The February 12th
Seattle Times Traffic Lab article “Seattle-area traffic, sixth most congested
among big U.S. cities” is no surprise to the area’s commuters. Kirkland based INRIX had the Seattle
area as 8th in 2014. Congestion
has increased markedly since then. The Traffic Lab article opined, “while Seattle has
America’s fastest transit growth, Sound Transit needs two decades to finish a
voter approved network of high-capacity rail”.
However a PSRC, May 8th, “Stuck
in Traffic: 2015 Report” concluded between 2010 and 2013, the number of
commuters who used transit increased from 8.6% to 9.8%. While the 14% increase over 3 years may
have been “America’s fastest transit growth”, the more important statistic, the
number of commuters who drove alone only dropped from 74.4% to 73.6%. It’s unlikely those numbers have
changed significantly since then.
The Traffic Lab
article warned, “Sound Transit needs two decades to finish a voter approved
network of high-capacity rail”.
They continue to fail to recognize Sound Transit’s ST3 “Prop 1 and
beyond” light rail extensions routed through the Downtown Seattle Transit
Tunnel (DSTT) will do absolutely nothing to increase transit capacity into
Seattle. That any riders added by the extensions, at least during peak commute,
will simple reduce access for current riders. (A Nov 4th 2016,
Traffic Lab article conceded ST3 funding would not reduce congestion.) Clearly spending “two decades” waiting for high-capacity rail
is not the answer.
The article also
reported WSDOT Secretary Roger Millar had earlier concluded “It would take $115
billion, or a $2.20 gas-tax to construct enough highway lanes to assure 60
mph. Yet neither considered attracting
more of the 73% who drove alone with added bus transit capacity on exiting lanes. A 70-ft articulated bus can accommodate
up to 119 sitting and standing riders.
An additional 100 high-capacity buses an hour could accommodate more
than 10,000 riders an hour.
Limiting
traffic on highway lanes to 2000 vehicles per hour (vph) has long been accepted
as a way to maximize vehicle capacity and attain lane velocities of 45
mph. Routing an additional 100 buses an hour on a freeway lane with HOT fees
set to limit total traffic to 2000 vph would add the equivalent of 4 lanes of
freeway traveling 45 mph. An additional 100 buses an hour would add 5 more
lanes.
Clearly
adding bus routes is the way to reduce the area’s congestion. There’s no need to spend billions on
additional freeway lanes and no reason to expect two decades of spending
billions each year on light rail extensions will reduce congestion. What’s needed is for the WSDOT to increase highway capacity by implementing HOT fees on I-5, 1-90, and I-405 that limit traffic to 2000
vehicles with Sound Transit making 100 or more of them added bus routes.
Until
Sound Transit is “persuaded” to end its decade long failure to increase bus
transit capacity the area’s INRIX congestion rating is only going to rise toward
the top.
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