Two recent stories in the national media illustrated why I think it’s important to separate the push for density, which solves or mitigates a whole series of objective social problems, from the aesthetic distaste for bix box stores and chain restaurants.

First, the Atlantic takes the angle that in-city big-box stores reduce driving:

The researchers then took this data on the frequency, length and type of trips people were making and calculated monthly vehicle-miles-traveled estimates before and after the Target. Before, residents were driving about 97 miles a month for their cleaning supplies, patio items and such. After, that number dropped to 79.6 miles. The frequency of shopping trips to downtown Davis didn’t change much, suggesting the new Target was siphoning more business from far-flung big boxes than local downtown stores.

This result is consistent with my anecdotal experience — sometimes, the easiest thing to do is go to Target, even if it’s farther away — but I’d also suggest that big box stores, while not meeting the narrow-storefront nirvana of urbanists, need not be the pedestrian-hostile sea of parking we experience every day.

Consider the Northgate North complex that is, well, north of Northgate Mall, which consists of three big box stores (and several others) stacked on top of each other in one city block. I would never suggest this is ideal urbanism. The free parking garage isn’t great, the transit access is barely adequate, and it’s hardly a pedestrian paradise. Nevertheless, it’s a compact form for three big-box stores, and vastly superior to what you’d find from those exact same chains near Southcenter.

More after the jump.

Continue reading “Chains, Big-Box Stores, and Urbanism”

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In the middle of winter most neighborhoods don’t have major activities to pull you in, but snow (which is rumored for the weekend) may shut down everything but Link. If you’re looking for something new to do as an excuse to ride Link, Bananas Grill, just north of Columbia City station, offers low-priced Mediterranean food. The ambience is fast food but it’s got a bit more of a halal focus than a typical Greek place. I’ve eaten there several times and find the Chicken Shawarma particularly tasty.

4556 MLK, about a block north of the station. Free wi-fi. Open every day.

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• Downtown Kirkland may get pay parking to manage demand.
• Puyallup still trying to get parking right.
• King Street Station update.
• In Olympia, House Bill is higher transit subsidy than the Senate bill. Both are smaller than the Governor’s proposal.
• How CT picked their new bus stops.
• Seattle’s Gondola Lobby doubles.
• Seattle Times selling SLU property.
• Metro successfully sued over slippery bus steps. Damages are unclear.
• Local pundits fix our transportation problems.
• The fascinating story of Olympia’s Amtrak stop.
• Mayoral revolt against Vancouver’s TransLink.
• Chicago to Kalamazoo at 110 mph.

This is an open thread.

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The Washington State Department of Transportation has some good news for the rail corridors plagued with mudslides, but the project won’t be finished until late 2015.

Early Wednesday morning, a mudslide between Mukilteo and Everett, caused cancellation of Sounder and Amtrak Cascades service for 48 hours*. WSDOT’s $16.1m Corridor Reliability Slide Management Project will review problematic locations and reduce mudslides along the route.

In 2011, over 100 Sounder and Amtrak trains were cancelled due to mudslides. While this project will not eliminate all mudslide dangers, it is a step in the right direction to minimize service disruptions. Anytime a mudslide occurs, BNSF Railway (owner of the tracks in our region) imposes a 48-hour restriction on passenger trains. WSDOT and BNSF are working together to reduce and/or eliminate this rule, depending on the severity of the slide.

This is positive and much needed relief on what plagues on-time performance and reliability of our trains.

*Empire Builder service will be truncated in Everett and passengers bused to Edmonds and Seattle. Eastbound passengers will be bused to Everett and board the train there.

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Both houses of Congress continue to struggle with the new transportation bill as they enter a one-week recess. Speaker John Boehner has delayed the justifiably maligned House bill, allegedly because it doesn’t have the votes.

Over on the Senate side, in a flurry of parliamentary maneuvering that I don’t really understand, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) on Friday offered amendment 1730 to the much better Senate Bill, S.1813. The amendment is not yet in the bill, much less law, but it does have this interesting provision:

 (2) BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM.–The term `bus rapid transit system’ means a bus transit system–

`(A) in which the majority of each line operates in a separated right-of-way dedicated for public transportation use during peak periods; and

`(B) that includes features that emulate the services provided by rail fixed guideway public transportation systems, including–

“(i) defined stations;

“(ii) traffic signal priority for public transportation vehicles;

“(iii) short headway bidirectional services for a substantial part of weekdays and weekend days; and

“(iv) any other features the Secretary may determine are necessary to produce high-quality public transportation services that emulate the services provided by rail fixed guideway public transportation systems.

STB obtained an email to other transit operators from Metro Director of Service Development Victor Obeso, excerpted below the jump:

Continue reading “Senate May Define BRT Upwards”

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SDOT is holding two open houses for the First Hill Streetcar project that begins construction in April:

Tuesday, February 28
5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Union Station – Ruth Fisher Boardroom
401 South Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98104

Getting There:
The main entrance is on Jackson Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues. The location is transit accessible. On- and off-street parking is available nearby.

