Transportation

Ceremonial snip marks beginning, not end, for Ballard greenways

Guest — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 16:11:37 +0000

Guest (not verified) Mon, 09/09/2013 - 9:11am

Mayor Mike McGinn, with the ceremonial giant scissors, cuts the ribbon marking the official opening of the Ballard Greenway – and unleashing a horde of bicycling children.

Photos by Zachariah Bryan

When Mayor Mike McGinn cut the ribbon with a classic pair of giant scissors to celebrate the grand opening of the Ballard Greenway on NW 58th St on Saturday, Sept. 7, the snip marked the beginning, not the end.

“The purpose is not to have just two pretty miles here,” said Ballard Greenway member Jennifer Litowski, a Ballard resident of over six years. “You see the value in (the greenways) when they are all linked together.”

Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who chairs the Parks and Neighborhoods Committee, concurred. “I want to see this integrated network within the next four years.”

The Ballard Greenway comes after much conversation, scouting, planning, designing and debate. It modifies residential roads along NW 58th St from 4th Ave NW to 32nd Ave NW and then down to Seaview Ave NW.

The greenway utilizes speed bumps, curb ramps, signs, sharrows and more to calm traffic and make the roads more accessible for bicyclists.

While the city supported the effort, the greenway likely would have never happened if it wasn’t for the community interest stirred by the Ballard Greenway group – a group of residents who had an interest in making streets safer and more accessible for bicyclists and pedestrians alike.

Bagshaw said there are now over 20 such groups in various neighborhoods around the city also sparking an interest in their own greenway.

During community discussions in the past, some residents protested to the greenway, saying that it would bring a stream of bicyclists through their neighborhood. Others said it made the streets safer for families and children. People at the grand opening said that already cars were driving slower.

A few people have also raised the bicycles vs. cars trope. During his short announcement at the greenway grand opening, the bicycle-friendly McGinn poked fun at the claim, especially relevant considering that Ballard is home to the never-not-provocative “Missing Link” debate.

“We all know that sometimes biking is a little controversial in this city, he said. “Sometimes!”

But, he said, in the end this was about having people and especially children having safe ways to their destination, no matter the mode of transportation

In Ballard, there are already plans in the works to extend the neighborhood greenway, forming what is called a “Ballard Box.” The Ballard Box would connect the 58th route with Loyal Heights and Crown Hill, using north/south routes on either end and having an east/west route on top, around – though very likely not on – NW 85th St.

Ballard Greenway member Chris Saleeba said that he hoped Ballard, which is one of the first neighborhoods to complete a greenway, could demonstrate the possibilities and opportunities to the rest of the city.

“I think it’s a great first step to demonstrate what a safe street is, for all users, whether walking or bicycling,” Saleeba said. “The end goal is to have streets like this all over the city.”

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Seattle Neighborhood Greenways

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Dept of Transportation invites the community to be part of determining Seattle’s transportation future

amrook — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:39:29 +0000

amrook Wed, 05/18/2011 - 3:39pm

In a series of upcoming public workshops, the Department of Transportation wants to hear your thoughts and ideas regarding transportation to help shape the future of transportation in Seattle.

In January, Mayor McGinn and the City Council convened a 14-member Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee III (CTAC) to advise them on priorities for maintaining and improving Seattle streets and sidewalks and to evaluate funding options including a potential ballot measure.

Input from the community will inform the CTAC’s decisions and recommendations.

The North Seattle public workshop is coming up on May 24th and will be held at the Fremont Library from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Mayor Mike McGinn will be in attendance to hear what North Seattlites have to say.

The Fremont Library is located at 731 N. 35th Street.

The agenda for the event is as follows:

5:30-6:00 p.m. Open house
6:00-6:30 p.m. Presentations by CTAC members and Seattle Dept. of Transportation Director Peter Hahn
6:30-7:30 p.m. Small group discussions

CTAC members and Seattle Department of Transportation staff will participate in each event to answer questions and hear comments.

Those unable to attend a workshop can provide a comment or take an online survey at www.seattle.gov/transportation/ctac.htm.

Additional information on the CTAC process and a library of past CTAC meeting materials and presentations are is available on the web site.

