Orphan Road - road - Comments

Well, this would hardly be

serial catowner — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:55:13 -0800

Well, this would hardly be the first road-building bubble in our history. In the 1830-1840s the Midwest states planned extensive roads and issued state bonds. Most of the roads were never completed, many never even started, and the states defaulted on the bonds, which soured the London bond-markets on the states.

This is one reason some state constitutions have prohibitions on using public credit for private enterprises.

I, personally, cannot imagine a better time than the present to put a hold on road projects. After all, in the 19th century it turned out that rail was vastly superior to the roads of the time. It may be that for some purposes, it still is.

OMG, you could fly to

serial catowner — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 06:14:43 -0800

OMG, you could fly to Europe, buy a 2CV, have it shipped home (they can be disassembled and shipped flat in a crate), and end up with $7000 and a better looking car.

The 2CV gets 50-60 mpg.

I believe that's San

m1ek — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:11:09 -0800

I believe that's San Antonio.

What you're seeing there is why you should never, ever, ever build freeways with frontage roads unless there's no other choice. In Texas, they actually view the frontage roads as a feature, not a bug, amazingly enough - even though they require five-and-six-level interchanges once the "funnel everybody through an inefficient 4-full-phase traffic light" solution grinds to a halt.

My Texan relatives

CJH — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:28:34 -0800

My Texan relatives regardless of political affiliation view the TTC with mild contempt to outright hostility. And most of them aren't opposed to new local road construction in the slightest, so like M1ek, I don't how see anything approaching the descriptions will get built.

That's fantastic. But if

Frank — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:54:27 -0800

That's fantastic.

But if they just build a few more roads all the traffic will just go away, right? ... right?

Cool picture of Texas

serial catowner — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:25:01 -0800

Cool picture of Texas road-bloat here.

This was Governor Perry's

m1ek — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:04:15 -0800

This was Governor Perry's one big idea, and from here in Austin, I'd give you 10-1 odds against any segment of this from ever being built. For one thing, the toll road around here (SH130) which would serve as part of the TTC-35 is just a normal (for Texas) roadway - none of this quarter-mile-wide nonsense.

And of course, the stuff about rail is widely known to be fakery which was supposed to get train folks enthused. Didn't work; it was pretty clear they were, if they built anything at all, only going to build the road part.

It's a good point, there

Frank — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 12:01:59 -0800

It's a good point, there certainly would be an impact for lower-income people. But I think most carbon tax proposals try to be "revenue-neutral." You increase the gas tax and than decrease payroll or sales taxes by an equal amount so that people don't end up actually being taxed more.

Not sure how realistic that is, but that's the theory, anyway.

Wow! Talk about a wrong guy

serial catowner — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:43:17 -0800

Wow! Talk about a wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time! The Sierra Club guy says this would "initiate" discussion, but I think it's more likely to irritate discussion.

Considering the thousands of tons of particulate and gas emissions that the Port of Seattle dumps in the air every year, Mayor Nickels might consider plucking the beam from his own eye before he reaches for the mote in his neighbor's eye.

Where I live, most of the people don't have any money in the last week of the month. As for buying a new fuel efficient car, ha ha, does Hizzoner take drugs to get those visions? Having $40 car tabs go to $120 (on top of gas prices that have some of us spending half our disposable income on fuel) would just be cruel, because, guess what, the Food Bank doesn't always have food out here either.

What might work is if the entire new tax were dedicated to new bus routes in rural counties. Dial-a-ride doesn't work when you have to start real early or come home real late.

And this is just adding injury to insult, because out here people already drive the most fuel-efficient vehicle they can. Lots of 20-year-old Fiestas and Geos out here.

I'm just one twitch short of keying the next Hummer I see, but this proposal at this time seems a little *unwise* to me.

Well, most people will go

serial catowner — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:04:46 -0800

Well, most people will go along with this because they don't realize it costs them money to use their headlights. You will notice that the State Patrol never uses their headlights during the day, even though that makes them easy to spot in a headlight-happy environment.

What I would like to see is a requirement to have clearance lights on at all times, the way trucks run. But I have given up any hope of logical legislation about driving.

I think the general rule

Frank — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:16:57 -0800

I think the general rule that's applied elsewhere is that you have to have your lights on when your windshield wipers are on.

I don't share the

serial catowner — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:37:32 -0800

I don't share the enthusiasm. Who decides when it's raining? Or maybe you make the law that headlights must be on at all times, so the police can pull people over when it's not raining, because, after all, the last thing you want is traffic stops in heavy rain.

Then there's the issue of people with super bright headlights- which they purchased because they think it makes them safer. Dude, if you blind me when I'm coming towards you, you are not safer.

It all sounds to me like another chance to make things difficult without actually making much of an improvement.

Right on

bmaryman — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:36:33 -0800

this is such a needed piece of legislation...i'm originally from maryland where we have this law and this thing is just a no brainer as to why it makes sense here in dark, rainy seattle...

Love to see this

nickb — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 21:31:19 -0800

From what I've read this works.. Wired covered this a year or two ago, and a chief proponent of shared space put his back to the road, closed his eyes, and wrapped his hands over his chest, and crossed the street backwards, unharmed.. Pretty amazing if you ask me, but I think in certain parts of the US it would work..

Only Sounder North was closed.

BenSchiendelman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:22:12 -0800

The P-I got it wrong; Tacoma-Seattle was in operation.