Jan. 25, 2007

Transit investment key to reducing congestion, viaduct replacement cost

Just as Metro Transit and its partners carried out a well-conceived plan to keep traffic moving when the downtown transit tunnel closed for construction, King County Executive Ron Sims is asking state and local leaders to take note of another success story in the making – a transit blueprint developed by Metro that promises to play a key role in keeping congestion in check, no matter which Alaskan Way Viaduct solution is chosen.

At the request of Executive Sims, Metro has produced a list of 49 transit-related actions that when combined with new investments in transit service and the arrival of Link light rail, will go a long way toward mitigating the impacts of the reconstruction of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. And if those improvements remain in place after the viaduct is rebuilt as Metro recommends, the transit blueprint has the potential for taking as many as 35,000 vehicles off the viaduct each day. That’s 30 percent of all vehicles that use the viaduct.

“As state and local leaders continue to debate a viaduct fix, now is the time for us to make a lasting commitment that recognizes that transit must be an integral part of any viaduct solution,” said Sims. “Not just a quick fix that gets us through construction, but a permanent solution capable of moving thousands of people through downtown Seattle every day for years to come.”

The list of transit-oriented actions for downtown Seattle evolved throughout last year as Metro worked with a multi-agency viaduct construction mitigation team. While state and local leaders continue to debate a structural solution, Sims says “It is time to see Metro’s transit actions as replacing capacity and saving money and make them essential and ongoing components of the viaduct replacement solution. We need to think of transit as more than construction mitigation.”

Metro’s list of 49 capital improvements, along with options to increase bus service, will be key in preventing gridlock by giving downtown employees more transit options so they can leave their car at home. The simple and straightforward improvements are modeled after the types of actions Metro took in conjunction with Seattle Department of Transportation and other agencies to avoid feared gridlock when the bus tunnel closed for construction in 2005. Gridlock was not only avoided, assessment of bus travel times through the Seattle Central Business District show that on average travel times through downtown have improved since the closure of the tunnel. It is important to note that travel times have increased on bus routes that used the tunnel prior to its closure.

Some examples of Metro’s proposed actions include:

• Concentrating bus service and volumes along key downtown streets;
• Changing on-street and off-street parking policies to discourage car trips into downtown; and
• Keeping 3rd Avenue a transit-only corridor and adding dedicated transit lanes on 2nd and 4th avenues.

Even passengers who don’t take the bus into downtown Seattle have a vested interest in what happens. On any given weekday, about 60 percent of Metro’s service is directly impacted by traffic conditions in downtown Seattle. When traffic gets worse, its ripple effect can slow transit service well beyond the downtown core.

It is estimated that if the 49 transit-oriented actions are taken, along with new bus service, Link light rail and new strategies to encourage transit use, car trips on the Alaskan Way Viaduct could be reduced by 30 percent, or about 35,000 car trips per day. The transit investments could reduce the size of whichever option is chosen to replace the viaduct, saving up to $1 billion from original construction estimates.

Related information

• Overview of the Transit Blueprint for downtown Seattle (PDF, 46K)
• Table detailing 49 improvements (PDF, 49K)
• Map of key transit 'paths' (PDF, 120K)

In the news

• 49 reasons to relax about the viaduct, Seattle Times
• We're driving less for first time in 25 years, Seattle Times