Transportation

all of Seattle

Robinson Papers

Transportation meeting predicts a mixed but hopeful future for West Seattle

patr — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 06:26:57 +0000

patr Tue, 02/22/2011 - 10:26pm

Sustainable West Seattle sponsored forum brings local experts to discuss the issues

Sustainable West Seattle founder Brian Allen introduces the panel of transportation experts at their monthly forum held at the West Seattle Senior Center Feb. 22. From left they are
Peter Hahn, Seattle Department of Transportation, Brice Maryman of SvR Design, transit planning expert, Martin Duke of the Seattle Transit Blog, Chris Arkills from the office of the King County Executive and King County Metro, and Tom Rasmussen the panel facilitator and Chair of the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee.

Patrick Robinson

Sustainable West Seattle sponsored a Transportation forum Tuesday night Feb. 22 featuring a panel of experts to talk and interact with the audience on West Seattle's transportation future.

Led by Tom Rasmussen – Panel Facilitator and Chair of the Seattle City Council Transportation Committee, the rest of the panel consisted of Chris Arkills - King County, Transportation policy advisor in the Office of King County Executive Dow Constantine, Martin Duke – Seattle Transit Blog, Brice Maryman – SvR Design, an expert on transit planning and Peter Hahn – Director, Seattle Dept. of Transportation.

Rasmussen described some of what he's accomplished as the Chair of the Transportation Committee noting that under the "Streets for All" initiative, people have urged the city to "step up to the plate and create a funding package that would help create more sidewalks and transportation improvements (...) what the City Council did was create a Transportation Benefit District which will allow the people of Seattle to fund different transportation improvements."

The "freight community" was next on his list, noting that he convinced the other council members to create a Freight Advisory Board, that would have official standing with the city to advise the city in the planning phase of transportation projects or on the implementation of policies.

Third, "on a regional level," Rasmussen said, " I worked with 28 people who were appointed by Dow Constantine to be part of a Transit Task Force." That group has made its recommendations to the county as to where transit should be increased or decreased in light of the current economic climate.

Arkills, a West Seattle resident had some very specific thoughts on transit and transportation. "We are at the maximum that Metro can collect for sales tax and do not have a sustainable funding base (...) Even if the economy became robust and we started growing at 6% it would take us years to get back to where we once were. So we absolutely need a new funding source for transit.

Currently we're facing cuts from 2012 to 2015 of about 400,000 hours of service (...) that would equal all Saturday service in King County (per year).
62% of all Metro service is in Seattle (...) Seattle is going to have to face some cuts unless we get a sustainable funding source."

Arkills said that transit is critical to keeping West Seattle moving. In the 2000 census he pointed out that 18% of West Seattle residents use transit to get to work. "Today that's estimated at about twice that," he said.

He provided some interesting facts about transit in West Seattle:

The busiest route in West Seattle is #120 which has 7000 daily rides. That route is the next best candidate for Rapid Ride service.
The Rapid Ride corridor made up of the #54 and #55 carries about 5300 daily rides on weekdays.
They have used viaduct mitigation funds to add frequency to routes #21, #22, #54 and #56 during peak hours. This coming fall they will use some of those funds to increase frequency on #54 midday and on Saturdays to 15 minute frequencies.

He reported that the first of the Rapid Ride bus lines, from Federal Way to Tukwila was doing well with customer satisfaction at 85%.

The C Line Rapid Ride to West Seattle is scheduled to begin Sept. 29, 2012 with construction on the Fauntleroy terminal set to begin this summer. This fall they will "begin a seven month process to hear from the community about how to improve bus service to link up with the Rapid Ride line," said Arkills. He acknowledged an "increasing demand to get around West Seattle and that it's not always easy with the current Metro system."

Speaking on Sound Transit Arkills said the future of light rail to West Seattle and Ballard will have to wait for a ballot measure (ST2) to be presented in a presidential election year (likely 2016) to gain enough voter support. The last ballot measure, ST2, was passed in 2008. He was not optimistic on this front, "Even if we voted today on light rail (...) it would be ten years before it was designed and built."

Hahn, had praise for Portland Oregon telling the crowd that it is the "Number one city for public transportation." He's headed there, Feb. 24 with a group to "see how the different modes are integrated in the city."

"The Transit Master Plan is figuring out what we should transition to, and where," Hahn said. "We're about to finish phase 1 of the plan and will deliver that to the City Council this Friday."

During the audience Q & A a question was raised about the deep bore tunnel (which Martin Duke concluded was probably inevitable) asking if priority would be given to transit on certain streets since there are no downtown exits from it.

