Prop #1: Roads and Transit

[daveon]

I've just been reading a leader in the local paper about one of the upcoming propositions on the ballot about roads and transit.  It seems to be a divisive issue in Seattle.  It appears to have been a divisive issue in Seattle for about 30 years.  For the life of me, I'm not entirely sure why.

Seattle is a city encircled by water and which has a small number of urban centres and core local employers.  Unlike a lot of American cities I've been to, it has a vibrant downtown and associated sub-urbs where you can get around easily on foot.  There's a pretty decent, again for a US city, bus service.  The problem is if you want to get out of the city.  To put not too fine a point on it; the roads here stink.

I'm used to stinking roads, I'm from the UK, I grew up around London.  I remember when we still thought the M25 was a cool idea and not the world's largest carpark.  Both my wife and I work on the East side of Lake Washington and live downtown.  Everyday one of us, or both of us, drives across the 520 floating bridge, I drop M in Bellevue centre before heading off to my office in Redmond.  It's 12 miles, the drive home can take anything from 30 minutes to over an hour.  Now, by London standards that's nothing - but it really shouldn't be this bad here. 

The problem I have is I'd rather not have to drive, I'd rather take a train.  Again, I'm from London, trains and tube trains are second nature to me.  They're a fact of life and a great way to get around.  Seattle was, in point of fact, designed for trains.  There are a small number of urban centres with employers with large fixed work centres - Microsoft has a dedicated transit terminal already, Microsoft's other offices are in central Bellevue, right next to shops and malls, Google are in Kirkland which has a nice waterfront, Boeing is in Renton (a little out of the town, but that can be handled), there's the university campus too...  

They're putting in a light rail to the airport - not sure I'll use it, but it'll help matters.  A light rail to Bellevue, Renton, Kirkland and Redmond (stopping at the Lakeside Transit Centre) could do a lot for this area.  When I was back in London a few weeks ago, I had to go to Docklands.  The Docklands Light Rail (DLR) is a completely automated rapid transit system serving East London and Docklands.  The trains run every 5-10 minutes, they're driverless, modern and fast.  Having a system in place here could do wonders, not just for the local road networks (which are awful), but for the ability of people to get around in the evening.  A night out in Seattle is much easier if you don't have to drink and drive and park, Kirkland water front is lovely, but again, a pain to get to unless you want to spring for a $50 cab ride.  It makes sense on every level...

There's a but coming though.  It doesn't make a lot of sense if you live in a split level 3000 square foot house around Bellevue or Redmond and have a 10 minute drive to work and school.  I suspect that the real problem is the divide here between the Eastside and the Westside and the natural selfish nature of people.  And here lies a real rub; these people get to vote on this stuff?

People voting to raise taxes to pay for something they don't want to use?  Yeah, that sounds plausible.

Sometimes I really really miss Europe and if this vote goes the way I think it will, then that will definately be one of those days.

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I loved reading* about the funding of the second Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which was full of discussion of how wide the vote should be, and how the people who'd benefit most, the penninsula residents, wanted to vote against it because it would bring development to their backwater

* special exhibition in the excellent Washington History Museum in Tacoma. Has lots on Gertie too

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that to a lot of non-poor Americans, public transit is something that only poor people use, because Decent People drive, of course. Think Thatcher's attitude toward trains.

[fringefaan.livejournal.com]

What you're missing is that the Roads and Transit package includes new and expanded highways on the Eastside in an attempt to get people who'd rather drive onboard with people who want rail transit. Everybody gets what they want! Unfortunately, a lot of people who want rail transit are refusing to back this package because it includes expanded highways, which they absolutely oppose. There are also some (like King County executive Ron Sims) who don't want lightrail extended outside the city (e.g. to the Eastside and between Tacoma and the airport). He wants more buses instead.

The wars around rail here really make my stomach churn, and as you say, it has apparently been going on since at least the late '60s. But you missed the monorail brouhaha, which went on for years -- four or five different votes -- and then went down the tubes. It makes a fella cynical after a while. But even if we get more rail, the closest it will come to me in my lifetime is the U District.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I have problems with both sets you describe. There are cars, there will need to be more roads - the trick is to get people not using them.

I also don't really get the desire for more buses. Buses run on roads and the roads around here are a nightmare. You just have to look at the problems they have getting around currently. It's mad.

[fringefaan.livejournal.com]

Completely agree with you. I'll be voting Yes on this, but expect it to go down. On the bus front, they talk about Bus Rapid Transit (ho ho ho), but I'm not sure where they're going to find lanes to dedicate to buses to make it work. Otherwise, as you say, they just add to the clog in the traffic.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Part of the problem is the bad road layouts make bus lanes and HOV lanes a joke. The 520 HOV crosses a half dozen entries and exits, so the HOV is blocked by people trying to get onto the freeway.

D'oh. As they say.

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

The 520 HOV lanes are apparently a special case: the lanes were originally built as an afterthought, to allow buses to zip past the bridge toll booths that were in use until 1979. The trouble is the lanes were built on the cheap and can't support ordinary levels of freeway traffic, so until the road bed is rebuilt in 10-20 years, the HOV lanes will stay on the outside. This is all per local legend; I don't have a cite.

(Note the fate of this Bus Rapid Transit project, by the way.)

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I've heard that about the HOV lanes, but the HOVs are all over the place on the roads here. It's certainly Seattle's weakness.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

and you didn't even get into the elevated section ;-)