SEATTLE

Metro Portland, The I-5 Bridge Tolls For Thee

Have you ever seen a whole lot more of the mighty Columbia River and Portland’s skyline than you really wanted to, because you were crawling on Interstate 5? C’mon, raise your hands. Well, good news. The government is here to help. And so are you and I. Probably. The Oregonian’s Dylan Rivera reports today that at a meeting yesterday of the 39-member Columbia River Crossing Task Force, tolls emerged as a likely ingredient in the recipe to fund a fix for the badly-congested Interstate Bridge corridor on I-5. The early and perhaps rose-colored estimate is that tolls would range from $1.28 each way during off-peak hours to $2.56 at peak periods. They would be collected electronically, and provide an estimated Read More ›

Temporary Foot Ferry Service Begins From Seattle To Port Townsend

The Seattle Times reports the retiring of four badly-deteriorated, 1927-vintage Steel Electric Class car ferries by Washington State Ferries has prompted not only a shifting of state ferry project funds to pay for three replacement vessels, but also temporary passenger-only ferry service between Seattle and Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. More details on the new foot ferry route <a href="from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Port Townsend, a top Northwest tourist destination known for its Victorian architecture, arts community, walkable shopping district, maritime history and Olympic Peninsula access, has been hit hard since car ferry service from Keystone on Whidbey Island was cancelled in late November. By January, the state aims to have a temporary replacement car ferry (from Pierce County) Read More ›

Crunch Time Aproaches On SR 520 Bridge Replacement

The Washington State Department Of Transportation authorized a preliminary consultant inquiry – recently completed – into the feasibility of a tunnel to replace the congested, dangerously earthquake-prone and windstorm-prone State Route 520 Floating Bridge across Lake Washington from Seattle to the Eastside. It’s one of just two bridges across the 22-mile long lake, and the jammed, 60s-vintage four-laner carries 155,000 to 160,000 people per day. The odds-on favorite to replace it is……a new, wider and safer floating bridge. However, well-heeled communities at both ends have strong concerns about bridge-related noise and air pollution, and on the Seattle side, about current roadway impacts on the Washington Park Arboretum. These concerns could translate into expensive mitigation measures attached to a new bridge, Read More ›

Congestion Pricing, Tolls Loom For Puget Sound

With the defeat by Puget Sound taxpayers of a multi-billion-dollar roads and transit ballot measure Nov. 6, momentum is growing for tolling and congestion pricing to help ease traffic congestion in the Seattle region, as this news and opinion round-up shows. In a Puget Sound Transportation Action Plan just unveiled, Cascadia Center also accents tolling and congestion pricing, along with centralized regional decision-making on transportation; more private investment in roads and transit; more bus rapid transit and commuter rail; an enhanced network of suburban park-and-ride lots; plus more government fleet purchases of – and fuel infrastructure development for – flexible-fuel plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Puget Sound hesitantly stands on the cusp of allocating more rationally its scarce road capacity. Tolling Read More ›

King County To Launch New Passenger-Only Ferry Plan

The Seattle region is blessed with a tremendous natural endowment which doubles as a crucial piece of transportation infrastructure – Puget Sound. State and Pierce County car ferries already ply the Sound, as do a mix of public and commercial, privately-operated passenger-only vessels in King, Snohomish, Whatcom and San Juan counties. For the Puget Sound region, passenger-only ferries on the namesake waterway and on sprawling Lake Washington could be an increasingly viable transportation choice given current road congestion. With sufficient foresight and political leadership, passenger-only ferries plus expanded bus rapid transit and commuter rail could really begin to deliver more and better choices for commuters, other local daytrippers, and visitors who wish to escape the tyranny of traffic. To lay Read More ›