Councilmember Rasmussen said there was a lot more work to be done to get the funds necessary to make these changes but said, "I think they should (...) I'm optimistic that over the next several years before the tunnel opens we will have a good plan for transit through the downtown area."

Alternative fuels as a transit option was inquired about and Arkills said,"Within 5 to 10 years I think you absolutely will see transit vehicles that can run electric for long periods of time, or you're going to see hydrogen or other options."

Hahn concluded, " I think there's hope that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will be a good start in a couple of years and will be a pathway to having improved transit and that we would look for ways of having better transit also to other destinations than just downtown. Hopefully, also in the next five years we'll manage to accommodate the heavy disruption that we'll have through all the construction downtown. That's a major challenge and we need to work together to do that effectively."

Living car-free in Seattle

amrook — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:14:16 +0000

amrook Fri, 12/17/2010 - 4:14pm

A Coffee Date with Carla Saulter a.k.a the Bus Chick

Carla Saulter and her kids wait for the #14 bus.

Courtesy of Carla Saulter

Widely knows as the “Bus Chick”, Carla Saulter is a writer and a mover-and-shaker when it comes to public transportation in the city. In 2003 she exchanged her car keys for a bus pass and has been living car-free ever since. Saulter writes about transit for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Grist and her blog; her picture graces the back of many Metro buses throughout the city; and she serves on the King County's Transit Advisory Committee and Regional Transit Task Force.

From being sacrifice to being a lifestyle choice, giving up a car has profoundly and positively changed her life. She even met her husband (the “bus nerd”) on the 545 bus to Redmond and together they’re raising two bus-riding babies.

BNT sat down with the Bus Chick to chat about the car-free lifestyle, the benefits and the challenges.

BNT: How did this transition to living car-free come about?

The transition from driving a car to becoming car-free came when I was living in West Seattle. I used to commute by car and one day I was stuck in traffic and it just dawned on me that I was part of the problem that’s creating the pollution and the sprawl. So I asked myself, ‘what can I do?’ and started taking the bus to work.

I rode the 545 to Redmond and there was this guy that I would see all the time. There was just something about him and I wanted to know him. Eventually, we met at a volunteer event where he introduced himself and I said, “oh yeah you ride my bus” so after that we started sitting together.

(This stranger would later become her husband.)

He was the first person I knew who consciously lived car-free. I had been feeling guilty about participating in the car-culture that’s so detrimental to our environment and I was inspired by him. It was something I wanted to do.
At first I thought of it as a sacrifice. I did car-sharing for a while and slowly got off that as well. Now I think of it as a lifestyle choice and it has profoundly changed my life.

BNT: Have you ever thought about biking?

Yes, I would love to bike. I even took a class from Cascade Bicycle Club but I’m just too scared. I don’t feel confident in traffic especially now with two kids. It doesn’t seem fair that we have to share the road with all those dangerous cars. Maybe if we had separate lanes or roads I would bike.  But for most destinations under two miles I walk.

BNT: How do you deal with the unreliability of buses?

For one, I would never take a bus that would get me there two minutes before I have to get there, and I use my phone to see when the bus comes.  It was different before I had kids. Then, I would just bring a book but now I have to entertain two little kids when we’re waiting for the bus.

Often I take a ride that I find excruciatingly slow. This can be frustrating and annoying, especially when you feel like you could walk the distance faster than the bus could travel it. East to West trip can be especially inconvenient. There are certain trips that Metro does better than others. Part of that is because Seattle Transit has always based transit around downtown. Neighborhood to Neighborhood it doesn’t do so well. And yes, I do limit my travel around the places it’s easy for me to get to. A bike would be a good supplement for those trips that transit doesn’t handle well.

I have learned to think of my car free life holistically, rather than simply within the confines of a single trip from A to B. That trip might take longer than it would in a car, but I justify it because: one, I can use the time -- reading to my kids or by myself, working, resting--some people knit or learn a language or whatever -- and two, I save time in other ways. I don't go to a gym. I don't spend time maintaining, parking, or filling up a car.

 BNT: When you say car-free, what does that mean?

It means we do not own a vehicle. It doesn’t mean we don’t ever use a car. We go to Mt. Rainier once a year and when we transport things like a baby cradle, we rent a car. We used to use Flex car, now it’s Zip cars.

BNT: How do you deal with groceries?

That’s the question people ask me the most. When you don’t drive you have to consider where you live. We buy into Organic Produce Delivery from SPUD and we have a Co-Op nearby that I can walk to. And I know of lots of people who order from Amazon Fresh. And when we rent a car, we usually do a big run then.  As the kids get older they’ll be able to carry stuff in their backpacks so we won’t have to do that as often.

