Tag Archives: transportation

Why 23rd Ave is at center of new Seattle Transportation Plan

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(Image: CHS)

The mayor’s proposal for the priorities that will define the size and scope of Seattle’s next more than $1 billion transportation levy is now in the hands of the Seattle City Council. The council must now finalize the plan in preparation for taking a new levy proposal to voters this fall.

The council’s transportation committee will hold its first meeting on the process Tuesday.

CHS reported here on the Harrell administration’s efforts to shape the transportation plan and a framework for safe and efficient protected areas for bikers along its arteries, a proliferation of transit-only lanes, and preparations for possible new light rail lines criss-crossing Capitol Hill and the Central District along 23rd Ave and Denny Way.

The final proposal from Mayor Bruce Harrell has crystalized on a roster of highest priority initiatives and projects while also downplaying massive investments like new light rail lines. The plan would emphasize equity and economic investments along with safety and motor vehicle traffic priorities while also continuing the long-running effort to lower speeds across the city — a mix that places 23rd Ave at the top of the heap for Capitol Hill and Central District area investments.

This combination of priorities would create a plan that emphasizes major investments in parts of the city that are heavily populated but have been left behind in current transportation priorities like the Rainier Valley where traffic deaths and safety issues remain disproportionately high despite transit and development investments. Continue reading →

After the race for District 3, Hudson continues advocacy work and sees hope in Seattle’s big 2024 goals: an equitable comprehensive plan and an ambitious new transportation levy

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Hudson making a 2023 campaign stop before her new path with Commute Seattle (Image: @AlexHudsonforSeattle)

It is very likely the voters in the Seattle City Council’s District 3 could not go wrong in November. Though Central District born and raised Joy Hollingsworth reached a solid victory, First Hill neighborhood and transit champion Alex Hudson also would have brought a strong fight for the needs of Seattle’s core neighborhoods to City Hall.

After the election, Hudson has spent the past few months finding a new path to helping the residents of First Hill, the Central District, Capitol Hill and the entire city resting up from the long campaign, sorting out her new priorities, and moving forward in her new role as executive director at Commute Seattle.

“Running for office is an incredible experience and a grueling task,” Hudson told CHS. “I was grateful for the opportunity, especially right after the election, to take a little break—spend some time with my family, catch up on much needed sleep, unwind my brain, and thank people and reflect on the experience.”

She also snatched up the leadership position at Commute Seattle, a nonprofit that works towards making the city more walker and bicycle friendly, while centering those disproportionately impacted by transportation costs.

Hudsons calls her new role the “perfect fit”and is “still very much doing the work that I love and that I’m committed to around transportation, transit and mobility, and doing that in service of the people of the City of Seattle.”

Running for D3 has changed Hudson, she said, by helping her come to appreciate the community’s experiences and real concerns around safety. From her campaign team canvassing a total of 18,000 people during her campaign, Hudson listened to residents’ genuinely held concerns that were backed up by numerous negative experiences, and holds a well of compassion and empathy for those who are struggling in society.

“I think it has helped to crystalize so many of the values that I had walking in—that people deserve a government that works for them,” Hudson said. “People deserve to have a government that invests in opportunities that spreads that fairly, that has meaningful and specific plans for making life better here in the City of Seattle. I feel more committed to making that possible than I did before.” Continue reading →

City Council to decide on whether Seattle can use impact fee to fund transportation projects

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(Image: SDOT)

Should Seattle reduce its reliance on property taxes to fund transportation by creating a fee on new development in the city? Or is a city facing an ongoing housing and affordability crisis at the scale of Seattle’s the last place you want to pile more costs onto development?

The Seattle City Council won’t decide any of that on Tuesday but it will vote on a proposal to amend its comprehensive plan to allow the council the option of implementing a new transportation impact fee program in the future — maybe as soon as next year.

On an agenda chock full of housekeeping and budget-related procedural votes, the vote on whether to open the door to debate in 2024 on a Seattle transportation impact fee is a big decision. Continue reading →

Denny Way and 23rd Ave light rail lines? 20-year Seattle Transportation Plan taking shape

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How about safe and efficient protected areas for bikers along its arteries, a proliferation of transit-only lanes, and new light rail lines criss-crossing Capitol Hill and the Central District along 23rd Ave and Denny Way? The Seattle Department of Transportation has published a draft of its “20-year” Seattle Transportation Plan and is beginning the process of gaining public support while — hopefully — addressing shortcomings and challenges in the proposed vision that will guide the city’s leaders and shape its transportation spending for years to come.

The high-level strategy isn’t necessarily about specific projects, instead laying out visions and technical frameworks for changing how SDOT works and makes its decisions. It is the latest in efforts from Department of Transportation head Greg Spotts as he attempts to turn around an organization that has struggled with timelines and compromises. CHS reported in March on the reorganization of the department’s Vision Zero efforts under Spotts to address street safety that included implementation of a “safe systems” model with roads designed to be “self-enforcing.”

