New clean-air buses, new customers for Fleet services, more air cargo at KCIA and major road improvements are just some of the department highlights from 2004

This past year has been tight financially for the King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT), yet many projects have been completed and goals accomplished.

KCDOT Director Harold Taniguchi says diminishing transportation funding stemming from voter-approved initiatives and a soft economy has created challenges for the department, but he says transportation staff work hard to make the best use of the funding that is available. Taniguchi says the department continues to make progress on its long-term list of goals, even with dwindling revenues, by finding efficiencies and making reductions wherever possible.

"The expectations for KCDOT are high," said Taniguchi. "The department is judged every day on how well it can provide coordinated transportation services in a timely, cost-efficient, productive and customer-friendly manner."

At the division level in 2004, KCDOT was very involved in the ongoing discussions about regional transportation funding. The director's office produced a multi-year report titled "A Tradition of Performance" that details department accomplishments and compiles key data and statistics. And, because of the challenging financial outlook, work on the 2005 budget began early and was very intense throughout most of 2004.

Roads Services Division

The King County Road Services Division began the year with a blast of icy weather that caused clean-up headaches for months. By March, the division needed to rent special equipment to deal with the accumulation of debris left behind by the 2003-2004 winter season. "Hogzilla," one of the worlds most powerful wood chippers turned the storm debris into mulch that was used on various county landscaping projects.

In 2004, the division completed work on several large projects including: a seismic retrofit of the Duvall Bridge; replacement of the Edgewick Bridge; upgrade of the Wynaco Bridge; major road widening and intersection improvements on Northeast 124th Street - across the Sammamish Valley; and a new traffic control center which will link the county's future Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) projects to improve traffic flow on major arterial roads across jurisdictional boundaries.

Work began last year on two very large projects - widening and improving South 277th Street between Kent and Auburn; and building a new Elliott Bridge east of Renton.

On a smaller, but equally important, scale, the division spent $4.79 million on approximately 80 paving projects. Plus, $1 million was spent on 11 school pathway projects to improve pedestrian safety near schools in unincorporated King County.

Metro Transit

For King County Metro Transit, the big news in 2004 was the arrival of 213 hybrid diesel electric articulated buses to replace the aging Breda buses in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel. Although the new fleet is still getting broken in, Metro has been very pleased with its cleanliness and operational abilities.

Another clean-air investment was Metro's use of biodiesel for a number of its buses. The goal is to have the entire 1,200-bus fleet running on the blend of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel and vegetable-based oil by the end of 2006.

Metro opened a new 1,646-stall park-and-ride garage at Eastgate in June, and broke ground for a 1,000-stall garage at Issaquah Highlands in December. It also distributed grants to local cities to synchronize more than 60 traffic signals during the final year of a four-year, voter-approved signal synchronization program.

The Accessible Services program met many milestones in 2004 in terms of ridership, providing more reliable service to people with disabilities, and the use of technology to track its ACCESS vans.

The award-winning staff at Metro included vehicle maintenance mechanics who won their annual competition at the international level, and Metro Online staff who were honored for providing one of the top transit websites in the nation. Overseeing it all was Kevin Desmond, Metro's new general manager who joined the agency in June.

King County International Airport

Despite a sluggish economy and lingering effects of 9/11, business at King County International Airport (KCIA) continues to be brisk with more than 150 businesses calling Boeing Field "home." Those tenants include commercial airlines, airfreight companies, aircraft service and repair, flight schools, charter operations and helicopter services. The airport is also home for hundreds of small aircraft owners who rent hangar space and tie-downs for recreational and business purposes.

KCIA has more than 200 air cargo flights every week, ranking it 35th among all airports nationally in terms of total landed weight. Overall, it is ranked as the 13th busiest general aviation airport in the nation.  According to the latest economic impact study, the airport contributed more than $1.6 billion to the Puget Sound economy in 2002. This figure represents an increase of some $170 million since 1998.

In 2004 the airport's new Master Plan for the next twenty years was approved. Airport operations are expected to increase by 50 percent during the next two decades to keep pace with growth in the aviation industry. The Master Plan is the blueprint for addressing these challenges, within KCIA's existing boundaries, in ways that continue to meet strict aviation safety standards.

KCIA has always been an auxiliary classroom for students interested in aviation. KCIA hosts Opportunity Skyway, a regional education initiative that utilizes aviation to excite students about math, science and aviation career opportunities and is also working closely with students from the Highline School District's new Aviation High School.

Fleet Administration

In 2004, KCDOT's Fleet Administration Division continued to save the county money through efficient operation and maintenance of vehicles, plus the resale and reuse of surplus assets.

Fleet increased the number of customers using its stores to 120, an increase of 13 percent. The larger customer base allows Fleet to reduce overhead cost and free up dollars for direct service. For the third consecutive year Fleet was awarded The Blue Seal Of Excellence Award. This is the highest award given by The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence.

Fleet has also implemented cost reduction strategies by expanding the use of hybrid vehicles. Hybrids offer low emission, fuel-efficient, and cost-effective solutions as the department retires older model vehicles. This initiative along with others has enabled Fleet to maintain its vehicle rates below budget status quo for the past three years.  KCDOT has been such a leader in this area that Fleet was selected as the lead agency for the National Consortium for Hybrid Vehicles, a group of public agencies teaming together to increase the use hybrid vehicles.

Fleet's semi-annual auction of surplus vehicles and equipment was a huge success in 2004. Annually, the division usually brings in more than $1 million by auctioning surplus vehicles, and more than $1.1 million by reusing surplus equipment. The October 2004 auction featured an item that netted more than $4,000 for the county - an official NFL goalpost from the now-demolished Kingdome.

Overall, Fleet places a high priority on customer service and has top satisfaction ratings to show for it. That's why Fleet Services was recognized by Utility Fleet Management Magazine as one of the 100 Best Fleets in North America for 2004. There are more than 90,000 fleets in North America.

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The Northwest Kidney Center's Board of Directors honored Metro's Accessible Services in December for outstanding service to kidney dialysis patients.

Park Woodworth, manager of Paratransit/Rideshare Operations, received a plaque on behalf of Metro. The board thanked Metro for the hard work of staff from the ACCESS Call Center for their efforts in annually scheduling 56,000 trips for 400 dialysis patients.

The board also expressed its appreciation to the ACCESS eligibility unit for the new streamlined application process, and to the ACCESS drivers for their ongoing care and concern of the riders.

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Here is a list of King County Department of Transportation projects that may disrupt traffic and travel in the coming weeks:

South 277th Street, between Auburn and Kent - Motorists may experience periodic traffic disruptions on South 277th Street between the West Valley Highway and 72nd Avenue South through October 2005 as a result of a major reconstruction project. Work is being wrapped up on the final signal at the intersection of South 277th Street and West Valley Highway. Sidewalk construction is in progress pending weather conditions.

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