’s certainly true that WSDOT is still very highway-centric. However, it bears noting that there are several unsexy-but-vital rail projects that the agency is working on in the state. Here’s the complete list.

Basom might still call this is a “spade” and argue that the state has shirked its rail obligations. And that would be a fair point. But if you want to encourage WSDOT to do more, I think it’s important to acknowledge what they’ve already done.

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Surface Option Gets Staffing

By Frank on February 15, 2007

The “Surface/Transit” option for replacing the viaduct seems to be picking up steam, according to the Times:

The state DOT says it is not studying surface proposals.

“I would say emphatically no,” said David Dye, the agency’s urban-corridors administrator. “We’re taking our lead from the statements of legislative leadership and the governor’s office. We’re focusing on working on the elevated design.”

But DOT itself has temporarily reassigned staffer David Hopkins, who was helping craft a regional highway package, to gather information about surface and transit ideas that Sims and King County transportation staffers are developing.

In other words, WSDOT is gearing up for the fight. Or, as transportation secretary Doug MacDonald says, “The surface discussion is coming like a freight train.”

Surface/Transit is just an idea at this point. Like “Bus Rapid Transit,” (BRT) it means different things to different people. The graphic that accompanies the Times article provides some detail as to what it might include, such as keeping 3rd Avenue bus-only through downtown.

The most innovative part of the plan, though, is to connect Highway 99 with I-5 interchanges at several points downtown. The problem now is that freight trucks coming off the waterfront have to take the Viaduct north through downtown. Their first real chance to switch over to I-5 (to reach destinations North and East of Seattle) is at Mercer Street. If you provide the trucks with the opportunity to hop over to I-5 South of Downtown, you alleviate that need.

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