Midweek Roundup: transit to avoid traffic

Elections 2025:

Ballots are out for the August 5 Primary Election. Guides & Endorsements: WA Voters' Guide (official), The Urbanist, Transportation for Washington, Progressive Voters Guide, The Stranger, The Seattle Times ($), Real Change.

In Seattle, the City Council is looking to codify deference to district representatives regarding issues in their district, which would make district-level elections even more impactful (The Urbanist). Case in point: Rob Saka's effort to earmark $2M of the transportation levy to make an illegal left turn less difficult on Delridge.

Local Transit News:

• Marymoor service July 23: For the Brit Floyd concert, the 2 Line will have two special night trains at 11 pm from Marymoor Village station, one going northbound to Downtown Redmond station, the other going southbound to South Bellevue station. There will be no trains between 9:30pm (the end of regular service) and the special 11 pm trains.
• Stride open house for the three upcoming BRT lines. Construction starts in August on a bus base in Canyon Park. The link lists all the planned station and street improvements.
• WSDOT suggests would-be drivers take transit to avoid traffic on I-5 due to maintenance and restoration work (The Seattle Times, $) Additional info from the SDOT Blog and from King County Metro. Notably, SDOT & Metro converted the Aurora Avenue bus lanes to 24/7 enforcement in preparation for the closure.
• Pierce Transit won an award from APTA for its environmental sustainability efforts, including reducing emissions by 19% (adjusted for service levels) since 2017 (APTA)
• King County may need to resort to condemnation to obtain rights to install station infrastructure on some properties along RapidRide I (The Urbanist)
• Bus lanes are being installed for Route 40 and car drivers are (still) not happy (The Seattle Times, $)
• Sound Transit has hired Jacobs to complete Phase I" engineering design for the West Seattle Link Extension (Mass Transit Magazine). Will they be able to cut $3B off the estimated $7B price tag?
• More photos and videos of Fix the L8's Race the L8" event earlier this month: The Urbanist, The Seattle Times ($). STB writer Michael Smith wrote about his experience.

Other Transportation:

• The first Amtrak Airo" trains for the Cascades route have rolled off the line in Sacramento and are headed to Colorado for testing (Bluesky: @AmtrakCascades)
• California is suing the FRA over the cancellation of federal funding for the CAHSR project (Trains Magazine). Cut funds included $4B of unspent grants (Mass Transit Magazine). Additional coverage by Associated Press via The Seattle Times ($)
• With the use of cargo bikes, Seattle's new bike lanes are freight infrastructure, too (Seattle Bike Blog)

Land Use & Housing:

• Eastside politicians are working towards an apparent urbanist renaissance in Seattle's suburbs (the Urbanist)
• Sammamish is poised to legalize additional density in its town center" and looks ahead to improved transit connections to Redmond and Issaquah, despite NIMBY backlash (The Urbanist)
• Cities across the USA, including Seattle, are considering allowing small-scale manufacturing back into commercial and residential zones (The New York Times, gift link)

This is an Open Thread.