|
|
 |
||
|
|
You are in:
Transportation >
A Tradition
of Performance > Recent Accomplishments |
|
| Recent Accomplishments | ||
|
The department’s 5,100-member workforce does everything from operate buses and a regional airport to pothole patching, building new roads and commuter park-and-ride lots. And, with this diversity of services has come the increasingly important responsibility of helping shape transportation direction and policies that will guide our region’s future mobility. This report highlights key accomplishments of KCDOT during the past five years that have contributed to the way King County residents travel today. It also promotes a vision for how the department might better serve the public and enhance their mobility for years to come. Balanced services in changing times
Meanwhile, the same growth forces were at work within KCDOT’s Road Services Division. The focus was on reducing congestion and improving traffic flow in the most rapidly growing areas of the county. To meet the demand for better functioning transportation corridors, King County Executive Ron Sims announced a plan in 1998 to get road projects off the shelf and built more quickly. The plan, adopted the following year, called for a fundamental change in how the county funded its transportation improvements. This new budgeting strategy allowed the Road Services Division to more than triple the amount of annual project design and construction by allowing the mid-year movement of funds from projects experiencing unexpected delays to other projects that were ready to be constructed. This was welcome news for residents living in rapidly growing areas of unincorporated King County, who were desperately hoping for some traffic-congestion relief. While flexible budgeting and newly created productivity measures were instrumental in helping the county speed-up construction, the county was still faced with needing more transportation improvements than its budget could provide, given growth and worsening traffic congestion. So in 2001, the division was given authority to sell up to $120 million in bonds to meet the backlog of projects waiting to be built. By mid 2003, an estimated $30 million had already been spent to improve road capacity and traffic flow.
Changing dynamics
Large-scale events also became major considerations in the new decade as an economic recession, the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks placed added pressure on KCDOT’s ability to deliver programs and services. Since 2000, KCDOT has continued to experience declining revenues as a result of initiatives passed by statewide voters coupled with a soft economy. In a setback for road design and construction, Initiative 776 repealed the $15 Vehicle License Fee (VLF) in King County, which the Road Services Division had relied on to help fund major road widening projects. In early 2004, a State Supreme Court ruling upholding I-776 resulted in the elimination of $80 million in revenue due to the repeal of the VLF and subsequent loss of project grants and unsold bonds over the next six years. This loss will result a 20 percent drop in road construction, if additional funding sources are not found. Following the implementation of major reforms brought about by the passage of I-695, King County developed a proposal in 2000 aimed at preserving and enhancing Metro Transit services. The county executive joined with other government leaders, business, labor and environmental groups to propose Trip-21 with the objective of providing longer-range financial stability for Metro Transit.
Promises made – promises kept
Metro is also leading the way toward a regional multi-agency effort to develop smart card technology. When it is in place, the smart card will allow passengers to more easily move between buses, trains and ferries, without having to use cash or deal with different fare policies. This technology should make it more convenient for thousands of passengers to seamlessly use public transportation in the future. The regional “smart card” is planned to make its debut in 2006. In the past three years, King County has also accepted delivery of hundreds of new buses, cutting the average age of Metro Transit’s fleet by several years. This younger bus fleet is more fuel-efficient, requires less maintenance and improves passenger comfort.
Meanwhile, the Road Services Division has continued to fulfill its promise of achieving record road construction. While the division will no longer be able to rely on the $15 annual VLF, projects such as Highlands Drive (North SPAR) in Issaquah, 140th Way Southeast in Fairwood, and 244th Avenue Southeast near Enumclaw have opened and are doing their part to ease congestion earlier than expected, thanks to the division’s commitment to accelerate key projects. Two other major congestion relief projects funded prior to the loss of VLF are currently under construction and will be completed soon: Northeast 124th Street north of Redmond and South 277th Street between Kent and Auburn. Welcome to the family In 2002, KCDOT suddenly found itself in a different sort of people-moving business. King County International Airport (KCIA), also known as Boeing Field, joined the department following a reorganization of county government aimed at achieving greater efficiency and more closely aligned services. KCIA generates more than $1 billion in revenues for Puget Sound’s economy annually, supports the needs of 150 businesses, and logs an average of 311,530 aircraft operations annually. The airport is completely supported by user fees such as tenant leases, fuel flowage, and landing fees. However, KCIA has also been affected by the local economic downturn, and events such as the aviation industry’s struggle to recover from the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Safety and security continue to be key elements of the airport’s business operations, along with a major division reorganization to meet FAA-mandated requirements. Continuing the tradition
By implementing programs based on this vision and direction, KCDOT will advocate moving beyond existing plans that are regional and broad-based, but which lack a specific framework for implementation. And, just as the King County Department of Transportation reinvented itself after the merger of King County and Metro 10 years ago, it will continue to more closely link together transportation, economic development and quality of life in an effort to further build its tradition of performance.
