Fauntleroy ferry-dock replacement: Advisory group to get long-awaited info this month

| Fauntleroy | Transportation | West Seattle news

No summer hiatus for the Fauntleroy ferry-dock replacement project. It’s still in the planning stage, working toward a decision on the size and shape of the replacement. The project’s Community Advisory Group has been waiting for results of traffic studies, which could show how technology advances in ticketing could affect the vehicle flow – for example, some group members have asked, could the new dock be smaller if Washington State Ferries used Good To Go! electronic passes to eliminate the need for most vehicles to stop at toll booths. That information is expected at the next meeting, just announced for Tuesday, July 16, 6 pm, online (first meeting since March). You can register here to observe; there’s no public-comment period, but you can send feedback any time to FauntleroyTermProj@wsdot.wa.gov. The project’s Technical Advisory Group will be meeting two days later, 1 pm July 18, also online (register here to watch). Construction of the new dock isn’t expected to start before 2027.

DRW July 3, 2024 (8:59 am)

Out of the seven proposed configurations Id go with the one that holds the most cars.

JDB July 3, 2024 (9:38 am)

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Agreed. Not sure how shortening the dock is even on the table. It needs to hold more cars AND accept good to go.
- WSB July 3, 2024 (10:44 am)
  
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  There is no proposal for a smaller dock. There’s no proposal for a same-size dock. This was explained in detail at the last meeting
  https://westseattleblog.com/2024/03/when-same-size-doesnt-mean-same-size-and-what-else-emerged-from-fauntleroy-ferry-dock-replacement-community-advisory-groups-latest-meeting/
  The options that remain under consideration (as shown in a slide featured in that story) all would increase the dock’s size, from 30 percent larger to 119 percent larger. TR

WSeattlite July 3, 2024 (10:32 am)

At one of the ferry meetings last year, someone asked the three Fauntleroy people to explain why they are against a bigger dock. It was crickets…nobody responded. Later, near the end of the meeting, one of the Fauntleroy people said that it was about preserving their views, but also about the number of cars that offload from the ferry. But of course a bigger dock will not change the number of cars that need to offload from each ferry…that is dictated by ferry size. So my conclusion was that they want a smaller dock to preserve their views, since that was the only part of his answer that made any sense. I’m glad the Alki NIMBY’s lost in the recent Alki school ruling, and hope the Fauntleroy NIMBY’s are the next. As a West Seattle resident, I want the biggest dock possible because I want to a functioning public ferry transportation system. I also want to get rid of that awful and dangerous line of cars that idle along Lincoln Park.

Kyle July 3, 2024 (11:26 am)

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I believe the thinking is along the lines of induced demand for traffic lanes. If we build a bigger dock than more cars will come and it will get busier etc. The real drivers of demand I believe are the number of people living across the water, the size of the boats and the number of sailings. People living across the water will increase and should given the extreme housing shortage in our state. The cars will line up regardless of how big the dock is. So let’s please build the largest dock we can to increase public safety. We should also include an overhead pedestrian loading ramp to increase efficiency and encourage walk ons.
- WSeattlite July 3, 2024 (2:08 pm)
  
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  So the Fauntleroy group’s strategy is to keep the ferry dock undersized and crippled? So that people don’t use it? Sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were correct. What a sad state of NIMBY selfishness.

snowskier July 3, 2024 (12:20 pm)

I hope they select the option that is slim near shore to minimize the intertidal habitat but widens and lengthens over deeper water to increase the holding capacity and get cars off of the street. A Good to Go type of payment system seems like a no brainer. If we can record license plates while traveling at 70 mph down I-405, we should be able to do a similar thing rather easily at the ferry dock.