My Blog Lives On

Once again my candidacy has ended in the primary.  While I earlier thought Tom’s decision to file as a Democrat would cost him votes, his support from Seattle Times and extensive campaign will keep him on the ballot.  He has my full support.  While Patty Kuderer seems very pleasant personally, she’s advocated some really screwy ideas; single payer health insurance, a state bank, capital gains taxes, and climate change as the most serious problem facing the state.  Tom will hopefully do much better in the general election.

Meanwhile my blog will take a weeklong hiatus for a round trip cruise to Alaska, part of my “Travel is the spice of life” philosophy.  However I do intend to resume using this blog to explain why the entire area deserves more than what it’s getting from those responsible for the areas transportation.   A recent survey of Bellevue residents reported their biggest problem, three times that of any other, was the congestion they faced on the area’s roadways.   My guess is surveys of residents in the other Seattle suburbs would show the same concern.  

Their concerns are well founded.  Commuters throughout the area have seen dramatic increases in commute times.  Yet Sound Transit, since 2005, has refused to add any significant parking or bus “revenue vehicle miles” needed to attract more commuters to public transit.  Instead they plan to implement a “New Parking Management Strategy” where “50% of the stalls at the most popular transit facilities” are reserved for those arriving later.  It’s their way to “reduce crowding on early buses” and fill seats that currently “remain empty on later transit trips”.   It typifies Sound Transit’s refusal to increase public transit capacity. 

Sound Transit’s refusal to add parking and bus service is compounded by their failure to recognize their decision to route the light rail spine through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel severely limits its capacity.   The billions spent on extending light rail beyond UW or SeaTac along I-5 or across I-90 Bridge do nothing to increase the capacity.  Any riders they do attract will simply displace existing Central Link commuters.  The longer routes operating costs will create a financial black hole for the area’s transportation funds.  Their plans to use two DSTT stations for thousands of commuters to exit and access light rail is a sure recipe for havoc..

 Meanwhile, the WSDOT plan for implementing 2 HOT lanes on I-405 between Lynnwood and Renton demonstrates a similar level of incompetence.  The standard rationale for implementing HOT is the number of two-person carpoolers exceeds the number of vehicles an HOV lane can accommodate and still achieve the desired velocity, e.g. 2000 vehicles per hour for 45 mph.   HOT lane fees can be set to limit the number of drivers willing to pay the fees to what’s required to achieve the desired speed.   

However, the WSDOT rationale is their claim HOT lanes “Can accommodate 35% more than regular lanes because fees can be raised to prevent clogging”.   They use that absurdity to justify not one but two HOT lanes along I-405 between Bothell and Bellevue and plan to so along the rest of the route.  They ignore the fact the two HOT lanes have increased GP congestion and failed to maintain the 45 mph average velocities for 90% of the commute. 

The problem is limiting GP use to the remaining three lanes increases congestion to where more commuters are willing to pay the WSDOT HOT tolls than the lanes can accommodate and still achieve the 45 mph.  The WSDOT plans to limit GP to only 2 of 4 lanes on the rest of I-405 will surely exacerbate the problem.

The DOT could solve both problems be implementing HOT on one lane and setting fees to limit the number of vehicles needed to achieve 45 mph, and using the second lane to reduce congestion for GP commuters.  Instead their plan for 2 HOT lanes along the rest of the route is clear indication the DOT is more interested in increasing revenue than reducing congestion.   The single HOT lane would provide reliable BRT routes if Sound Transit could be persuaded to add transit capacity beyond their totally inadequate ST3 plans.

The Sound Transit and WSDOT incompetence is matched by the Seattle Times Traffic Lab’s failure to dig into the region’s thorny transportation issues and spotlight promising approaches to easing gridlock”.  It doesn't take much "digging" to recognize Sound Transit's failure to increase transit capacity with added parking or bus revenue vehicle hours.  Even they recognize the ST3 extensions won’t reduce congestion but fail to advocate an audit to prevent Sound Transit from proceeding.  Rather than objecting to WSDOT 2 HOT lanes on I-405 they advocate for tolls on all the main roadways as a way to reduce congestion.

My blog will continue to raise these concerns.