|
||
| King County Department of
Transportation See How to contact us Updated: September 30, 2004 |
|
DOT Home |
|
King County | News | Services | Comments | Search |
| Links to external sites do
not constitute endorsements by King County. By visiting this and other King County Web pages, you expressly agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this site. The details. |
The King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT) is a unique public transportation agency. Unlike most transportation providers, KCDOT delivers a broad array of road, aviation and public transportation services to more than 1.7 million residents in King County – one of the most populous counties in the nation. 
During this period, KCDOT’s Metro Transit Division provided 96.6 million passenger trips and ran the nation’s largest vanpool program that delivered nearly three million rides annually. During this time, Metro Transit’s ridership grew to be the ninth largest of any transit agency in the nation. It had also built a reputation for customer service, achieving an impressive 91 percent customer-satisfaction rating. The agency was also busily preparing for the new decade and anticipating the next milestone of delivering 100 million annual rides.
The transition to a new decade also presented growth challenges for the department’s Fleet Administration Division. As it grew to be a regional provider serving county departments and other agencies, Fleet doubled its customer base in vehicle and store services.
At the direction of Executive Sims, KCDOT immediately began implementing a series of major reforms. In an effort to preserve as much transit service to the public as possible during a period of continuing growth and a substantial loss of revenue, KCDOT: 
Reorganized and eliminated 120 staff positions.
The proposal initially considered a three-tenths of one percent sales tax increase to maintain and improve transit service, park-and-ride capacity, synchronize traffic signals, create innovative transit-oriented development projects, light rail extension, and other transportation improvements. After extensive outreach and compromise, a proposal for a smaller two-tenths of one percent measure was placed before and approved by King County voters in November 2000.
In keeping with its promise, Metro Transit has also expanded its popular network of park-and-ride lots. In June 2004, it opened the five-story Eastgate Park-and-Ride Garage to accommodate more than l,600 daily commuters. This project greatly alleviated the shortage of park-and-ride spaces in the congested Interstate 90 corridor. Other park-and-ride expansion projects recently completed or underway include: Northgate, Renton Transit Center, Kenmore and Redondo Heights. In the future, Metro will be adding more park-and-ride spaces at Issaquah Highlands and Burien with funds from the 2000 vote. 
And in June 2004, Metro Transit unveiled the first of 235 new environmentally friendly hybrid buses. These 60-foot articulated buses will operate in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel alongside future light rail operations. Metro Transit is also contributing to cleaner air by leading the region in its use of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel. When combined with particulate filters, the use of this fuel has allowed the agency to reduce tailpipe emission by 90 percent. An additional component of Metro Transit’s commitment to the environment is its fleet of zero-emission electric trolley buses. These buses provide clean and quiet public transportation on some of Metro Transit’s most heavily used routes.
The Fleet Administration Division has also been working aggressively to reduce air pollution. By 2004, Fleet Administration had emerged as a national leader in pioneering the use of alternative fuels and hybrid technology in county vehicles. Over the past few years, Fleet has substantially increased the number of electric hybrid vehicles in the county motor pool. Plus, more of the traditional cars and trucks in the county fleet have been converted so they can use low-emission fuels. The division has also found new ways to use biodegradable oil. 
While KCDOT has spent much of its recent history adjusting to the myriad of funding and service challenges associated with a growing region, it has also found itself unexpectedly spreading its wings in ways it could never have imagined. 
As transportation agencies throughout the area continue to work toward securing new investments to address some of region’s largest project needs, KCDOT will increasingly focus its diversity of experience on a broader vision of transportation performance than exists today – a vision that: