Month: June 2017

Last week Seattle released a much-anticipated draft of the environmental impact statement for the Mandatory Housing Affordability program, which allows developers additional height in exchange for building a certain amount of affordable housing.

Three scenarios were analysed: one taking no action, and two slightly different plans for distributing the increased development capacity around 27 neighborhoods in the city. All options would leave most single families areas unchanged. No action is expected to result in “substantially less affordable housing” and “less market-rate housing supply,” according to the report. Alternative #2 implements zoning changes using existing growth patterns. Alternative #3 directs more growth to areas with a low displacement risk and easy access to transit, jobs and public amenities.

In other words, with alternative 3, neighborhoods such as Wallingford, Fremont and Ballard would see larger upzones and an expansion of the urban village boundary, allowing denser development, to areas within a 10-minute walk of frequent public transit. In the second plan, areas deemed to have a high risk of displacement and low opportunity, such as Rainier Beach or Othello, would receive less-dramatic upzones and smaller extensions of the urban village boundary.

Implementing either proposal would create roughly the same number of affordable homes — estimated at 5,500 — and generate 95,000 total units of housing over the next 20 years. The plan of no action would generate only about 200 affordable units and 77,000 new homes, remaining consistent with the Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

With all scenarios expected to impact the region’s transportation network, the report identified “reducing the share of SOV travel is key to Seattle’s transportation strategy.”

Continue reading “DEIS Shows Two Options for Adding 95,000 Homes to Seattle”

Due to construction on the University of Washington campus, several King County Metro and Community Transit bus routes, as well as ST Express 540, will be diverted off Grant Lane and Stevens Way on weekdays for the next two weeks, as well as for the weekend of June 24 and 25.

Westbound, Metro routes 31, 32, 67, 75, 78, and 372 will all serve:

• a temporary southbound stop on Montlake Blvd north of the Hec Ed pedestrian overpass
• a temporary westbound stop on NE Pacific Pl just west of Montlake Blvd
• the westbound stop on NE Pacific St a block east of 15th Ave NE

Eastbound, routes 75, 78, and 372 will serve:

• the eastbound stop on NE Pacific St a block east of 15th Ave NE
• the eastbound stop on NE Pacific Pl at the west point of the Rainier Vista triangle
• the northbound stop on Montlake Blvd NE in front of Alaska Airlines Arena (formerly known as Hec Edmundson Pavillion)

Metro route 277 and ST Express 540 will skip their campus loop, and just serve their regular stops on Campus Parkway, 15th Ave NE, and NE Pacific St, plus a temporary drop-off-only stop on inbound runs at the flagpole on Memorial Way.

All six Community Transit UW routes (810, 821, 855, 860, 871, and 880) will loop around campus clockwise, using three of its normal stops, serving:

• the regular eastbound stop on Stevens Lane, just east of Memorial Way
• the regular southbound stop on E Stevens Way NE, just north of Pend Orville Rd NE. This is the last regular stop before the reroute begins.
• a temporary southbound stop on Montlake Blvd north of the Hec Ed pedestrian overpass
• a temporary westbound stop on NE Pacific Pl just west of Montlake Blvd
• the westbound stop on NE Pacific St a block east of 15th Ave NE
• the regular northbound stop on 15th Ave NE just north of NE 42nd St

Bruce Engelhardt contributed to this post.

Coleman Ferry Dock / photo by SounderBruce

Washington State Ferries just released its 2017 first quarter boarding statistics, revealing another milestone for Link Light Rail: For the first quarter of a year ever, Link Light Rail had more boardings than Washington State Ferries did.

Washington State Ferries had 4,960,373 boardings among all its lines for January to March of this year. Link Light Rail had 5,171,115 boardings on its single line during the same period.

This is not to say that Link Light Rail has permanently passed WSF as the third-highest ridership transit agency in the state (if treated separately from the rest of Sound Transit). Washington State Ferries’ highest-boardings quarter ever was July-September of 2016, with 7,455,613 boardings. Link’s record quarter was 5,596,453, for the same period.

Easier car-free getaways to the Olympic Peninsula begin Saturday, June 17 when Clallam Transit inaugurates the “Strait Shot” daily direct bus service between Port Angeles and the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal. STB previously covered the service in detail, which is a 75-mile route using 40-passenger transit buses making five intermediate stops.

There will be a morning roundtrip and an evening roundtrip Monday to Saturday and an evening round trip on Sunday. Adult fare is $10 per person each way and $5 for children and Regional Reduced Fare Permit card holders. Fare must be paid in exact cash only; ORCA cards are not accepted. Limited space is available for bicycles on a first-come, first-served basis. The bus is scheduled to complete the trip in two hours, making it competitive with driving.

The Strait Shot is a more convenient option than the existing 5-seat local transit ride and costs less than the Dungeness Line. From Port Angeles, riders can connect to other Clallam Transit buses that can take them to Forks (with onward connections to Neah Bay and La Push) or walk over to the Black Ball ferry to Victoria, B.C. Buses are timed to meet with the Bainbridge ferry and will wait for late ferries. More information is available in the full schedule. You can also plan your trip in Google Maps.