Seattle
Streetsblog Basics
Venture-Financed Bike-Share Off to a Hot Start in Seattle
There are plenty of questions about whether this new bike-share business model, which is backed by Silicon Valley-style venture capital, will have legs. Will the companies be able to maintain safe bikes, provide good service, and stay financially viable in the long run? It’s too soon to say. But in the early going, they are proving that plenty of people will use bike-share in a city where it previously flopped, reports Tom Fucoloro at Seattle Bike Blog.
August 9, 2017
Seattle Council Member Asks Whether “Jaywalking” Laws Do More Harm Than Good
The concept of "jaywalking" has become deeply embedded in American culture, but if you go back just a few generations, the idea that your mere presence in the street could be illegal was a novel idea. Now one elected official in Seattle is suggesting that laws penalizing people outside of cars have gone too far.
July 28, 2017
Don’t Judge Transit By the Gridlock on Nearby Roads
Sound Transit is beginning to build a light rail line between downtown Seattle and its booming eastern suburbs. It's expected to eventually carry 50,000 riders each day. Parts of the route will run on highways, and the expectation is that the rail line will reduce traffic congestion. This is often how transit projects are framed -- as congestion cures -- and that's a problem, says The Urbanist's Doug Trumm.
May 18, 2017
Who’s Gonna Get Stuck With the Bill for Seattle’s Highway Tunnel Misadventure?
Seattle's massive downtown highway tunnel, originally slated at $3.1 billion, is now expected to cost at least $4 billion when all is said and done. Who's going to pay?
April 7, 2017
Seattle Campaign to #GivePedsTheGreen Would Do Away With “Beg Buttons”
A petition in Seattle is calling on the city to do away with "beg buttons" and automatically give pedestrians a walk signal at every traffic light in its "urban villages" -- areas that are walkable and transit-oriented.
March 24, 2017
Truck Crash on Freeway Paralyzes Traffic. Seattle Times: Ditch the Bike Lanes!
Last month, a truck crashed on a major Seattle freeway, paralyzing traffic for miles. The whole episode demonstrated the fragility of the freeway system, and the need for more resilient transportation networks. But the Seattle Times had a hotter hot take. The real culprit, according to the paper's editorial board? Bike lanes.
March 7, 2017
Why Seattle Should Boot Cars Off Its Busiest Street for Buses
Seattle is booming, and in downtown, transit has been absorbing most of the city's growth in travel. With the streets full during rush hour, the only way to increase capacity is to reallocate street space from cars to more compact modes like buses and bikes.
February 22, 2017
Q&A With Dongho Chang, a Traffic Engineer Who Stresses Safety Over Speed
Dongho Chang belongs to a new generation of transportation engineers who see their job as more than moving cars. His work with Seattle DOT has established the city as a national leader on designing multi-modal streets. We recently spoke to Chang about his work in Seattle and how the profession is changing.
February 14, 2017
Downtown Seattle Added 45,000 Jobs and Hardly Any Car Commuters
Transforming from a car city to a transit city is no easy task. Just ask Denver and Los Angeles, which have spent billions to build rail systems but struggled to reduce solo car commuting rates. But Seattle shows it can be done: The share of downtown commuters who drive alone dropped from 35 percent in 2010 to 30 percent last year.
February 10, 2017
To Make Streets Safer, Seattle May Get Rid of Traffic Signals
Signalized intersections carry special risks. Drivers often accelerate during the yellow phase to "beat the light," leading to high-speed crashes. Federal officials warn that improperly placed signals can "significantly increase collisions." So Seattle is reviewing 10 intersections to see if traffic signals should be replaced with stop signs.
February 9, 2017