BNT: How about longer trips?

When we went to the San Juan Islands we took a bus and then the ferry. When we go to Portland or Vancouver we take the train. Elsewhere we can just rent a car. Even when you rent cars you come out on top.

BNT: Is that the motivation behind living car free - to come out on top financially?

No not for me. My husband has never owned a car in his professional career and for him it was perhaps more about the money. When he came here from Detroit, his company gave him a rental for the first few weeks. When he realized how much money he saved by not owning a car, he decided he didn’t want to buy a car.

 You think that a car is just payments and insurance but there are the fixes, new tires, oil changes. parking. It’s so much more than just payments. Even if you spent $300 a month on rentals, you still come out ahead. I spend probably around $50 a month on bus fare.

For me it was guilt. Guilt was my motivator because I’m from here and it’s so beautiful yet it’s being destroyed by sprawl. We’re cutting down trees and polluting the environment.  I started realizing just how much an impact cars have on our lives. It’s a given that that is how we commute but it has made us unhealthy. It’s such a detrimental way to live.
The biggest way to make a difference for the environment is by driving less.

Plus, I definitely get more exercise because I walk more. When you look at child obesity, my daughter who’s three-years-old can walk a mile and a half by herself. She’s very fit because we walk everywhere.

BNT: When you had your children, did you take the bus to the hospital?

With my first child, they thought there were some complications because she was overdue. I wasn’t in labor yet so I took the bus. She rode her first bus trip when she was one day old.

For my second we called a cab because I was in labor.

You know you often think, what if I have an emergency? But once you realize there are options, not having a car is less scary. You can call a cab, an ambulance or rent a car.

BNT: Tell me about the safety of taking the bus.

The bus has a really bad rep when it comes to accidents. I can't stress enough how dangerous cars are. Buses are 8 times safer (in terms of traffic safety) than cars.  Cars are the number one killer for US kids under the age of 18.
 People often ask me: "Do you feel safe taking your kids on the bus?" but no one ever asks other parents if they feel safe taking their kids in cars, even though their kids are at far greater risk than mine.   

Yes, it's true that there is sometimes crime on buses and near bus stops, but there are also crimes in parking lots.  Crime on buses is actually quite rare. Waiting on buses is a little scarier. For me, I always feel safe around people but there are times I come home late and I do feel a little scared. My husband always says “statistically speaking Seattle is a safe city” but that doesn’t make you feel safe.
We take normal safety precautions. We wait in safe areas, don't go out late at night, carry a phone, et cetera.

But we've had so many positive experiences on the bus. My kids make friends, learn how to interact with strangers, and learn to accept differences. And because we're out in our community so much, we've gotten to know people. Seeing familiar faces at stops and on our rides makes us feel extremely safe.

BNT: What about spreading diseases and catching a cold on the bus?

The risk of diseases really hit home for me when I took my daughter home from the hospital at one day old. We passed Harborview and there were all these people coughing. But really, riding the bus is no different than going to libraries, day care or other public places. We just wash our hands when we get home. That doesn’t mean that I don’t freak out. I’m a big worrier.

BNT: How has your lifestyle influenced your friends and family?

My mother hated it. She always thought I’s give it up. That’s interesting because she was the one who got me on the bus to school in the first place. She didn’t like the idea of me waiting outside in the cold or in the dark. “Just drive a prius,” she’d say.

 My friends just think we’re crazy but we still do everything they do. We bring food with us on the bus and come to all the parties. We just get there differently. Transit has a terrible stigma.

BNT: What do you think of the proposed tunnel and how will it affect you as a bus-rider?

It will affect me when I visit my family in Ballard or West Seattle. I think the tunnel is terrible idea, I prefer the surface option. Seattle voters said we didn’t want a tunnel and we’re getting one anyway. We say we want to think outside the car but here we are investing in all this car-centered infrastructure.

BNT: How does Seattle do as far as a city for a car-free lifestyle goes?

If I didn’t love Seattle so much I’d live elsewhere. There certainly are cities that do better for car-free lifestyles. But if everybody who had ideas about how to change things moved away, the cities left behind would never change. 

Seattle definitely has potential; we just hope our city and transit system will step up. We have to decide what kind of environment we want to create in Seattle. My day-to-day is fine. There's nothing inherently inconvenient about riding transit.

