Midweek Roundup: mid-life overhaul

The next 18 months may be the most important period of Sound Transit history as it tries to close a $30-40 billion program gap (The Urbanist). Additional coverage by the Seattle Times ($). Mayor Harrell thinks a new technical advisory group and regulatory reforms will get the job done with no program cuts or new taxes (The Seattle Times, $)

Sound Transit is starting a mid-life overhaul of the Sounder railcar fleet (The Urbanist)

The King County Water Taxi will run extra service from Vashon to Downtown Seattle on Saturday to get islanders to and from the Grand Opening Celebration of the rebuilt Waterfront (Metro Matters). Earlier this year, the State Legislature approved funding to maintain the Water Taxi's midday service through June 2027.

SDOT thinks putting bus lanes on Denny would paralyze general traffic (The Urbanist). More on the SDOT blog. Here's what the Fix the L8 campaign proposed on STB earlier this year.

Join the Light Rail Relay" race on September 27 (The Urbanist)

Kitsap Transit's summer service change begins on Sunday, September 14 (KT Headways)

Last week, Amtrak began operating its new high-speed Acela train fleet along the Northeast Corridor (Citylab)

Adaptive, automated bus lane enforcement is speeding up buses across the country (Fast Company)

Parking is the invisible dark matter" of the urban planning universe (Planetizen)

The White River Bridge in Buckley is closed for emergency repairs after a truck crashed into the bridge structure. In the meantime, King County Metro is increasing weekday service on DART Route 915 to get riders to the nearby pedestrian-only Foothill Trails Bridge (Metro Matters)

This is an Open Thread.