Railroad giants like BNSF have often deferred maintenance on their tracks and pressured government to pay for it. This had led some officials to consider taking over ownership, like Washington State did with the Palouse River & Coulee City (PCC) Railroad. Collin Reid lays out the case for greater go
Port Commissioner Ryan Calkins argues that the Seattle City Council should reject Council President Sara Nelson’s rushed plan to add a housing district in SoDo and continue to reserve the area for industry and freight needs.
With housing advocates and the Port of Seattle divided on the issue of allowing housing near Seattle’s sports stadiums, councilmembers are being forced to pick sides, after Sara Nelson reintroduced the proposal earlier this month.
Moving freight by rail is significantly more efficient than by truck, a fact that could help Washington meet its climate goals. But are state leaders neglecting improvements to the state rail network?
With the loss of the SoDo Busway for Sound Transit light rail expansion, 4th Avenue S in SoDo will have to accommodate dozens of additional buses per hour. The Seattle Department of Transportation is pushing for a plan that won’t worsen safety on the street.
The Seattle Transportation Plan, shows a lofty vision for the next two decades of city investment in transportation. The hard part comes next with funding it and effectively implementing it — plus, aligning it with a delayed comprehensive plan for land use.
South Tacoma faces the threat of a warehouse complex that would exacerbate air pollution, extreme heat, and violent crime. It’s no coincidence that the already overburdened community of South Tacoma is the planned site of a warehouse complex that would pave more than 125 acres of its remaining wetlands.
The State has a role in defining the market for freight and charting emissions reductions with a shift to rail. When the Washington State Legislature passed the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) in 2021, it codified economic decarbonization as the government’s priority. To this end, the law created an ambitious
A Strauss resolution would give the freight board more oversight and chance to block changes to truck streets. An under-the-radar resolution moving through the Seattle City Council could be about to open the door to additional scrutiny of high-impact safety and mobility projects planned for some of the city’s
The issue of whether Seattle should impose a sizable fee on all types of new development to fund transportation network improvements is back in front of the city council, as several councilmembers who have long supported the idea try to move it forward before they leave office. Transportation impact fees,
One of the city’s most highly-used bike trails is about to see improvements that will remove elements that have been giving trail users consternation for decades. The Port of Seattle Commission Tuesday approved allocating $1.5 million to address two major pinch points in the Terminal 91 Trail, which
In 1972, the City of Seattle asked a group of citizens, anyone who wanted to attend a series of meetings, to work together to produce recommendations for ways that the City could improve in the decades to come before the end of the century. That same year, Seattle voters decided
After a summer of public outreach, SDOT is hearing recurring themes people want for the future of Aurora Avenue N. Beginning in June, the public got to partake in guided discussion sessions with Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) for the transformative Aurora Avenue Project. The workshops were held in various
The Duwamish River Valley hosts three freeways, two international airports, an international seaport, and a river so polluted it was declared a federal Superfund site, with over 300 industries lining the banks.  Seattle’s only majority people of color and immigrant neighborhoods are also the most vulnerable; with more families,
In January, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced that after over two years of planning, it intends to finally install a permanent bike lane along a short stretch of West Marginal Way SW, filling in a 0.4 mile gap that has existed for decades along the Duwamish Trail
Just before the end of 2022, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced another planned project to expand the city’s safe biking and walking network in south Seattle has been delayed. The Georgetown to South Park Trail, a project residents in the Duwamish Valley have been advocating for since
As the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) moves forward on construction of the extension of SR 167 to the Port of Tacoma in Pierce County, elected officials on the Pierce County Council are voicing skepticism that even more roadway expansion in the area is actually aligned with the county’
Seattle is about to have a new set of voices advocating for increased consideration of how goods are moved around the city and the region, as the city’s freight advisory board is poised to be completely refreshed with new membership this fall. On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council’s
