Midweek Roundup: traditional system

Next Wednesday, October 8, 6-8pm: Seattle Neighborhood Greenways is hosting Community Crossroads" at El Centro de la Raza in Beacon Hill. The event will feature a panel discussion and community engagement opportunities considering the future of Seattle's most dangerous corridors, including Aurora Ave N, MLK Jr. Way S., and streets in South Park.

The Puget Sound Regional Council is updating its Regional Transportation Plan" and taking input at a series of events across King County through October. RSVP to an event near you.

Local Transit & Streets:

• King County Metro Delays Planned Electrification Work, Pushing Out Fiscal Cliff (The Urbanist). Check out the discussion in STB's comment section last week.
• Seattle is slowly moving forward with identifying future Low Pollution Neighborhoods" expected to be established by 2028 (The Urbanist)
• In August 2025, 1/4th of new cars sold in Washington were plug-in hybrids or full-electric but that share is expected to decline after the federal EV tax credit expires ends today (KUOW).
• Theft of copper wire is severely impacting several WA utility companies and infrastructure agencies, including Sound Transit (The Seattle Times, $)

Land Use & Housing:

• The Home in Tacoma" rezones have resulted in a slight increase in housing construction, but not enough to build the city out of its housing crisis (The Urbanist)
• Seattle City Council approved the Roots to Roofs" pilot program giving density boosts to a limited number of projects (The Urbanist)
• The rise of digital computers in the 1980s decimated secretarial jobs but boosted accountants. Urban planner and AI Expert" Tom Sanchez wonders which way the urban planning profession will go (Planetizen, soft $)

Commentary & Miscellaneous:

• Anna Zivartz argues it's time to revitalize the Mount Baker Transit Center (Op-Ed, the Urbanist).
• Jason Li says SDOT's rejection of bus lanes on Denny is based on flawed analysis and pro-traffic politics (Op-Ed, the Urbanist)
• Providing good transit makes it easier to take away licenses from dangerous drivers (Jalopnik)
• Westlake Park will be closed from October through April 2026 for reconstruction (Downtown Seattle Association). See the future park plan here (Seattle Parks Foundation).
• Tom Fuculoro is participating in the Week Without Driving by going the week without biking (Seattle Bike Blog)
• The benefits of the traditional system" of project delivery as demonstrated by Scandinavia (Pedestrian Observations)

This is an Open Thread.