Save Our Soul {SOS} Seattle

09/18/2012

The revised tolling isn't the surprise. The big surprise is that the Seattle Times admits that "the $400 million was a political figure to make a funding concept pencil out."

Some previously discussed toll scenarios, of more than $3 each direction, increasingly seem unworkable.

09/10/2012

If this is what's happening with the 520 bridge, how realistic are any of the traffic models for tolling the tunnel?

In 2002, WSDOT predicted 90-98k cars per day on 520 after tolling. So far, we're seeing only 64k per weekday: http://daily.sightline.org/2012/09/10/sr-520-a-victim-of-bad-forecasting/

08/10/2012

mega infrastructure projects and the data that drives them

Oh, jeez, this is like shooting fish in a barrel: a picture-perfect demonstration of how not to estimate future traffic volumes. On the website of the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, I ran across this doozy...

06/07/2012

Why does the arena have to go in S**O? If the point is bringing back a team, it seems like remodeling the Key should still be a part of this discussion. The scale of the stadiums hasn't meshed well with the Pioneer Square and Int'l District neighborhoods, and wouldn't adding an arena just exacerbate this problem? An active Key contributes to the overall economic health of the Seattle Center, benefiting all of the arts organizations that make Seattle Center their home. The economic vitality of Seattle's arts community should be as important a consideration as the Port.

Port of SeattleTerminal 46 is the main focus of concerns over freight mobility in the S**o neighborhood. For all the obsessive editorializing from the Seattle...

03/14/2012

Five highways whose ex*****on gave their cities new life.

03/05/2012

Some good news in the headlines! Info about tonight's meeting is linked in the comments.

Courtesy Eric FredericksenEric Fredericksen (foreground, with Vancouver, B.C. artist/curator Jonathan Middleton) inside Julian Hoeber's installation Demon Hill, shown at Western Bridge last year.The team that's...

03/02/2012

Early versions of ESB 6882 authorized a 1% Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) for counties to address their transportation needs. It was unclear at the time how this authority was to be shared between County road departments and transit agencies. A full 1% would not only have solved Metro’s long-term d...

02/28/2012

Washington State Department of Transportation, which initially predicted it would be able to raise $400 million in toll revenues to pay to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel, now believes tolls will raise only $200 million, half the original projection.

02/24/2012

We need to lessen our dependence on oil. If only progressive politicians could be consistent in their policies.

So I'm reading in Politico about Democratic fecklessness. (Yes, half my posts begin this way.) The problem is, whenever gas prices go up, Republicans benefit. They have a simple, powerful message r...

02/23/2012

"Today, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy released a report that may serve as an important resource for future discussions . . ."

Removing a stretch of urban highway is an admittedly daunting task. A new study details five cases around the globe where highway removal has enjoyed wild success, providing the sort of data urbanists could use when making the case for ridding cities of these car-centric no man’s lands.

12/06/2011

a brilliant, bittersweet tune.

An ode to Seattle's Viaduct by Braniel. Video editing: David Nixon Footage: WSDOT & Daniel Spils Braniel = Brangien & Daniel

11/30/2011

excellent questions peppered with dry humor

Here's hoping the waterfront makeover resists attempts to sanitize. Another concern: not turning it into a second Seattle Center.