Plans to fill a longtime gap in protected bike infrastructure between the Duwamish Trail to South Park and the West Seattle Bridge Trail hit another roadblock this year, as the Bruce Harrell administration announced that it will be reassessing the elements of a protected bike lane (PBL) on West Marginal
When it comes to highway projects in Washington, the legislature holds all of the authority to decide how to allocate transportation funding. But while the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) designs, builds, and maintains projects but doesn’t technically select them, there are a lot of ways that WSDOT
As the city works to integrate its different modal plans — pedestrian, bicycle, freight and transit — into one unified “Seattle transportation plan” in advance of the major update to the Comprehensive Plan in 2024, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is working to clarify when it might create dedicated space for
Concrete is not flowing in King County and several high-profile infrastructure projects threaten to be delayed as a result. Concrete mixer drivers are striking for higher compensation on par with other building trade unions and a health plan that lowers cost for retired members, but the six largest concrete companies
Highway 99 has 99 problems. Aurora Avenue is an unsettled mix, part street where people interact with businesses and part highway shunting vehicles through at high speeds. It doesn’t work well for anybody; not for drivers, not for the 100,000 people living in its proximity, not for businesses,
Build roads for freight, bikes, and transit, not peak cars Streets in Seattle’s industrial neighborhoods show massive disinvestment in the basic maintenance of curbs and pavement. It’s a discrepancy that the freight industry shares with cyclists and pedestrians in the city. The immense cost to maintain the largest
Members of Washington’s congressional delegation announced Tuesday that the US Department of Transportation will be awarding a $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to complete the first phase of its East Marginal Way Corridor Improvements Project. That
A proposal for the City of Seattle to issue bonds to pay for maintenance on several key bridges has been put back on the table by Councilmember Alex Pedersen (District 4) and will be discussed today at the city council’s select budget committee meeting. Pedersen’s proposal, which has
The North Seattle Industrial Association is seeking to block Route 40 bus lanes and pedestrian upgrades citing expected freight delays. Route 40 had the third most riders of any bus in the county pre-pandemic. Running from Downtown Seattle through South Lake Union to the Fremont Bridge, up Leary Way to
Last Friday, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) held a closed-door meeting with members of the Bicycle and Freight Advisory Boards to discuss a planned protected bike lane that would finally connect the West Seattle Bridge Trail with the Duwamish Trail along West Marginal Way SW. The 0.4-mile connection
The Seattle Freight Advisory Board devoted a significant portion of their April meeting detailing reasons that the City should not install a protected bike lane on a short segment of West Marginal Way SW. The presentation shown to board members was not reviewed by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT)
Dave Amos documents the history of railway towns in America in this video. Railway companies in the 1800s expanded quickly to the West, platting small towns as part of their federal land grants. Amos explores how companies built their lines, designed the towns, and the legacies of towns that remain.
SDOT’s new BIRT and Ballard Bridge studies continue history of mistreating the industrial neighborhood. Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) released two studies last week. Both looking at infrastructure in Ballard and Interbay, the studies lay out a blueprint for spending billions of dollars in transportation money. They are both
Washington’s long-awaited draft state rail plan update has been released. Due out in 2019, the draft finally surfaced last week from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) highlighting the status of the state’s railway infrastructure as well as projected demand and needs. The draft plan shows that
What will it take to make congestion pricing a reality in Seattle? Depending on whom you ask, road pricing is either just around the corner, far off on the horizon, or a pipe dream. One reason why it seems like a very tall order to pass congestion pricing–or decongestion
Last week, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced she is convening an industrial lands stakeholder group to “guide development of strategies to ensure a strong industrial and maritime sector now and in the future.” The announcement was met with a mix of “didn’t we just do that” and “oh great, another
Is Seattle allowing rail to wither on the vine? Northwest of Downtown Seattle, there is a frequently overlooked asset in the fight against climate change. In Interbay, the Balmer Rail Yard is a “hump” yard, where freight cars are separated then sorted by running them up a little hill—the