By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
A matter of time and space dominated the latest meeting of the Community Advisory Group that Washington State Ferries convenes when there’s something new to discuss about planning the Fauntleroy dock expansion/replacement.
In this case, the main agenda item for last night’s online meeting was the analysis of how the various alternative dock size/shapes under consideration (see them here) would affect the time needed for loading/unloading and the space taken up by vehicles queueing along Fauntleroy Way.
From the meeting presentation, here’s where the project planning is now:
WSF has not yet chosen a preferred size/shape alternative. That’s likely to happen next year, and detailed studies will ensue. Still lots to discuss before then – the first five in dark green here are what the group has asked to hear about:
The group’s long been asking for study results on potentially focusing the new terminal’s ticketing on Good To Go! passes and advance-purchase ticketing, wondering if that could affect the size/capacity needed for the new dock. WSF terminal-engineering director Dave Sowers explained what they’re studying. They’re hoping to have this information at the next meeting.
Also noted before the meeting got to the main topic, WSF environmental/permitting lead Marsha Tolon recapped toplines of concerns that have been voiced:
Group member Mardi Clements noted that Cove Park to the north of the dock is actually managed by King County because of its adjacent Barton Pump Station, and that the county has needed to use it multiple times in the past. Tolon said construction likely will require some temporary closures of the park.
Later in the meeting, WSF reps were reminded that they had told group members offline a few days earlier that they’re talking with King County about acquiring the beachfront house just north of Cove Park for use during the construction process.
(King County Assessor file photo)
The house is currently being rented and the tenant has been notified that WSF is interested in acquiring it – next step. Sowers said, is to have it appraised. (The house served as a project office during pump-station work in the mid-2010s.)
On to the traffic analysis (read the full report here):
Project consultant Mark Bandy presented these results. The study was meant to evaluate how the alternatives would affect load/unload time and the “extent of queueing.” That, Bandy said, provides a foundation for how Good To Go! and advance ticketing could play out in operation of the new dock. He also recapped WSF’s criteria for “on-time” (trips departing within 10 minutes) and systemwide “on-time” (95 percent of all trips meeting that; this route was just below that in the pre-pandemic years). Here’s the study context:
For further context, here are the sizes of the potential new-dock alternatives that remain under study, ranging from 30 percent more “overwater coverage” to 119 percent more:
The B and C alternatives had the fastest load/unload times:
Regarding queueing effects, alternatives B-1, B-2, and C showed little to no queueing in 2040 projections, for both weekdays and weekends:
In Q&A, questions included whether WSF took the work-at-home surge into account. “That’s one of the things we’re definitely seeing in our travel patterns,” said Bandy, and in some cases that makes midday the busiest time – bottom line, they’re not sure how this will play out. One group member asked for elaboration on how certain alternatives will save time – he says that even today, there are still cars left on the dock “when the arm goes down” before a ferry leaves (sometimes because it’s full, sometimes because it’s time to leave, it was clarified later). He disagrees that making room for more cars on the dock is going to speed up loading. He lives near the dock and “sees this every single day.” He challenged Bandy to come see it firsthand; Bandy said he has.
Fletcher Sandbeck described the idling that queueing leads to; Clements noted that idling happens on the dock too if extreme weather means cars have to run their A/C or heater. She also noted that WSF is using numbers for ticketed/nonticketed cars/riders that don’t have much separation, but “it’s stunningly different from what we were told before, and it’s a win for everybody if it’s true” – if there’s really only a 12-second discrepancy between processing times for ticketed and nonticketed riders. WSF executive Hadley Rodero explained that the numbers given to the previous Triangle Route advisory group years ago were “draft” numbers and “estimates” – “these numbers now are more refined.” Bandy reiterated that the Triangle Route is ‘already heavily pre-ticketed’ – 60 percent, in general.
Group member Gary English noted that overhead passenger loading might save significant time. He voiced the concern that he’s not “hearing the emphasis on dwell time that I hoped to hear” in these study results. Sowers agreed that overhead loading works well – safer, too – at some terminals, and “we’ve done some estimating here” on how it might save load/unload time for the Fauntleroy dock.
Group member Victoria Nelson noted that pedestrian/bicycle load times are “nearly identical” for all alternatives and that overhead loading would save less than two minutes. Bandy said that number was based on a study of how long it takes now (handling those ferry riders before and after vehicles).
Group member Frank Immel said he’d recently been on the ferry from Southworth and noted that the Kitsap Transit foot ferry seemed busy; the staff there told him 400 use it daily to get to and from downtown Seattle.
Group member Scott Harvey suggested that boats aren’t able to load at full capacity because of dock constraints, given how the dual-destination lineups have to be arranged, and he suggested that a dock with more capacity will assist with that.
Group member Justin Hirsch said that “if WSF is going to rely on” some cars continuing to queue on Fauntleroy Way, then in his view, WSF has to “actively manage” that traffic somehow. Sowers noted that “we have this issue at most of our ferry terminals” and since it’s a city street, the city is accountable for managing it.
Clements observed that it appears some street queueing will be unavoidable no matter what.
English asked if the research only considered a three-boat schedule, and the project team said yes, since they’re hopeful that by the time this is built and new boats are coming online, two-boat (or worse, one-boat) days will be far fewer.
Immel wondered if WSF could also do this analysis for other sailings, since it just addressed two sailings – what happens to the remaining queue after those two sailings? “It’s queued all day long” currently, he pointed out.
English wondered if there’s ever a chance there will be larger boats on the Triangle Route. Short answer, WSF says, no, they expect that even in 2040, they’ll run three 124-vehicle ferries (as is the plan now when the fleetwide boat shortage is alleviated).
WHAT’S NEXT: The project team says the meeting with Good To Go!/advance-ticketing info will likely be in late August/early September. … A video recording of this meeting will eventually be added to this page; that’s also where you can register to observe the online meeting tomorrow (1 pm Thursday, July 18) of the Technical Advisory Group for the project.
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