Countdown to 2011: Sarah's Top 10 Transportation Stories of 2010
Seattlest will be counting down to 2011 with a series of posts on our highlights of this year and what we're looking forward to in the next. Got a list to suggest? Send it our way. See the entire series here.
Where we live, transportation is a big deal right now -- which is both good and bad. Our bridges are crumbling and our buses don't run in the snow, but we are building a huge light rail system, which is pretty fucking cool!
If phrases like "environmental impact study" don't make you tremble with excitement, you may have missed some of the finer points of what transportation threw at us this year. Here are 10 of the bigger things that happened to our cars, buses and trains. Honorable mention: Tim Eyman is pushing the $30 car tab thing again next year. Look out.
The Little Bridge That Could: At the beginning of the year, the South Park Bridge was a mess. With a safety rating of FOUR OUT OF 100 -- The Stranger pointed out in January that it is actually less safe than the viaduct -- the brittle, old bridge that separates the the oft-overlooked South Park neighborhood from the rest of its Seattle universe was poised for disaster. The city put the responsibility on the county, and it looked like the county wasn't getting any money to fix it.
Now it's still a mess, but not for long. In October, after missing two rounds of funding before, the county secured a federal TIGER II (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) stimulus, securing the last $36.2 million needed for the $101 million bridge project. Everyone was stoked.
The project goes to bid next month and construction should begin in April.
The Parking Rate Increase: Mayor Mike McGinn caused widespread car panic when he proposed a plan to increase city parking rates to $4 an hour, extend pay-to-park times and require payment on Sundays, as well.
The City Council reached somewhat of a compromise: parking times would remain the same, but during the times you do have to pay, it will definitely cost $4 an hour. Sorry guys.
Das Boot: Speaking of parking tickets, around the same time (times are hard and the city needs money) McGinn proposed a plan to start implementing THE BOOT on cars with delinquent parking tickets -- a system already utilized in Denver, New Orleans, Baltimore and Syracuse. The boot, attached to one of the car's tires to prevent it from going anywhere, can only be removed with a special code that can only be obtained by calling a number and paying your tickets. If payment has not been arranged within 48 hours, your car is towed.
The City Council approved the plan for cars with four or more outstanding parking tickets -- causing a certain amount of outrage. One concern is that homeless citizens that live in their cars will be booted and unable to pay (see this week's Real Change).
Bus Fare Hike: All King County Metro adult bus fares go up by 25 cents on January 1, among other fare changes. Meanwhile, Sound Transit fares are dropping. Merry Christmas, guys!
Snowpocalypse: This is a story every year. Despite a brand spankin' new snow plan, once again the whole city still shut down when it snowed, making us the laughing stock of the Internet:
Tim Eyman Is Back and Still Sucks: Anyone remember I-695? We only had to pay $30 for car tabs but got unbelievably fucked in terms of tax revenue?
With the success of I-1053 in the November election, Eyman must have realized that everyone forgot that he sucks. So he filed what's basically a more extreme version of I-695 that also includes traffic light fines. And yeah, Eyman comes up with something new every year, but, as we learned this year, some of them still pass -- this one totally fucked us the last time!
The First Hill/Capitol Hill Streetcar: Originally intended as a light-rail route approved by voters in 2008 as part of Sound Transit 2, the First Hill Streetcar eventually shifted to a two-way Broadway route on Capitol Hill after a debate on several different routes. This story slowly developed over the course of the year -- with the streetcar route being approved and getting its funding and a side-story of an advocacy effort for extending the route down to Aloha. While the route debate centered around all the different communities the streetcar could serve, the greater purpose behind the streetcar remains the same: connecting downtown light-rail stops to the future Capitol Hill station.
East Link Light Rail: Also part of the voter-approved Sound Transit 2 package, the East Link Light Rail would connect Seattle commuters to the eastside, moving through Bellevue and the Overlake Transit Center, eventually ending in Downtown Redmond. Much of the debate regarding a route Downtown segment would impact transit and business.
While the exact route is still a hotly contested topic, the Bellevue City Council awarded the contract to survey design options for the South Bellevue segment (the B7 -- popular with the Surrey Downs Community Council and eastside developers) earlier this month.
Tolling the 520 Bridge: Okay, so this isn't really huge until tolling starts in Spring of 2011 -- but the story broke this year.
The 520 bridge, which connects Seattle and Eastside cities like Bellevue, has seen better days. It's susceptible to windstorms and earthquakes, and it carries way more cars than originally intended. WSDOT needs to replace it -- but they also need to pay for replacing it. The solution? SPACE-AGE TOLLING!
No, seriously. There are no tollbooths. The tolls are just automatically deducted from your car. This is how the Interstellar Emperor is going to toll interplanetary star-highways someday:
THE DEEP-BORE TUNNEL: If this was the year of anything in Seattle, it was the year of the Tunnel. In case you've been living under a rock: last year, the big story was the Highway 99 Viaduct replacement debate -- and the city eventually decided on a big-ass tunnel. Not only is it a big-ass tunnel, it is the biggest-assed tunnel of its kind ever attempted.
So this year, naturally, has been the year of reactions to the tunnel: tunnel hate, tunnel love, tunnel impacts and A LOT OF ARGUING.
Oh, and the occasional tacky, animated video:
(Also, "BORED TUNNEL"! Adorable!)
