Transportation Foibles

[Lincoln]

The traffic at this morning’s peak commute time puts me in mind of the earthquake that happened a while back that shut down the 99-viaduct…Hours and hours from West Seattle in most directions, for a couple of days, from what I remember.

I live in West Seattle near Lincoln Park and my Burien carpoolers and I all work in Downtown Seattle. I decided months ago that having them come to me was pointless anymore, especially after recognizing some of the proposed traffic changes that we were about to face (or are already existing in) by commuting from West Seattle – For example: 1) More homes being built in WS and therefore more people trying to get to work/school from West Seattle to elsewhere. 2) Trader Joe’s going in at a crucial traffic area (love Trader Joe’s but suspect the traffic planning is negligible). 3) A toll being imposed on 520. 4) Construction done to shuffle us through SODO to get to/through downtown Seattle with more stop lights and of course at slower speeds. 5) And the fact that there aren’t really any good exits planned NB on 99 to get to Central Downtown Seattle with the tunnel! Which…(my diatribe)…Who REALLY thinks that a tunnel is the smartest way to go in an area where we’ve already seriously sunk once and are sinking still?! It’s a landfill and a bad idea! Isn’t one of the definitions of “insanity” something like, repeating the same thing and expecting a different result? (end of that diatribe) 6) Not to mention the already-difficult task as a carpooler of trying to get over from the West Seattle/I-5 entrance to the carpool lane on I-5. SO as a carpooler, I’ve now opted to drive to Burien and travel to Downtown Seattle from there (most times 509, 1st Ave Bridge, to I-5 where we can get in the carpool lane earlier than at the West Seattle Bridge entrance…albeit still a pill to merge 3 lanes over in order to get to the carpool lane…or by travelling all the way to South Center from 405 to I-5 where there’s an easy connection to the carpool lane!) – This route might sound absurd, but it’s better than trying to travel via the West Seattle Bridge these days. Today’s commute was a good example….Although it took longer than normal today for me and my carpoolers, it was still much better than the reports I read of from the people traveling the West Seattle bridge.

I’m not physically able to commute by bike, but I respect bicyclists and always try to take extra care for them when driving…However, in general, we don’t co-exist very well as a car-bicyclists community. We’ve obviously got loads of rain in the Seattle area (and therefore potentially tricky driving conditions for cars and bikes), and a mass amount of those who don’t respect that they are in control of an approximately 2-ton potential weapon when they get behind the wheel. We’ve got continual construction seemingly all year long and more people every day moving in to the area. Great! It’s awesome! It’s good for local businesses and local living; however it’s unfortunate for those of us that make our living outside of West Seattle but still love living in such a beautiful location and community, in part BECAUSE of those who are trying to live “green” by commuting by bike. Still…bikes/cars don’t really work very well as far as “commuting” in this area from what I’ve witnessed. It’s unfortunate…but seems to be the truth.

Buses are a great way to commute. Wish we had more of them and a better system (like much of the UK). I’ve lived in West Seattle for over 17 years and once-upon-a-time the Metro bus system was touted as one of the best in the nation. Unfortunately it didn’t keep up with the influx from CA former-residents (who CAN’T drive in the rain, much less snow!) and from elsewhere.

The Water Taxi is an excellent concept and probably useful to a select few…But I looked in to it as a potential commute option briefly a while back and parking options near the ferry terminal in West Seattle alone looked dismal; much less the cost and time to then travel on the ferry and find a way up / over to the East part of Downtown Seattle in an efficient and timely-manner.

We West Seattlites have paid loads for a monorail system, in fees/taxes, that we didn’t even get (regardless of whether it was a good idea or not). When researching as to where that money went when the West Seattle monorail didn’t come to fruition, all I could find was that it basically went to “transportation improvements” by, I think, the City of Seattle. Uh…wait a minute!…I’m fairly certain that our money went to anything OTHER than West-Seattle-related transportation issues! I actually paid those fees happily as I believed I was likely helping my community…and then nothing…nothing that I was made aware of, that actually went towards our little peninsula. I’m sorry, but SOMEONE is making some big buck deciding our transportation options and shame on whoever you are for not sorting out something better. It feels like we’ve been a little shafted with the whole monorail debacle and no serious viable options for commuting from West Seattle to take its place.

What I HAVE noticed in the many years I’ve been commuting from West Seattle is that there are hardly any carpoolers. ESPECIALLY traveling from West Seattle. I’ve mostly seen either buses (not enough), and single-occupancy vehicles. If ONLY the West Seattle Bridge bus lane could be open to carpoolers! That would be a “plus”, but is still I-5-carpool-connection-prohibitive in its current arrangement. As a carpooler I only want to help other commuters, not hinder them, and trying to merge left from that lane (especially with truckers also merging from a nearby “entrance”/ merge lane), isn’t really a good option either.

All that said…the bonus with having more “occupants” in West Seattle is there’s more potential for alternative commuting…like CARPOOLING (or more carpooler potentials)!. :O) Please give it a try…it’s a transportation option that you probably actually have control over (comparatively).

PS: I’d like to say thank you so much WS Blog (Tracy and gang) for bringing Community to us that would forget that we all are human, and are someone’s child/parent/friend/sibling and NEIGHBOR! Because of you my perception of who I see or meet when out and about in West Seattle has been opened to recognizing that all my fellow commuters, diners and shoppers ARE my neighbors. It’s touching and special to be a part of this lil ol’ place and a large part is due to your neighborliness WS Blog! :o)

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[dawsonct]

One minor technical point Lincoln. from an engineering standpoint, a tunnel (even in glacial till) is far safer than an elevated structure. Personally, I think our tax dollars would be far better served creating surface alternatives, ranging from improved E-W motility and access to underused thoroughfares such as 4th Ave. S. and vastly improved public transit, to converting US 97 into a limited access interstate highway, if not a full-fledged freeway, which would ease the trucking load along the I-5 corridor.

