crosscut.com : Transportation

The need for cruise control

Crosscut — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:00:01 PDT

An environmentalist explains why better federal regulations are needed to police polluters among the world's fleet of cruise ships: State and local authorities can only do so much. Over six months this year, Puget Sound will see 211 big ships bearing 835,000 passengers call on Seattle.

Seattle goes gah-gah over choo-choos

Crosscut — Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:01 PDT

As Seattle considers a plan to extend the South Lake Union Streetcar line, it's time to decide whether returning to a 19th-century transportation method is really the answer.

Clinton's gas tax holiday is no vacation

Crosscut — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:42:01 PDT

Let’s see if primary voters buy Hillary Clinton’s line that respect equals pandering, that if you really feel people’s pain, you appeal to their ignorance. The recent to-do over Clinton’s — and McCain’s — proposal for a federal gas tax holiday marked a new low in this already-rock-bottom campaign. George Bush’s suggestion that high gas prices mean we should drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was merely business as usual. Even before the end of Bush’s first term, it had become a kind of running joke: Ask this administration a question, any question, about domestic policy and if the answer isn’t "cut taxes," it’s "open ANWR." Never mind that ANWR oil wouldn’t be available until some time after 2015; Bush is just being Bush.

Annals of Northwest secession

Crosscut — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:01 PDT

A primer of regional separatist movements, real and imagined.

Greg Nickels' rebel yell

Crosscut — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:00:01 PDT

Seattle's mayor waves the flag of secession. In so doing, he may have waved goodbye to a future in state politics.

Seattle is a ghost town for ghost bikes?

Crosscut — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:01 PDT

There's a new and growing effort to memorialize cyclists hit by motor vehicles — and in the process, raise awareness for bicycle safety and sharing the road. The first "ghost bike" reportedly appeared in St. Louis, Mo., when Patrick Van Der Tuin witnessed someone on a bike getting hit by a car.

Thousands trade four wheels for two during Bike to Work Month

Crosscut — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:00:01 PDT

Rising gas prices, crowded buses, concern for the environment, and the desire to squeeze in a workout are motivating more people to commute by bike. Here's what you need to know if you're thinking about joining them.

Psst! Wanna see the Viaduct disappear?

Crosscut — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:58:01 PDT

The debate about Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct used to be a very public, contact sport, but as many local politicians were carted off the field, the controversy moved to a 30-person stakeholders group, who meet very quietly. Meanwhile, the politicians edge back onto the playing field and hint at solutions.

Does Seattle work any more?

Crosscut — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:00:01 PDT

A former mayor takes a critical look at Seattle's political culture, its past triumphs, and why it's so much harder today to make good decisions. One problem: We chew but do not swallow.

Sound Transit did not hear us

Crosscut — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:00:01 PDT

Prop. 1 was soundly defeated, but the leadership of Sound Transit plans to deliver Son of Prop. 1 to the voters this fall. The agency better get used to rejection.

A study says the case for road tolling is 'compelling'

Crosscut — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:00:01 PDT

The Seattle Times has an overview of the long-awaited results of the federally funded, multi-million "Traffic Choices" study conducted by the Puget Sound Region Council (PSRC) to look at the viability of widespread road tolling throughout Greater Seattle. The PSRC describes the research as "the most comprehensive study of demand response to network tolling in existence." A summary of the study can be found here (pdf).

A big, new growth management plan is already outgrown

Crosscut — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:00:01 PDT

The Puget Sound Regional Council's Vision 2040, to be adopted tomorrow, has been outrun by seven years of population growth in the very outlying areas the plan is intended to protect, says the recent former Washington secretary of transportation. He explains what's happened and argues for a recalibration of strategy.

When Proust met Miss Bardahl

Crosscut — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:00:01 PDT

I happened to be down near Seward Park late Thursday morning. Weekdays are usually very quiet along Lake Washington, save on Thursdays when the model plane guys fly their buzzing aircraft over Andrews Bay. But today, I heard the unmistakable roar of the past, a familiar RUH-RHU-RHU-RHU of an old-time hydro. I could see the flying spray of a rooster tail and spotted KIRO's Chopper 7 hovering overhead. As I came around the corner to Stan Sayres pits, a crowd had gathered. There in all her glory was Miss Bardahl, the Green Dragon of hydroplane racing's glory years.

Attack of the giant 'Sewer Trestle'

Crosscut — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:01 PDT

This one could be clipped an pasted into the annals of cautious journalism. The Seattle Times has a dramatic photo of a bus crushed under the Arboretum aqueduct--the low footbridge over Lake Washington Blvd. The roof is caved in and adjacent to the wreck is a "Low Clearance" sign. The storyaccompanying the photograph says "the private charter bus apparently was too tall for a 9-foot underpass ..." Apparently? What's the alternative explanation? The bridge is alive and decided to squat down on a hapless bus? Or a frisky bus decided to leap up at the wrong instant and bumped it's head?

11-7: Northwesterners cut gasoline consumption 11 percent in seven years

Crosscut — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:00:01 PDT

A report released today by Sightline Institute shows that per-capita gasoline consumption in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho decreased for the seventh consecutive year in 2007. That's an 11 percent decrease since 1999.

Is Dino Rossi a moderate?

Crosscut — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:01 PDT

I wouldn't call him that, but the Republican candidate for governor has no need to run to the right to beat Christine Gregoire. Just as he did in the election cliffhanger of 2004, he can present himself as a comparatively moderate candidate, one in touch with the state's mainstream aspirations. He's starting to do that.

Why governance reform for local transit would not work

Crosscut — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:00:01 PDT

A governor's commission suggests fixing our transportation problems by changing the governing board to a directly elected body, as in Portland. A skeptic says such a reform would be slow, reduce accountability, and probably make our transportation planning worse.

Cordon blues: New York is no indicator of tolling's future

Cascadia Center — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:00:01 PDT

The sort of tolling under consideration here and elsewhere in the U.S. is completely different from that proposed for Manhattan. That was "cordon" pricing, and it fell flat in the Big Apple. True congestion pricing makes a lot of sense in metro Puget Sound, contends the author. He explains the difference.

Congestion pricing: Even New York's got a problem with that

Crosscut — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:00:01 PDT

The failure of an ambitious tolling plan there holds lessons for metro Puget Sound.

More evidence that Washington infrastructure collapse is over-hyped

Crosscut — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:05:01 PDT

Okay, classify this as a pet peeve, but it bugs me when politicians, including Christine Gregoire, wave the bloody shirt of the Minnesota bridge collapse as an all-purpose rationale to boost infrastructure spending. Gregoire has done this often. She raised the specter of the Minnesota disaster as an argument in favor of Proposition 1 last fall; she raised it again to argue for a new toll bridge across the Columbia River, and yet again at a national governor's meeting in February. I have no quarrel with repairing or inspecting roads and bridges--please, let's do that. But the fact is, we still don't have the final word on what happened in Minnesota, so the lesson there is unclear.