Transportation

all of Seattle

Robinson Papers

Ballard shows high potential for creating a strong, high quality biking community

amrook — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:54:40 +0000

amrook Thu, 12/16/2010 - 2:54pm

Transportation Planner Adam Parast analyzes Seattle's bikeability in comparison to Portland

The numbers represent the score. The higher the score, the higher the bikeability. Seattle has a long way to go before reaching those higher scores.

Courtesy of Adam Parast

Earlier this year, Adam Parast, a transportation planner and regular contributor to the Seattle Transit Blog, released a GIS study in which he compared the bikeability of Seattle to that of Portland (the second most bike-friendly city in the US according to Bicycle Magazine).

What he found was that Ballard has the most potential to become a great biking neighborhood for families and athletes alike.

“What people can take away from the study is that Seatte is bikeable and that Ballard specifically, is one of the better areas in Seattle because it’s relatively flat, has great connectivity, and offers lots of destination that can be reached by bike,” Parast said.

Parast decided to do a Seattle bicycle analysis after seeing the 2008 Cycle Zone Analysis of Portland. Using the same factors that we’re observed in the Portland analysis, Parast anaylized Seattle and compared it to Portland, a city that has made progressive changes to support bicycle commuting.

“I took a look at factors that are important for a bikeable, high quality area,” Parast said.

These factors include street connectivity, land use, bicycle facilities, slope, and barriers such as a high density of cars.

The factors were weighted and neighborhoods received a score.

The analysis shows that while Portland is already very bikeable, Seattle has a long way to go.

Parast said his analysis should not be taken as fact, but should rather be viewed as the starting point of a discussion about how best to model bikeability based on strengths and weaknesses of each city.

“I think [my findings] are accurate enough to draw some conclusions and to also raise some questions,” Parast stated.

The report states that the most bikeable areas of Seattle are those located near multi-use paths like the Burke-Gilman and the Elliot Bay trails.

One part of the report specifically looks at permanent factors such as slope, street connectivity and land use to analyze the area’s potential. It shows where and how factors come together to create what Parast calls a “bikeable island” which are dense, flat and have a grid street network. Areas that scored low on this aspects tend to be sprawled and hilly with winding streets.

The report states that Seattle is spotty with “islands” of good bikeability surrounded by areas of low bikeability.

“It’s interesting to note that many of Seattle’s Urban Villages are in the center of these bikeable islands...and many Urban Villages are located either on the top of a hill or in the bottom of a valley,” Parast stated.

“This is where Ballard looks more like a Portland neighborhood than a Seattle neighborhood. From how I look at it, Ballard, more than any other Seattle neighborhood can learn from what Portland has done to create a strong, high quality biking community.”

Parast said Ballard has some major North-South arterials and while cars and Metro have competing interests for those roads, the side roads offer a potential for a network of bike boulevards.

“As the city updates its biking master plan, I think Ballard is a good place to start building bike boulevards,” he said.

Parast said that while Seattle has significant weaknesses due to topography, these obstacles can be overcome with higher quality transit service that is well integrated with the bicycle network.

You can read the full report, here (pdf).