Wednesday, March 7
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Silver Cloud Hotel
The Broadway Room
1100 Broadway
Seattle, WA 98122

Getting There:
The main entrance is on Broadway between E Madison Street and E Union Street. The location is transit accessible. On- and off-street parking is available nearby. Limited free parking at Silver Cloud Hotel.

Questions?
Seattle.streetcar@seattle.gov or (206) 257-2121

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They’re trying to figure out ways to improve station access:

February 22, 2012
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Join us to see what we have learned about how riders get to and from Mukilteo Station and share your thoughts on future access improvements.

Rosehill Community Center
304 Lincoln Avenue
Mukilteo, WA 98275

The Sounder Station Access Study is a product of ST2. From the press release:

Potential station improvements that could be funded include more parking, enhanced connections for pedestrians and bicycle users, and new bus facilities…

For the convenience of Mukilteo residents, the event is being held in conjunction with Washington State Ferries and the Federal Transit Administration’s public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Mukilteo Multimodal project.

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We could soon be riding the Red Line instead of Central Link and talk about the Lynnwood Extension instead of the North Corridor HCT Project beginning in 2014. An update to the policy for naming Sound Transit facilities and Link lines is up for consideration at the Sound Transit Board’s February 23rd meeting.

Link lines would be named by color and destination at the end of the line. For example, the north-south Central Link line would be called the Link Red Line (Westlake or SeaTac/Airport). Supposedly, Tacoma Link would also get a color. Staff recommendation and rider feedback would help establish a color scheme. The naming structure would apply to projects in the early planning phase. Examples of US cities that name their rail lines after colors include Boston, Washington, Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles.

The criteria for naming stations and other facilities would be updated to add “Avoid similar names or words in existing facility names”. I’m thinking that we may not see Brooklyn Station renamed to University District Station as there is already a University Street Station. We might not see a Husky Stadium Station either, since there’s already a Stadium Station.

There will be a three-phase process for determining the permanent name of a station. First, staff will develop potential names based on the criteria. Then the public will be asked for input around the 30% design process. Finally, at Phase Gate 5 or around 60% design, the Board will have final authority in naming stations.

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With Friday’s unfortunate announcement that Routes 2 and 4 will be remain largely unchanged, we’ve lost one of the best parts of the Fall 2012 restructure, with anything beyond “small adjustments to the frequency and running hours” on the 4 ruled out. As I pointed out months ago, the eight-terminal network that now serves Queen Anne to Madrona is intrinsically less efficient and comprehensible than the three terminal network that was proposed; with restoration of the 4, most or all of that is probably lost.

While it’s all water under the bridge now, it’s worth noting that Metro had an unpublished draft plan that would have kept the crosstown Route 2 on Seneca (with a one-seat ride to the Seattle Center) while still improving Route 13 to all-day frequent service and providing service every 5-8 minutes during the weekday from Downtown to First Hill (it would also have raised the south part of the 2 to frequent service on weekday evenings). The thousands of people who use those buses daily — far, far more than who use the tails of the 4 — who will pack onto overloaded buses on James St or suffer the woefully inadequate service on Queen Anne Ave to Seattle Pacific are the real (but evidently unpersuasive) human cost of inertia.

Nonetheless, there are a couple of minor changes that would noticeably improve Queen Anne service, cost nothing overall, qualify under the rubric of “small adjustments … to running hours”, and upset almost no-one, thus fitting quite well with what’s left of the Fall proposal.

Continue reading “Salvaging Minor Improvements for Queen Anne”

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Does the way we organize our politics and government in Seattle and in our region have any effect on transit and land use? Does the structure of our political institutions result in bad outcomes for transit-oriented development, for example? Would changing that system result in better or worse outcomes? That’s the question we should talk about more actively at urbanist and transit advocacy events, like tomorrow night’s City Builders. Does getting better transit and land use require fundamentally changing the way we organize government and elections?

Since my post at Publicola last week a number of different perspectives and thoughts have appeared in my in-box and in the comments. Here’s a cross section of those perspectives.

Change would make things worse.

This view is best articulated by Frank at Orphan Road, who suggests that tinkering with the way we elect the Seattle City Council could make land use and transit worse. He drills into district elections, suggesting that doing things that way would ensure NIMBY dominance, by giving neighborhood ne’er do wells elected office.

Change would make things better.

There is an odd assortment of bedfellows here. Councilmember Mike O’Brien has been exploring the idea of publicly financed elections, and John Fox has been suggesting district elections. Some commenters in other posts have offered ideas about ways to rig the voting system using proportional voting systems to get better outcomes. The problem is that the outcome of these changes is uncertain.

More after the jump. Continue reading “Us, Them, Right, and Wrong: How Do We Win?”

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