JUNE 2001
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Congratulations Washington State Ferries on Fifty Years of Service
DESTINATION 2030 ADOPTED: ACTION PLAN FOR TRANSPORTATION
Central Puget Sound leaders unanimously adopted Destination 2030 at the Regional Council's General Assembly meeting on May 24 in Seattle. Destination 2030 is a comprehensive long-range transportation plan for the central Puget Sound region.
"I'm very proud of this plan. It provides us with a credible foundation for action now," said Commissioner Bob Edwards, Regional Council President.
"The time for talk is over, the time for impasse is over, the time for the transit versus roads and the east versus west, and urban versus rural is over. We have to act. Call your legislators and tell them that the time to act is now," Beighle said.
The early action strategies in Destination 2030 are included in the Blue Ribbon Commission report delivered to the Governor and the state legislature late last year. The state legislature could act on transportation reforms and a funding plan in June.
Destination 2030 anticipates the central Puget Sound region will need to accommodate 60 percent more daily travel and another 1.5 million people in the next 30 years. It includes support for:
Destination 2030 estimates the region will need to invest about $103 billion in transportation systems over the next 30 years. $57 billion is already supported by existing funds. This pie chart shows the breakdown of investments needing new funds.
"The 2030 plan has been discussed, re-discussed, cussed, and has finally come together. It was a very difficult process, but we had board members who were totally engaged in making it the best regional plan, with the proper attitude, that we think fits the needs of the region now," said Councilmember Richard McIver, chair of the Transportation Policy Board.
"The voters have been asking for something that really will make a difference, that is comprehensive and allows for a lot of choices. This region is in disarray from a transportation standpoint. We've got to move forward as fast as possible, so those calls to the legislature are very important," said Mayor Chuck Mosher, Bellevue. The adopted plan is available on the Regional Council's Website, psrc.org, and through the Information Center, (206) 464-7532, e-mail infoctr@psrc.org.
More FAST Corridor Projects Underway
Governor Gary Locke, Port of Seattle Commissioner Bob Edwards, and other state and regional officials ceremoniously broke ground in May on the SR 519 FAST Corridor Project near Safeco Field and the new Seahawks stadium. Last year the Regional Council helped move it forward following Initiative 695 cuts. By 2003, the new elevated highway from Occidental Avenue South to I-5 and I-90 will ease freight truck traffic between the waterfront and the freeways.
Another FAST Corridor project -- South 277th Street in Kent and Auburn -- also broke ground in May. The project will help alleviate rail/road conflicts, widening the road from two lanes to four and adding bridges over the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks.
The Regional Council's Transportation and Growth Management Policy Boards are beginning a new appointment process. Over the next two months, all Regional Council members and representatives of community, environmental, labor and business interests will receive requests for recommendations for appointments and re-appointments.
The two policy boards make recommendations on major growth management, economic and transportation issues to the Regional Council's Executive Board. Please send written nominations to: Puget Sound Regional Council, 1011 Western Ave, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98104 by July 16, 2001. For more information, call Sylvia Nelson at (206) 464-7518
Redundancy is not always a bad thing. In an earthquake, redundancy in a region's transportation system can help minimize disruption, giving people several ways to move from place to place so that the collapse of a few links will not cripple the whole system.1
The table shows road and travel data for four major metropolitan areas on the Pacific coast. Metropolitan Los Angeles has almost twice as many lane miles of freeway per square mile as the greater Seattle area, and two and half times as many arterial lanes. Arterials are more likely to survive a major earthquake. Compared to freeways, arterials have fewer bridges to collapse, and more access points and intersections. Our region's sparse arterial network suggests that the Seattle area would suffer more than Los Angeles in the event of similar earthquakes.
Seattle's road network is less redundant than those in either Los Angeles or Kobe, and depends heavily on freeways with sensitive bridges. A report prepared by Project Impact lists 28 freeway mainline bridges between the ports of Seattle and Tacoma alone that have at least a 50 percent probability of closing in a major earthquake.2 Those 28 bridges do not include the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which was weakened in the Nisqually quake in February.
For more information about this Trend, contact Larry Blain at 464-5402 or e-mail lblain@psrc.org.
The Assembly was joined by Doug Beighle, chairman of the state's Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation. Beighle praised Destination 2030 as a bold and comprehensive plan that is in sync with the Commission's landmark recommendations.
NEW INVESTMENT
Councilmember Dave Somers, chair of the Growth Management Policy Board, noted that "what happens in the future is likely not exactly what's in the plan. We'll have to be flexible as we move forward with implementation. But it provides a strong path for us to follow, and it's a great start."
TRIPS UP 60% 
CALL FOR
POLICY BOARD APPOINTMENTS
EARTHQUAKE VULNERABILITY OF METROPOLITAN ROAD NETWORKS
In the 1994 Northridge earthquake in southern California and the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, extensive redundancy in the road networks allowed the transportation systems to remain useable while damaged roads and bridges were rebuilt. Would central Puget Sound fare as well?
Metropolitan Area
1999 DataLos Angeles
San Francisco-
OaklandPortland-
VancouverSeattle-
Everett-
TacomaPopulation 12,600,000 4,025,000 1,490,000 2,600,000 Area - square miles 2,260 1,255 490 1,220 Freeways - Lane-Miles 5,280 2,335 705 1,600 Arterials - Lane-Miles 10,885 2,090 940 2,121 Population Density - Persons Per Square Mile 5,575 3,207 3,041 2,131 Freeway Density - Lane-Mile per Square Mile 2.34 1.86 1.44 1.31 Arterial Density - Lane-Mile per Square Mile 4.82 1.66 1.92 1.74 Percent Arterials 67.3% 47.2% 57.1% 57.0% Freeway Daily *VMT - 1,000s 123,200 45,710 12,350 29,380 Arterial *VMT - 1,000s 73,525 14,930 6,240 12,425 Freeway *VMT per Lane-Mile 23,335 19,575 17,520 18,361 Arterial *VMT per Lane-Mile 6,755 7,145 6,640 5,859 *VMT per Person 15.61 15.07 12.48 16.08 *VMT - Vehicle Miles Traveled
SOURCE: 1 Earthquake Disaster Risk Management for Urban Infrastructure Systems, a workshop sponsored by the University of Washington, the University of Southern California, and Kyoto University, Japan. 2 Port to Port Transportation Corridor Vulnerability Mitigation by Project Impact, King and Pierce Counties, Washington, 2001.
M - F - 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. - Other times by appointment - 206-464-7532
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