February 2019 – Page 4 – Seattle Transit Blog

A Dilemma at UWB

February 5, 2019February 5, 2019 by Martin H. Duke

The junction of the I-405 and SR522 Stride BRT lines will be frustratingly close to the University of Washington – Bothell (UWB) and Cascadia College joint campus, close enough for a tempting diversion but too far to actually be convenient.

Universities are good all-day transit demand generators, but too many campuses in the area were placed with only cars in mind. One of these is UWB, which lies just off an arterial and across a swamp from I-405. BRT, always constrained by where the major roadways are, can never be efficient for both through riders and those with business on campus.

SR522 buses must take a detour to provide front-door service to campus, though a half-mile walk from Beardslee Blvd isn’t insurmountable for most. For I-405 buses, the nearest interchange is almost a full mile away.

Metro: Buses on snow routes “until further notice”

February 5, 2019February 5, 2019 by Peter Johnson

Route 255 Snow Shuttle — A bus with chains in a 2012 storm (Photo by Oran).

Metro switched all bus service to snow routes by Monday afternoon. As of 2:30 on Monday, the agency planned to keep running snow routes “until further notice,” according to spokesperson Jeff Switzer.

A live-updated list of each route’s status is available on Metro’s website, MetroWinter.com.

“We made the decision to go on snow routes based on current conditions,” Switzer said. “Based on how conditions change over time, you may start to see certain routes get peeled off of snow routes as weather conditions permit. That’s going to be made on a case-by-case basis, until we really see a good melt.”

Hello, Tunnel & Snow

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 by Brent White

Several bus routes start using this red bus-only lane on Columbia St today.

Photo courtesy SDOT.

The car tunnel under downtown opens today, and will be free until at least summer.

Routes 21x, 37, 55, 56, 57, 113, 121, 122, 123, 125, and the C Line shift to the blue path southbound today. Northbound paths continue to follow the yellow line this week. Click here to enlarge.

West Seattle and Burien express buses will now use Columbia St (with its recently-painted bus lane from west of 3rd Ave to 1st Ave), 1st Ave S, Dearborn, and then S Highway 99 to exit downtown. Northbound paths into downtown for these buses will continue as they have been the past three weeks.

The northbound exit from Highway 99 onto Dearborn St will take another 1-2 weeks to finish, so don’t drive north on Highway 99 to downtown if you don’t want to go through the tunnel.

All that said, your new bus routes could be pre-empted by snow re-routes. Check out Metro’s winter weather page for a map of where snow re-routes are in effect, links to winter traffic alerts and apps that will help you navigate your commute in the snow. Ride2 service is cancelled. Community Transit is warning of 60 minute delays across the board. Sounder is delayed. Link is operating normally.

Or, consider hanging out safely at home today.

This is an open thread.

Sunday Open Thread: Remembering the Viaduct

February 3, 2019February 2, 2019 by Bruce Englehardt

Seattle Channel interviews MOHAI director Leonard Garfield for insights into the early history of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The full episode of CityStream is also available here on YouTube.

This is an open thread.

News Roundup: De-wiring

February 2, 2019February 2, 2019 by Frank Chiachiere

Photo By Zach Heistand in the STB Flickr Pool

~~KIRO did an~~ ~~interesting investigation~~ ~~into why the new (post 2015) trolley buses keep dropping off the wires~~ Update: this is apparently an old story
Mayor Durkan announces a missing middle housing task force
WSDOT spending $4.4M to market the new downtown tunnel
On a totally unrelated note, here are all the new single-family homes built in the city in recent years
Higher fines for HOV violators?
Sound Transit’s positive train control (PTC) project is done, clearing the way for Amtrak’s return this spring
A man was killed on a Metro bus in SODO
The King/Snohomish Master Builders argue for more density. See also: Oregon.
The Democratic majority in Olympia is going to have another go at spending more on highways and less on transit
Zoning and the Green New Deal
Seattle DOT is planning to allow right-on-red from the tunnel exit through the Dexter bike lane. Seems problematic?
Why can’t Seattle build affordable housing on land it already owns?
Yep, the tunnel is terrible
Eastside officials looking for ways to spend Microsoft’s money
Road pricing can be equitable
$160M approved for the waterfront LID
Seattle transit ridership still bucking trends

This is an open thread

99 Tunnel Party Saturday; Opens Monday; Downtown Off-Ramp Needs at Least Another Week

February 1, 2019February 4, 2019 by Brent White

My new ad for the Hwy. 99 tunnel gets straight to the point.#99tunnel #seattlesqueeze #realign99 pic.twitter.com/sjXfJ6W6d6
— Qagggy! (@Qagggy) January 24, 2019

Correction 1: The original claim on this post of free water taxi service was incorrect. The author apologizes for the error.

Correction 2: Only one ramp will still be closed Monday — the northbound ramp from Highway 99 to Dearborn St — while the seven other ramps will be open. Northbound bus re-routes will continue as they are now, while southbound bus re-routes will shift to 1st Ave S, Dearborn and then S Hwy 99. See the map below.

The Highway 99 tollway under downtown opens Monday, and will be free for a few months, at least until summer. However, the downtown off-ramp to Dearborn St will not be open yet. That is expected to take another 1-2 weeks to be ready.

New ramps will include:

NorthBound off-ramp to Alaskan Way S./Downtown (before tunnel, still closed for 1-2 more weeks)
NB on-ramp from South Royal Brougham Way (into tunnel)
NB on-ramp from Harrison Street
NB off-ramp to Mercer Street/I-5 (after leaving tunnel)

SouthBound off-ramp to Denny Way/Downtown (before tunnel)
SB on-ramp from Sixth Avenue North (into tunnel)
SB on-ramp from South Dearborn Street
SB off-ramp to Stadiums, Interstates and Ferries (after leaving tunnel)

Howell St. bus lane to be improved this spring

February 1, 2019February 1, 2019 by Frank Chiachiere

Guess which one is the bus lane? Credit: Bruce Englehardt

SDOT’s Jonathan Dong wrote in to tell us that the agency is planning to upgrade the eastbound bus lane on Howell St this spring. Howell St. is a four-lane, one way street with lots of traffic competing with Snohomish County express buses to enter I-5 in the afternoon peak.

Today’s right-hand (or center) bus lane — which we wrote about when it was installed back in 2011 — is frequently full of cars, as seen in the photo above. (This is definitely one of those cases where automated enforcement of the bus lane would be useful.)

To remedy the situation, SDOT will move the bus lane to the far left from 3-7 PM and add a queue jump so that buses can still cut over to the Howell & Yale stop before entering the I-5 express lanes. This should lead to fewer lane violations and a smoother ride for commuters. Good on SDOT for acknowledging the initial bus lane effort missed the mark.