This is a guest post by Doug, our rock star intern.
The trends in the Puget Sound are clear – people are shifting the ways they travel in the region, decreasing auto usage, while increasing biking, walking and transit usage. Our infrastructure needs to change to keep up with these shifting demands of residents. The City of Seattle’s Transportation Levy to Move Seattle is an ambitious plan to keep up with the new habits of Seattlelites.
A Shift in Modes
The Puget Sound Regional Council conducts a comprehensive travel study of households across the Puget Sound every few years. The most recent survey, conducted in 2014, shows key trends for Puget Sound’s transportation future.
Here’s just a bit of the interesting data1:
While it’s promising that driving has decreased since 1999 compared to transit, bike, and pedestrian modes, the rapid growth of our region will continue to demand investment in multi-modal infrastructure for Seattle to become an efficient and modern 21st century city.
Moving Forward
To meet these demands, SDOT has developed plans that identify key system improvements that will make it safer and easier for bikers, pedestrians, and transit riders to get around the city. For example, SDOT’s Bike Master Planrecommends 473.5 miles of bike facilities (such as protected bike lanes or greenways) to be built.
The proposed Transportation Levy to Move Seattle would fund a bundle of priority pedestrian, bicycle and transit projects drawn from recommendations in the modal plans. This renewal levy focuses on taking care of what we have and creating new choices to meet the growing demand in Seattle. Here’s just a few highlights:
- 7 new bus rapid transit corridors to connect Downtown to Ballard, Delridge, Madison Valley, Eastlake and Roosevelt; Rainier Valley to the Central District; and Ballard to the U-District and Northgate.
- Creates new light rail connections, including the Graham St. Station, I-5 Pedestrian-Bike bridge connecting Northgate Station, and Accessible Mount Baker project.
- 150 blocks of new sidewalk;
- Safe Routes to Schools projects at every public school;
- Seismically reinforces our 16 most vulnerable bridges;
- Adds 50 miles of protected bike lanes;
- 60 miles of neighborhood greenways;
- Replaces the Fairview Avenue Bridge, which is Seattle’s last remaining timber bridge;
- Funds immediate improvements to the Ballard Bridge for pedestrian and bicyclist safety;
The price tag for the whole proposed “Move Seattle” renewal levy is $930 million, which would be raised through a property tax increase on Seattle homeowners over nine years. It would cost $12 more per month on average. The reSeattle City Council has placed a transportation levy on the upcoming November 2015 ballot.
TCC is excited for the Move Seattle Levy and will be leading efforts to garner support for it and improved transportation choices around the city. The campaign launched earlier this week and you can get involved here.
For your reading fun:
If you haven’t seen the Move Seattle project list yet, you can take a look here.
Check out the PSRC data here.
1 http://www.psrc.org/assets/12548/RegionalTravelSurveysComparison.pdf?processed=true
