Transit on my mind…
Reba Haas on 08 14, 2007
Coming up this fall (November 2007) the tri-county area will have the opportunity to vote on a new roads & transit package for Sound Transit. The high-level overview of it is that it will provide improvements to current highways, 50 new miles of light rail (including to the Eastside), new HOV lanes, bike lanes/sidewalks/connections, and improvement on major freight routes. Each county has specific items that they’ll gain as benefits as well but what is truly important about the package to pass is that 2 contiguous counties must approve it for it to pass. That means we can’t have just Snohomish and Pierce pass the measure, it must include King County in there somewhere – and most preferably have all 3 counties agree to pass it so we can get all of the benefits that are part of the proposal.
As a member of the Government & Public Affairs Committee within Seattle King County Association of Realtors(R), I have been present at many discussions of the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) along with many of my counterparts and we all support the plan. As real estate agents we understand how transportation affects our clients as well as the business community, which in turn affects home prices and quality of life. It is all enmeshed together.
One significant point that was brought up at the last meeting I was able to attend was that some of the issues with the Pierce County section of the plan are being held up or threatened by an environmental group. According to one of the folks at the meeting this group is trying to protect a wooded portion of land that is made up of trees that are not indigenous to the area – they were transplanted here about 100 years ago. This may be a mis-guided attempt to conserve and the area in question is an important link to the military bases in Pierce County. Not being able to provide better transit access to these areas could cause those bases to be put on close down lists within the Federal Government which would then put Pierce County at risk for massive job losses. Surely some other kind of environmental mitigation could occur to preserve land areas that could allow for a work-around here.
Read the report and feel free to weigh in here about the plan!
This vote happens in November, but in the meantime don’t forget to vote in the August 21 Primary and Special Election! Part of this election has measures regarding parks and open space funding, including funds for the much beloved Woodland Park Zoo.
About the Author: Rebecca Haas
- Author's website: http://www.TeamReba.com
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4 Responses to “Transit on my mind…”
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The plan totally ignores the I-405 corridor from everett to renton
which is the most congested even now.
It seems to naively assume “all work/commute is to seattle”
Actually there is quite a bit for the eastside but you must keep in mind this is only one package and that there are other transit plans that are in process ahead of this one such as the “Nickel” package (starting 2008) and the “$.09″ package that come before this plan. The RTID plan I discuss here will start in 2011 if it is passed which will allow for continued road and transit improvements for years to come.
Part of the East/Central corridor investments will include East Sammamish Plateau, replacing 520, new transit and HOV options on I-90, 405/167 interchange improvements, lots of new park & rides, a new Bothell express bus transit center & parking garage, etc. There will also be expansions of SR9, SR522, SR531, and SR524. Much of our new housing has been built along these state roads and this will help to improve flow along these “back roads” that many of these commuters use.
[...] A while back I wrote this article on Rain City Guide about the upcoming transit package. Spend a little time reading about it before you vote in the next week. When I work with relocating clients we discuss what commuting means to them and the options that they want that will integrate with their lifestyle. For some, that means trying to limit their lives to having only 1 car, being near transit so they don’t have to buy a car, or just limiting how much time they have to spend in stop and go traffic. [...]
[...] Sound Transit needs your input! April 26, 2008 Last fall I was saddened to learn that the greater Puget Sound region voted down the mass transit package that had been put forward for the Pierce, King and Snohomish County areas. While that put a bump in the highway, so to speak, for the transit people it didn’t stop them from moving forward to see what other options could be considered for our area. Transit is a major issue for our continued quality of life in this region and many groups, government, non-profit, and public based are coming together to try and make it more and more of a priority. [...]