Midweek Roundup: ST Board retreat

Reminders & Updates:

• Downtown Transit Tunnel Closure Mar. 21-22: Link service between Capitol Hill to Stadium will be replaced by shuttle buses this weekendfor scheduled maintenance.
• Simulated 2 Line service from Lynnwood to Seattle is suspended until March 23.

Local Transit:

• Sound Transit's efforts to make ST3 affordable again continue with new cost-savings measures for WSLE (The Urbanist). Revisions to the long-term plan for ST3 are the focus of today's ST Board retreat in Tacoma.
• Meanwhile, Sound Transit is trying progressive design-build" as a way to build its third Link operations and maintenance facility more affordably than estimated under its standard megaproject delivery methods (The Urbanist).
• The Interstate Bridge Replacement project is being broken into phases as cost estimates continue to explode (The Urbanist).
• State Rep. Greg Nance (Bainbridge Island) accused State Sen. Marko Liias of retaliatory and transactional lawmaking as the Mosquito Fleet bill stumbled at the State Legislature (Op-Ed, Kitsap Sun, soft $). Liias says he would have preferred a phone call over a newspaper column (The Seattle Times, $).

Land Use & Commentary:

• Seattle's planning departments wants your feedback on its draft plan for the Northgate Regional Center (Seattle OPCD).
• Seattle's Social Housing Developer explains what they've been up to in recent months (Op-Ed, The Seattle Times, $).
• In Chicago, the new National Public Housing Museum aims to highlight successes and explain failures across a century of housing projects (Bloomberg).
• A variety of conservation groups are trying an orca appeal" against Seattle's proposed growth plan (The Urbanist).
• Learn from Bogota: offering one-seat rides from everywhere to everywhere is overly complicated and vastly inefficient (Human Transit).
• Why building mass transit is necessary for the green transition away from cars (Pedestrian Observations).
• The USA is counting traffic deaths wrong (CityLab)
• Cars are becoming unaffordable as the cost of ownership severely outpaces wages (The New York Times, gift link).

This is an Open Thread. Comments may discuss any topic related to transit or land use. Uncivil comments will be moderated.