Weekend Roundup

Crewspour new roadway pavement on theBallardBridge during a recent closure. (SDOT)

The Ballard Bridge, Evergreen Point Floating Bridge (SR-520), and SR-99 Tunnel will be closed this weekend. Check Metro and ST service alerts for detours before travel.

News:

• Seattle Bike Blog: The shovels are in the dirt, so Eastlake bike lanes are really happening. RapidRide J broke ground this week. Also on The Urbanist.
• The Urbanist: King County Metro Faces Looming Fiscal Cliff; Metro is expected to be able unable to meet its required levels of reserve funds by the 2028-2029 biennium, coming short by $500 million dollars. By the 2030-2031 biennium, Metro could fully exhaust those reserves."
• Seattle Times ($): WA found a better way to remove homeless encampments. Will it stick? It turns out offering shelter or housing to folks being swept from encampments results in said folks accepting more housing.
• Ryan Packer on Twitter: The Sound Transit Board System Expansion Committee hesitantly approved the Preferred Alignment of WSLE as the Project To Be Built, allowing ST staff to continue design and permitting work. King County CM Claudia Balducci and Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin drove the conversation around avoiding approval of a $7B WSLE without further cost savings and analysis of potential impact on the ST3 program. Balducci complained ST staff's work plan did not seem to offer specifics on how they might reduce costs or increase revenues to make WSLE affordable.

Commentary:

• Pedestrian Observations: Taxes are not About Urbanism, in which Alon Levy discusses the temptation to turn Urbanism into an omnicause.
• The Urbanist: Policy Lab: Why Are Seattle Restaurants So Expensive? Katie Wilson discusses operational difficulties for restauranteurs and their workers. One idea from restaurant worker andorganizerSean Case: better late night transit service could improve access to bars and restaurants for customers and workers.
• 99 Problems: (Un) Safe Crossings on Aurora Avenue North; did you know there's a 5-mile stretch of Aurora (Harrison Street to N 68th Street) which has no wheelchair-accessible crossings?

This is an Open Thread.