Metro Transit buses will be on snow routing Tuesday morning

ericm — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:01:31 +0000

ericm Tue, 11/23/2010 - 12:01am

Unsafe roads may cause cancellation of some routes

King County Metro Transit is keeping buses in all areas on snow routes for Tuesday morning. Buses will be crowded and significantly delayed, perhaps even worse than Monday due to the road conditions. If those conditions severely deteriorate overnight, Metro may have to cancel entire bus routes in the morning. _
Bus riders should check www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow for the most current status of Metro service before traveling Tuesda y. Online updates will begin at 4 a.m. If you do not have internet access, call Metro's Customer Information Center at (206) 553-3000. Due to the volume of calls, there could be a wait on the phone lines. _
Roads throughout the Metro service area are expected to be extremely icy and hazardous Monday evening and Tuesday morning. There are also many abandoned vehicles blocking the roadways. _
Please be patient, and dress warmly for waiting outdoors. Returning to regular service will be evaluated again after the morning commute. _
Access transit service is limited to life-sustaining medical trips only through 9 a.m. Tuesday due to deteriorating road conditions on both arterials and local streets. _
When buses are on snow routing, some streets and bus stops may be missed and there are often delays due to travel conditions. There is new snow routing in many areas that is different from past years, so be sure to check the snow routes for all the routes you use most often. _
Metro has these tips for winter bus travel. _
Know the snow routing for your bus route. Check the timetables at www.kingcounty.gov/metro for snow route maps for each route. Not every bus route has snow routing, but most do. Two routes - 38 and 45 - don't operate in these conditions. Special bus service between downtown and First Hill, the Route 90, is operating on Monday. _
If you haven't already, sign up for Transit Alerts to keep up with any major changes to bus service. The alerts can be received as email or text messages. Go to www.kingcounty.gov/metro/signup to subscribe. _ _Metro is using a new online color-coded map to keep riders informed of the status of its bus service. All bus routes are assigned into one or more of seven geographic areas within King County. _ _When there is snow or ice on the roads, the service status of each area is color coded and displayed on an online snow map. Green indicates buses are operating on normal routes; yellow that some - but not all - routes in the area are on snow routes (primarily in higher elevation areas); and red tells you that all bus routes in the entire geographic area are on snow routing. _ _People without online access can call the Customer Information Office at (206) 553-3000. General information about service will also be sent out via the kcmetrobus Twitter account. _ _Here are some other snow tips for Metro customers: __• Be patient. Buses are not always on schedule in snowy or icy conditions. And, increased ridership during bad weather can result in crowded buses and a longer-than-usual wait on the phone for the Customer Information Office. If you get a busy signal, hang up and call back; _ _• Dress warmly for the walk to the bus stop, expect delays, and wear appropriate footwear for the weather; _ _• Head for bus stops on main arterials or at major transfer points such as park-and-ride lots, transit centers, or shopping centers; _ _• Riders should wait at bus stops at the very top or very bottom of hills, because buses are often unable to stop for passengers on inclines; and _ _• Be aware that online programs like Bus Tracker and other privately developed apps become less reliable in bad-weather conditions, as more buses go to snow routing and service is increasingly disrupted. Also, the Trip Planner does not have real-time information once buses go to snow routing.

Transportation

Robinson Papers

TRANSIT ALERT __ Metro Transit will start Monday with buses on snow routing

ericm — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 02:22:14 +0000

ericm Sun, 11/21/2010 - 6:22pm

Due to the potential for snow during the morning commute, King County Metro Transit will start service on Monday with buses in all areas on snow routing. Bus riders should check www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow for the most current status of Metro service before traveling on Monday. Updates to the online information will begin at 4 a.m. _ _Metro has been monitoring the weather over the weekend and preparing for the possibility of snow. The Monday forecast from the National Weather Service indicates that cold temperatures and more moisture could cause snowfall in King County starting in the morning and lasting throughout the day. _ _While the accumulations are not expected to be deep, Metro managers want to be prepared and not have to change to snow routing during the middle of the busiest travel times. _ _"We decided Sunday night to be proactive, even though we know how unpredictable snowfall can be in King County," said Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond. "We would rather be over prepared than have buses stuck on regular routes during the middle of a snowy commute in the morning or afternoon." _ _Metro is urging bus riders to make preparations for winter travel._Know the snow routing for your bus route. Check the timetables at www.kingcounty.gov/metro for snow route maps for each route. Not every bus route has snow routing, but most do. Two routes - 38 and 45 - don't operate in these conditions. Special bus service between downtown and First Hill, the Route 90, will be operating on Monday. _ _When buses are on snow routing, some streets and bus stops may be missed and there are often delays due to travel conditions. There is new snow routing in many areas that is different from past years, so be sure to check the snow routes for all the routes you use most often. _ _If you haven't already, sign up for Transit Alerts to keep up with any major changes to bus service. The alerts can be received as email or text messages. Go to www.kingcounty.gov/metro/signup to subscribe. _ _Metro will be using a new online color-coded map to keep riders informed of the status of its bus service. All bus routes are assigned into one or more of seven geographic areas within King County. _ _When there is snow or ice on the roads, the service status of each area will be color coded and displayed on an online snow map. Green indicates buses are operating on normal routes; yellow that some - but not all - routes in the area are on snow routes (primarily in higher elevation areas); and red tells you that all bus routes in the entire geographic area are on snow routing. _ _People without online access can call the Customer Information Office at (206) 553-3000. General information about service will also be sent out via the kcmetrobus Twitter account. _ _Here are some other snow tips for Metro customers: _ _• Be patient. Buses are not always on schedule in snowy or icy conditions. And, increased ridership during bad weather can result in crowded buses and a longer-than-usual wait on the phone for the Customer Information Office; _ _• Dress warmly for the walk to the bus stop, expect delays, and wear appropriate footwear for the weather; _ _• Head for bus stops on main arterials or at major transfer points such as park-and-ride lots, transit centers, or shopping centers; and _ _• Riders should wait at bus stops at the very top or very bottom of hills, because buses are often unable to stop for passengers on inclines.

