Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Seattle

Transit Vote 2016: Seattle’s Huge, Imperfect Transit Expansion

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 17, 2016 | No Comments

We continue our overview of what’s at stake in the big transit ballot initiatives this November with a look at Seattle. The first installment of this series examined Indianapolis. The transit expansion plan on the ballot in Seattle this November is a big one. Known as ST3, the proposal calls for a 62-mile expansion of grade-separated light rail extending […]

Seattle City Council Approves 20 MPH Speed Limit on Residential Streets

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 27, 2016 | No Comments

20 is plenty for Seattle. The City Council voted unanimously yesterday to lower speed limits on residential streets to 20 miles per hour. On all other streets, the default speed limit will be 25 mph, though speed limits may vary on major roadways. The change is part of the city’s Vision Zero effort, aimed at eliminating […]

Seattle’s “Viadoom 2016” — Another Carmageddon That Wasn’t

By Angie Schmitt | May 16, 2016 | No Comments

Heard this one before? The temporary closure of Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct to accommodate construction — code name: “Viadoom” — was going paralyze the city. The elevated highway carries about 110,000 vehicles a day. Without it, travel times would soar 50 percent, predicted the traffic analytics firm Inrix. The highway was closed from April 29 to May 8, […]

With Big Levy Vote, Seattle Is Ready to Lead the Nation on Bike Infrastructure

By Michael Andersen | Nov 6, 2015 | No Comments

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities build better bike lanes to create low-stress streets. The last two years have revealed a very clear new superstar in the country’s progress toward protected bike lane networks. It’s the Emerald City: Seattle. In the last two years, Seattle has completed […]

Seattle Policy Honchos Look to Parking Reform to Make Housing Affordable

By Tanya Snyder | Jul 15, 2015 | No Comments

Buried under headlines about Seattle Mayor Ed Murray’s plans to battle “economic apartheid” are little-noticed reforms that would reduce or do away with parking quotas that inflate the cost of housing. Murray’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Committee released its recommendations yesterday. Noting that about “65 percent of Seattle’s land — not just its residential […]

Washington Republicans: Put Seattle’s Highway-Borer Out of Its Misery

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 30, 2015 | No Comments

If nothing else, the politics of Seattle’s deep-bore highway tunnel fiasco keep getting more interesting. With Bertha the tunnel-boring machine stuck underground and “rescue” efforts literally destabilizing city neighborhoods, a pair of Republicans in the Washington State Senate introduced a bill to scrap the project before any more money is wasted. While putting a halt to […]

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