Seattle
Streetsblog Basics
Can Seattle Stop Its Highway Tunnel Boondoggle Before It’s Too Late?
It's been one year since the world's largest tunnel boring machine, "Bertha," got stuck 120 feet beneath Seattle. Before it broke down, the colossal machine had excavated just 1,000 feet of the two-mile tube that's supposed to house a new, $3.1 billion underground highway to replace an aging elevated road called the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
January 5, 2015
Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct: King of the Highway Boondoggles
A recent report by U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group, “Highway Boondoggles: Wasted Money and America’s Transportation Future,” examines 11 of the most wasteful, least justifiable road projects underway in America right now. Here’s the latest installment in our series profiling the various bad decisions that funnel so much money to infrastructure that does no good.
September 26, 2014
Seattle Opens Up Neighborhood Streets for Kids to Play
At St. Terese Academy in Seattle last week, students held relay races on 35th Avenue. It was field day at the Madrona neighborhood school, and thanks to a new initiative from the city of Seattle, the kids had some extra space to stretch their legs.
June 5, 2014
Traffic Plummets on the Highway Seattle Is Spending a Fortune to Replace
For months now, the largest tunnel boring machine in the United States has been broken down under the city of Seattle. Meanwhile, traffic on the highway that the tunnel is supposed to replace has plummeted, raising more questions about whether the project is worth the enormous expense.
February 21, 2014
Setbacks and Victories For Urbanism in Yesterday’s Mayoral Races
Mayoral elections broke both ways for livability in American cities yesterday: The results of some may slow progress on transit and street safety, while one-midsized city elected an executive who campaigned strongly on light rail expansion and bikeability.
November 6, 2013
Seattle “Bikelash” Largely Invented, Poll Finds
Like a lot of cities, Seattle has seen a much-hyped "bikelash" against efforts to make the city safer for cycling. But it turns out that this bikelash might be just that: hype.
January 24, 2013
The Stranger: If Safer Streets Mean War, We’re Ready for Combat
Under the headline, "Okay, Fine, It's War,” Seattle’s The Stranger blog this week published a manifesto “of and by the nondrivers themselves.” They’re sick of being called “militants” for caring about pedestrian safety, and they’re tired of the specter of a “war on cars.”
September 16, 2011
Streetfilms: Seattle’s Link Light Rail — The Start of Something Big
Right now, Seattle is making as serious a commitment to transit as any city in the nation. Recently, Streetfilms got to take a tour of the newest addition to the city's network --
the 13-station Link Light Rail, which opened in
mid-2009.
March 3, 2010
Streetfilms: Biking to Work With Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn
When Seattleites elected a new
mayor at the end of 2009, they really went for a breath of fresh air. In the general election, Mayor Mike McGinn, who rides a bike to work daily, was outspent nearly four to one. The race was very close, but with
an energetic volunteer base -- and a campaign that emphasized many livable streets
issues -- he pulled out the victory.
February 16, 2010
Streetfilms: Sharrows Point the Safe Way to Bike Across Rail Tracks
It's something even the most experienced
cyclists do: wipe out while crossing a set of train tracks. When you ride across rails, you need to maneuver your bike's angle of approach so that
you hit the tracks as perpendicularly as possible. But even knowing that,
some riders don't slow down enough to sashay properly, and newbies have no idea how the angles work until it's too
late!
February 12, 2010