Transportation

Robinson Papers

SDOT to make pedestrian and bicycle improvements on Admiral Way

patr — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:02:12 +0000

patr Thu, 09/09/2010 - 10:02pm

Existing travel lanes in both directions will be maintained

Admiral Way will be restriped between SW City View St and SW Manning St this month as part of a series of improvements intended to enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Seattle Department of Transportation

After hearing from the community and conducting additional analysis, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) today announced changes to SW Admiral Way to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety without impacting existing vehicle travel lanes.

SW Admiral Way will be restriped between SW City View St and SW Manning St in September 2010. After the work is complete, the 0.7 mile stretch will feature the existing two travel lanes for each direction along with a bike lane with a striped buffer on the northbound (uphill) side of the roadway and shared lane markings in the outside southbound (downhill) lane. A pedestrian crossing island will be constructed at SW City View St to accommodate pedestrians crossing SW Admiral Way to the Metro transit stop on the west side of the roadway. On-street parking will remain on the east side of the roadway north of City View, while underutilized parking will be removed south of City View to accommodate the two travel lanes and the buffered bike lane.

This decision is based on current and future traffic conditions on the corridor, recommendations in the Pedestrian and Bicycle Master plans, and community input received via letters, phone calls and the July 13 open house. The final roadway layout carefully reflects the needs of motorists, freight, transit, bicycles, pedestrians and emergency response.

What SDOT plans to do:

Maintain the existing 4 vehicle travel lanes
Install a pedestrian median crossing island at SW City View
Install a 5 foot wide uphill bike lane with a 2 foot wide painted buffer
Add shared lane markings (sharrows) to the outside, downhill lane.
Remove parking south of SW City View St to maintain existing travel lanes and add the uphill bicycle lane.

Additional information about the changes, to include frequently asked questions and plans for the project, can be found on the project’s Web site at: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikeprojects/sw_admiral_way.htm

UPDATE: New Fourth Avenue S Off-ramp Opening August 16

patr — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:47:02 +0000

patr Fri, 08/13/2010 - 10:47am

The 4th Avenue offramp from the Spokane Street Viaduct opens Aug. 16

Seattle Department of Transportation

SDOT has posted a press release about the opening of the eastbound 4th Avenue offramp from the Spokane Street viaduct:

Ahead of schedule and under budget, the new eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct Fourth Avenue S Off-ramp opens for use Monday, August 16, after the morning commute.

At 9:15 a.m. SDOT Director Peter Hahn, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and invited dignitaries will officially open the ramp for use. At 9:30 a.m. a media tour of the new structure will be led by Project Manager Stuart Goldsmith.

Once the media tour is complete, safety barriers will be removed and traffic will flow onto the new eastbound Fourth Avenue S ramp.

Transportation

spokane street

Robinson Papers

Headed to Costco on 4th Ave lately?

patr — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:37:49 +0000

patr Mon, 08/09/2010 - 4:37pm

Lower Spokane Street has been open since July 16 but now you can turn

At the bottom of the off ramp from the West Seattle Freeway at 1st Avenue you might be asked to

Kimberly Robinson

As part of the Seattle Department of Transportation's Spokane Street Viaduct widening project the lower roadway has been blocked between the bottom of the offramp from West Seattle at 1st Avenue to 6th Avenue. The schedule called for it to open during the summer, and it did on July 16 but an officer is on the scene to guide traffic. Now you can turn right and head to Costco and might even be allowed to turn right on 1st Ave.

According to MaryBeth Turner of the Seattle Department of Transportation where and when you can and cannot turn is really up to the person in charge on the scene.

"Motorists traveling eastbound on lower Spokane St can turn right on 4th Ave S. Some cars can turn right at 1st Ave S, it is up to the discretion of the police officer stationed in the intersection.

The reason is that the lanes on 1st Ave S (south of Spokane St) are not wide enough for trucks to safely make the right turn. Regular sized cars and smaller trucks can make the turn. Again, it is up to the discretion of the officer."

Transportation

Seattle

Robinson Papers