Category — Transportation

KOMO tv reports on a group of Holly Park neighbors who installed speed bumps, and have now just had them ripped out by SDOT.

One quote that I think kind of represents the ‘City Knows Best’ view that the Nickels administration has of neighborhoods is;

“We can’t have residents unilaterally put down their own speed bumps because that would create chaos for us across the city,” said Rick Sheridan with Seattle SDOT.

Maybe so, but it seems like a frustrated last step from neighbors who’ve been trying to get SDOT to do something about it for years. Anyway, hope this catches SDOTs attention to officially fix the problem.

If you commute to Redmond, which I do, you probably know that the city has an online program called R-Trip which not only lets you track how you get to work each day, but here’s the best part - allows you to qualify to win prizes by carpooling/biking/walking/bussing to work.

Now, some of you may say that isn’t the simple act of finding alternative ways of getting to work reward enough for you - and I say, well, what if you knew there was a $50 Amazon gift card in it for you?

So, here’s what I login to everyday -

The first is a calendar detailing each of my trips to work and you can update any date you want simply by clicking on it.

 
Then, they also give you stats on how much gas and CO2 you’ve saved by not driving alone to work.
 

And finally, and most importantly for those of us who enjoy receiving prizes, here’s how much progress I’ve made toward that Amazon gift card.

And as a bonus, if your employer chooses to participate, they can even offer prizes to their employees who commute to work. I specifically like one of the contests below where they assign one day each month as a ‘commute’ day but don’t tell their employees about it - however, if the employee actually did commute to work on that commute day they can win additional prizes.

Anyway, I guess my point with this post (instead of sharing my affinity for prizes), is that to get people to change their behavior - whether it’s driving less, commuting, building more neighborhood friendly development - you need to figure out a way to grab and hold their attention. And for me, Redmond’s efforts are much better and more engaging than the city of Seattle’s ‘Commuter Cash’ program where you can earn $150 for not driving to work an average of 5 days a week.

Seattle’s approach doesn’t appear to let you track your trips online, doesn’t reach out to individual employers to set up special incentives, and worst of all - says supplies of prizes are limited!?! 

It’d be really interesting to match up the results of Seattle and Redmond’s efforts and see who is driving better participation.

I’ve seen notes left on cars before in Seattle, but never quite so visibly as what was done right by Westlake Ave N.(You can view the entire post - and the author’s opinion on it over at CarDomain)     

I was in Austin this past week (it’s a very cool city), and read that they are currently upgrading a 32-mile stretch of freight track for their new MetroRail commuter system.

Compare this to King County who is to acquire a 42-mile long line of track along I-405 on the Eastside but are instead converting it into a trail. And by the way, this comparison between Austin and King County hasn’t gone unnoticed - Lance Dickie wrote a column for the Times about it in January.

All I can say is, ‘yes, let’s do it’.

The Southlake blog put together a really nice analysis of the pros and cons between the South Lake Union Mercer mess fixes being proposed by Councilmember Nick Licata, and well, everyone else on the council. 

These photos were taken from my bus ride this morning into work, and show traffic backed up along the southbound lanes of Montlake Blvd NE. (the photos were taken from the back of the bus - I sit there because everyone knows that’s where the cool people are supposed to sit).

But, my beef with the planned development for this part of Seattle is that it’s largely car-centric (500 new parking spaces for UVillage, the UW continues to grow and also wants a renovated football stadium, and Children’s is planning to expand).

That’s a lot of growth, and it should be married to a local transportation plan. 

So, here’s one of my ideas, why not bust out a carpool/HOV lane along the southbound side of Montlake, that way those folks in NE Seattle (like me) who do carpool or take the bus to work can zip by this traffic that I was stuck in this morning.

Otherwise we’re just promoting more car usage along the same amount of capacity.

I was in Atlanta this past week and rode something very strange. Maybe you could help me figure out what it is.

It was this thing they named ‘Marta’ and it was located in a large underground room that Atlantans call a ’station’, I was asked to pay $1.75 to enter, and inside this big ’station’ a strange vehicle on rails would periodically appear, people then got onto this strange vehicle which quickly took them someplace they wanted to visit.

Anyway, if you see one of these here in Seattle, let me know, I’d like to take it again.

Here’s a 520 we could all live with - one with fewer cars and more transit options. And I guess that’s why I liked this video - it shows 520 without the congestion.

One thing that I think is pretty interesting about this video is that it uses three lanes (one for HOV, one for SOV, and one for bicycles). Even though I would prefer that the third lane was light rail - I think the idea of one SOV lane is a good one - why build out a huge bridge if three lanes could get the job done? But how realistic is this vision?

As someone who commutes across the bridge (via shuttle), I know the real pain is the bottleneck caused at the SR 520/I-405 and 520/I-5 intersections. And although fixing the 520 bridge will help, a total solution is going to require thinking about I5 and I405 too.

