Midweek Roundup: Road Use Fee
by Nathan Dickey from Seattle Transit Blog on (#6VCJX)
80 days until the Downtown Redmond Link Extension opens.
Transit & Streets:- Buzz is growing around a bill to implement a road usage fee which would supplement the gas tax; coverage by Seattle Bike Blog, The Seattle Times ($), and support from the Transportation Choices Coalition.
- Another bill making its way through the state legislature would allow cities to create shared streets' with walk/bike priority and 10mph speed limits (Seattle Bike Blog)
- Amtrak failed to perform timely inspections, forcing Sound Transit to temporarily cancel Sounder Trips (The Urbanist; The Seattle Times, $) Amtrak provided a response to RT&S Magazine.
- WSDOT delayed the revive I-5 work to next summer, and Seattle is asking for $39M to boost bus service to mitigate traffic (The Seattle Times, $)
- Bellevue wants to open bus lanes to private shuttles (The Urbanist)
- Community Transit reduced fare changes start March 1 (CT News)
- President Trump's flood of executive orders might impact transit funding across the nation (Transportation For America)
- A total of six appeals have been filed against Seattle's Comprehensive Plan update; coverage by The Urbanist and PubliCola.
- Walkability Isn't Just Good Urban Planning: It's a Public Health Intervention (The Urbanist)
- Suburban developments don't plan for future growth and waste space, while traditional" dense urban patterns maximize flexibility by using every inch of available space (Strong Towns)
- A new survey of parents in Seattle suggests Seattle Public Schools enrollment is down because parents don't trust the quality of education (The Seattle Times, $)
- The Sound Transit Board Executive Committee is considering five candidates for CEO: four unnamed heads of other transit agencies across the country, and Dow Constantine. (The Urbanist; The Seattle Times, $) Seattle Subway wants to know who the other candidates are before the Board makes their pick (pdf).
- Should Service Cuts be Random or Planned? (Human Transit)
- Rail accuses truck industry of coasting on highway tax subsidy' (Roll Call)
- Passenger hydrofoil ferries may be coming to the Puget Sound (The Seattle Times, $) Meanwhile, the state legislature is considering a Mosquito Fleet Act' to connect more coastal communities with passenger ferries (KUOW).
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