—-

I know that won’t get you to work any faster tomorrow, just my musing on our transportation issues.

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[metrognome]

okay, one more time, with emphasis …

first, the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority was NOT part of the City of Seattle government; it was an entirely separate entity. The City of Seattle had NO direct authority over the Seattle Monorail Authority, including how the money was spent.

second, everyone in the city limits who owned or bought a car and paid Motor Vehicle Excise Tax paid for the defunct Monorail; only those living along the Ballard-WS Green Line Alignment would have theoretically benefitted. If you think you got stiffed by paying those taxes, how do you think people in, oh say Wedgwood, feel.

third, the vast majority of the $110 million or so the SMA collected in MVET went to NOTHING TANGIBLE. It was spent on office space and salaries and consultants to design plans for stations that were never built. One of the last actions of the Monorail Authority after selling off property, settling lawsuits and paying off debt, was to give the remaining $426,000 to King County Metro for bus service in the communities that would have been served by the Green Line. Given that that would have been split between Ballard, Magnolia, Queen Anne, SoDo and W Seattle, I doubt anyone noticed the ‘improvements.’ In all, the Monorail Green Line cost taxpayers $125 million.

http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Monorail-agency-officially-dissolves-cost-1262011.php

for a more in-depth history of the 8 years of the monorail project, go to http://www.historylink.org/ and search for ‘monorail’ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Monorail_Project

And, as far as being ‘shafted’, property owners throughout the entire county pay a tax, albeit a small one, to fund the two Water Taxi routes which serve … West Seattle and Vashon.

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[Lincoln]

Thanks dawsonct. I’m not opposed to tunnels per se…just where they’re planning to put it. A bad foundation is never a good idea to rely on. I’m not an engineer but do recognize the arch / tunnel shape is one of the sturdier (sturdiest?) shapes and agree with you wholly that surface alternatives should be the focus. Just musing myself, but couldn’t a slightly elevated road (held up by arches in earthquake safe material) AND improved surface streets be a better solution? There was also an “Elliot Bay Bridge” suggested by someone (a professor I think??) that would have cost half the price, used the “arches” concept, and apparently would have opened up more of our harbor for commerce, AND wouldn’t require that the viaduct / 99 be shut down during any part of the build.

Metrognome – Thank you for the clarification on all those items. :o) I believe the “…remaining $426,000 to King County Metro for bus service in the communities that would have been served by the Green Line” was the part I found when researching (confused it with the City of Seattle).

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[metrognome]

Lincoln — you’re welcome; sorry if I was a little cranky, but there is a lot of incorrect info posted about the monorail. A one-time contribution of $426k isn’t going to buy much bus service; it was probably used for ‘schedule maintenance’ (i.e. to add a few minutes to chronically late trips; I recall the 54 was adjusted a few years ago.)

The bridge was an interesting concept, except that most engineers agree that something has to be done about the viaduct — we can’t keep patching it forever. Plus the bridge presented some technical challenges.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/7B735255-8893-4E41-94F1-B0610BEC629F/0/Elliott_Bay_Bridge_Aug06.pdf

Tunnels are actually very safe during earthquakes; Metro’s bus tunnel came through the Nisqually quake unscathed and BART’s underwater rail tunnel has survived quakes without damage.

The viaduct tunnel alignment also avoids most of the liquefaction zone from the fill in Elliott Bay as is is east of the current viaduct.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct/boredtunnelroute.htm

Frankly, I’m fascinated by your chosen commute route to downtown via Burien. You didn’t say when you travel and where in downtown you are going, but the 54 runs about every 10 – 20 min. until 0830 and the Express trips skip the Junction. When RapidRide replaces the 54 in the near future, there will be 10 minute headways all day. Just a thought.

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[Lincoln]

metrognome – No worries…You didn’t seem too cranky. I “get” the frustration you probably feel seeing mis-information. I was mostly just on a rant myself with the OP and was mostly just conjecture and opinion.

Yes, it’s obvious the viaduct has to go…it even LOOKS decrepit. Also good to know the tunnel alignment will avoid most of the liquefaction zone. Regardless, I’ll probably rarely if ever use it since it sounds like it won’t have exits that are more central to where I work.

The reason I don’t “bus it” is when I was hired 15 years ago, my company agreed to pay my parking and I agreed I’d carpool to keep down those costs. My first carpooler was/is my best friend who also lived in West Seattle (Alki area) and worked in the same building (Two Union Square – which is very close to the I-5 Seneca exit). We’ve added and lost other carpoolers since that time (mostly friends who moved to and from West Seattle and that I happened to have hired). They’ve all gone their way and my best friend moved to Burien a few years ago but she was still coming to me, and then recently I hired another friend who also lives in Burien. It all just sort of morphed into the current situation, and just makes more sense for me to pick them up now since we tend to get to work on time coming from Burien where we were regularly late coming from West Seattle. We leave at 8am to arrive to work by 8:30. Granted I have to get up 15 mins earlier now (not a morning person so that took some getting used to), but the commute time for them is shorter than it was when coming to me (thank you HOV lane!) and we have less stress knowing we’ll likely get to work on time. :o)

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