Unfortunately, traffic congestion may turn out to be an intractable problem. Streets and roads have been neglected for so long that a solution may no longer be attainable or financially feasible. It then becomes a question of whether whatever improvements are made will be obsolete by the time the projects are complete — the tunnel project being an example.
Urban planners like to pretend they can get rid of cars by making traffic so awful and allowing streets and roads to fall into such disrepair as to be just short of impassable. Then people will eventually give up and get on buses and trains or ride bikes. And city government goes along with this utopian vision. For one thing, not doing road repair saves money that could be plowed into pet projects and boondoggles.
Traffic congestion is a failure of government, which has chosen to follow the visionary thinking of building the city of tomorrow while ignoring the problems of today. – James P. Hays, Vancouver
It’s unacceptable to place the burden of blame on the shoulders of people who bike for the massive traffic snarls following the I-5 propane spill. Along with first responders, people who walk and bike were that day’s heroes.
People who walk and bike now make up close to 10 percent of daily commuters, according to a new Commute Seattle survey, and are easing traffic congestion. It’s not an easy choice. Construction zones, disconnected bike lanes, broken sidewalks, distracted drivers and poorly timed signals currently challenge this commute choice. Imagine how much more it will benefit Seattle to finally have a safe, linked network of streets prioritized for people who walk and bike to and through downtown.
Please don’t use extraordinary I-5 traffic congestion as an excuse to veer away from the path of modernizing our streets. – Cathy Tuttle, Seattle
The editorial mistook the Feb. 27 jam as another reason to complain about congestion rather than an opportunity to delve into the issue at hand: Is Seattle primarily a regional hub, simply the place where the freeways and highways intersect, or a place for locals to shape as they please, commutes be damned?
If those who see it only as the business center had their way, we would have a city of office buildings empty all but eight hours a day, accessible directly from the peaceful suburbs via freeways elevated above central neighborhoods.
If those Seattleites who live close to downtown were in charge, their neighborhoods would be the peaceful ones, but we would be left with a low-rise central city — with bike lanes and transit — reserved for the youngest and wealthiest among us.
Certainly there is a more desirable middle ground. Unfortunately, the editorial board chose to drive full speed through the issue with hardly a glance out the window. – John Renehan, Seattle
The editorial stated, “Monday’s gridlock highlighted the folly of Seattle’s utopian, anti-car transportation planning.” Yet, it also noted that “more than 80 percent of commuters in the I-5 corridor still use cars and carpools.”
There were some good suggestions in the editorial about increased use of police and others to direct traffic in emergency traffic situations. But are we really focusing too much on alternatives to the automobile?
I would suggest that even before the Sound Transit rail extensions come into play that drivers carpool or take transit.
To think that reconfiguring our arterials near I-5 in the core of Seattle would be an effective solution to emergency transportation planning seems pie in the sky to me. – John Birnel, Seattle
Your editorial is unreasonable and simplistic. I-5 is irreplaceable. On the rare day it gets clogged the consequences will be horrible and our city is not, and never will be, set up to handle several hundred thousand cars passing through it.
I drive, too, and I get frustrated by this region’s traffic. I also bike half the time and get frustrated by our bike infrastructure, which seems to be safe for a stretch, then you get thrown onto Jackson Street or 12th Avenue.
I was surprised by your assumption that having infrastructure to support cars will solve traffic tangles. Cars are inefficient. The only way to move the increasing volume of people through downtown Seattle is to have alternative transportation options.
I ride my bike because Seattle traffic is horrible, and I can’t handle driving every day. The city’s planning will sway people to make transportation decisions like mine, and we have no choice. We do not have the choice to expand our roadways (we are on the water and out of space). We must make our communities more dense. – Rachel Cochran, Seattle