The newly released draft of the Seattle Transportation Plan is equally ambitious — and equally removed from the hard realities of implementation SDOT has run into over the years. Continue reading →

Four Capitol Hill and CD locations part of Seattle’s small boost to plans for more public electric vehicle charging stations

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(Image: City of Seattle)

With 75,000 electric vehicles already on the road in King County and a requirement that two out of every three new cars sold in Washington must be zero-emission vehicles by 2030, drivers need more options for charging up.

The Seattle City Council this week approved legislation allowing City Light to lease private property to install and operate city-owned public EV charging stations while opening up access for companies to lease City Light-owned property to install and operate additional charging stations.

Seattle officials have been trying to add enough public charging stations to meet demand as new development has also helped boost the number of chargers here. Continue reading →

City Council holds Seattle Department of Transportation director confirmation hearing — See nominee’s written responses

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Interim SDOT director Kristen Simpson and Spotts riding the SLUT (Image: @Spottnik)

The Seattle City Council’s transportation committee Tuesday morning will hold a confirmation hearing for Greg Spotts, the mayor’s pick to lead the Seattle Department of Transportation.

You can view Spotts’s responses to written questions from the committee below. “I will bring to Seattle a wide variety of experiences from my fourteen years of public service in Los Angeles,” he writes. “My focus as an executive at StreetsLA has been to help Los Angeles become more walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly, safer, greener and climate resilient.”

In the document, Spotts included his first-year priorities for the Seattle role:

  • Conduct an extensive listening tour to walk, bike, roll and ride transit with staff and constituents, inviting stakeholders to show me what’s working well and what needs improvement. This outreach will also extend to goods movement and the Port.
  • Conduct a rigorous review of the Vision Zero program to identify which interventions in which places are most likely to save lives. This review requires both extensive quantitative analysis and deep engagement with the communities who are most at risk. Continue reading →

Harrell’s nominee to head Seattle Department of Transportation has ’15-minute city’ aspirations

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Greg Spotts

Calling him an innovative and inclusive leader “committed to designing, constructing, and maintaining sustainable transportation infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of communities,” Mayor Bruce Harrell has named Los Angeles transportation official Greg Spotts to lead the Seattle Department of Transportation.

The choice must be confirmed by the Seattle City Council.

Spotts currently serves as the executive officer and chief sustainability officer at the Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services, overseeing 1,500 staff positions, and an annual budget of $230 million, plus a capital program of more than $350 million, according to Harrell’s office.

Harrell says Spotts has led efforts to make Los Angeles “more walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly and sustainable.” Continue reading →

With unique maps and chalk walks, Urban planning firm Smash the Box works to improve Seattle transportation

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(Image: Smash the Box)

Smash the Box, a multidisciplinary Seattle-based planning startup, recently won contracts with the Seattle Department of Transportation and King County Metro to join efforts to improve the quality of local transit. Founder Yes Segura, a professional cartographer, has been selling engraved wooden art of maps in order to raise funds to kick start the business.

The firm is diverse in both their leadership and the work they do — Yes Segura, a transgender man and first generation El Salvadoran, founded the firm to provide services ranging from art, to communications, to urban planning and design.

“We’re smashing the box in the way that we’re actually having representation at the table, but also the way that we’re going about it,” Segura said. Continue reading →

New ‘seated’ option Wheels join Seattle’s scooter share fleet

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A “a more accessible” scooter with a ride the company behind it says is smoother and more “suited to Seattle’s hills and weather” has joined the city’s fleet of private company-share transportation options.

Wheels has released its seated rental scooters onto the streets of Seattle Monday:

Wheels are designed far differently from traditional stand-up scooters. A seated riding position and low center of gravity provide a safer and more stable ride — one that’s more accessible for a much broader demographic, as evidenced by the fact that half of Wheels‘ riders are women and one-third are over the age of 35. Large 14-inch tires create a smooth ride across bumps, cracks, and uneven surfaces. And, unlike other offerings, Wheels comes with its own integrated helmet system! Initially, 20% of Wheels scooters in Seattle will have integrated helmets, but this will soon be scaled up to cover the whole fleet.

Continue reading →

With no bike share in Seattle, sharing in the city takes another hit

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Rarely does an industry have such a quick rise and sudden drop as the bikeshare business has had in Seattle. Last year it would have been odd if you didn’t see a mass of multicolored bicycles across the streets, from red Jump bikes to the yellow Ofos and green Lime bicycles.

Lime took its 2,000 bikes off Seattle streets in December and now the Jump bicycles will be temporarily absent, as well, with Lime taking over the red bike’s business operations this month. Lime acquired Jump on May 7 after Uber, which owned the latter, led a $170 million investment in Lime that “reaffirms Lime’s market strength and positions the company to build a long-lasting business that empowers people with sustainable, safe and affordable transportation options,” the company said in an announcement.

This comes as the bike rental business has fallen off a cliff during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were just 23,400 trips in April, compared to 158,600 trips in April 2019, according to Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) data.

“We recognize that the COVID-19 has impacted all areas of life including new mobility companies, and we are evaluating our options with these impacts in mind,” SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson said in an email. Continue reading →