Here are a couple more folks (and I’m sure there are some more - Bellevue Square, I’m looking at you…) who are going to need to start upping their game to help reduce the 520 crunch.

• Children’s, the UW and UVillage need to start working together to create a Montlake solution for all of their traffic. UVillage is considering adding 520 new parking spaces, Children’s Hospital is planning an expansion which will increase traffic, and the UW has acres of parking for staff, students, and visitors. It would be nice to see these folks help come up with a solution that made it really easy to connect from their locations directly to a Montlake hub on 520. A UVillage park and ride would be awesome.
• Metro. C’mon guys, can’t you start working together a little better? If I relied on you to get me to the Eastside from my NE Seattle house - it would take me about 1.5 - 2 hours each way? Use the 520 tolls to pay for more routes!

And next, do more of this, make commuting fun like the city of Redmond does. Here’s a site called www.gortrip.com that lets you track your monthly commute - and register to win prizes for commuting. I knows it’s kinda gimmicky, but it’s a great way to see how much money you’ve saved by commuting.

Anyway, here’s my commuting schedule for the month. And if we had more flexible bus routes (ie running earlier in the morning and afternoon) I could have shaved off and additional 3-4 of those ‘Drive Alone’ days.

Have something to say about the upcoming SR 520 bridge replacement, or just want to learn more?
Well, you’re in luck, there are two open houses this week where you can have the opportunity to find out more.

Seattle
Tuesday June 24, 4-7pm
Naval Reserve Building - South Lake Union
860 Terry Ave N

Bellevue
Wednesday June 25, 4-7pm
Bellevue City Hall
450 110th Ave NE
WSDOT’s web site also has additional info. 

Nick Licata’s Critical Crossings program (Critical Crossings documents dangerous intersections so that they can be shown to SDOT - who will take a look at them and make a ‘hmmm’ sound  because SDOT already has its own established process for appearing concerned when presented with these kind of requests) released some top contenders for dangerous intersections in Seattle.Anyway, I’d have to say of all the photos on the site this one wins the scary intersection award. (NE 125th and 25th Ave NE)

Lots of condos, apartments and townhomes (even a mobile home park) up in this corner of Ravenna Ave by Lake City Way. Not as much investment in pedestrian safety.

Thank the neighbors for the bench!

Walking home on a busy street from that bus stop.

Hey, since it seems like a good time to ask for things that we want, I’d like to be able to quickly take the bus to work without being stuck in Montlake traffic for 20+ minutes. So, maybe a deal can be struck here. The UW can get more stadium capacity if they pony up and add extra capacity for the traffic they bring to NE Seattle by adding a carpool/HOV lane that would greatly speed up  bus/carpool traffic.

(Traffic building up on Montlake - note: I think we should put a carpool/HOV lane on the left side lanes in the photo below)

(The UW bargaining chip, courtesy Seattle Times)

Hi Governor Gregoire,

First of all, let me say I’m very pleased that you are tackling the 520 issue. As a commuter across this bridge, I am very, very interested in fixing this problem. So, here are some of my thoughts that you might want to consider when repairing the bridge.

1. The bridge is just a part of the problem, the real conjestion takes place at all the crazy on and off ramps that jam 520 (And yes I-405, I’m looking at you). If you really want to tackle the problem, you’ve got to fix these junctions as well
2. Think rail. Really, building rail lines back and forth between Seattle and Redmond would be the best long-term solution. It would be clean, easy for riders to use, and the most reliable option of them all.
3. You want two car lanes and one HOV lane each way, how about one car lane, one HOV lane, and one rail ‘lane’ each way?
4. Don’t forget to put in a protected bike lane like the one on I-90. (and make sure not to put the rails in the bike lane like we did in Seattle)
5. And I think you’re going to have really big problems charging tolls before you’ve fixed the actual lanes. You think back-ups are bad now, just wait…

Thanks!

Listening to Q13 News this morning, Bill Wixey said, ‘wow I wonder why we had to pay $1.7 million to hear that traffic stinks. Fortunately the audit does much more than that, it actually makes specific recommendations and backs them up with examples and research. I’ve only read through the first 10 pages, but it’s looking like it makes alot of sense.

In fact, I want to go even further and say, ‘You know what State Traffic Audit, you made a fan out of me when you recommended getting rid of weaving (left hand off/on ramps) on our freeways’. Living in North Seattle, this weaving from the 65th St off-ramp and SR520 on-ramp totally messes up traffic on I5 South heading towards 520.

Anyway, they’ve hit the nail on the head, you’ve got to go directly after traffic congestion (since that’s obviously where the use is) and make improvements to reduce it. Anyway, you can read the entire audit on the Seattle Times web site (pdf file).

Hint…it’s the right side of the freeway below that need fixing!