Traffic Lab | The Seattle Times

Alisyn Malek, co-founder of MayMobility, said she noticed new technologies and apps are setting a course for worse congestion, so she wanted to create autonomous solutions that complement transit and walking. (Tira Khan / Special to The Seattle Times)

Are self-driving cars a solution for Bellevue? An East Coast test shows their promise and challenges

Self-driving cars being tested in Providence, Rhode Island, navigate city streets, with humans taking control occasionally. But the vehicles are sometimes flummoxed by what their sensors see. VIEW

Don't Miss

Tuesday, July 16, 2019. The intersection of 2nd and Pike where cyclists are unprotected in the intersection. Story is about design that is meant to protect cyclists through intersections. 210875

Seattle could be next to try Dutch-style bike-friendly intersection design

Pedestrians exit the Seattle Streetcar on Westlake Avenue in Seattle Friday, March 30, 2018.
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Downtown streetcar moving ahead with $9 million loan approved by Seattle council

This innovative track bridge will be installed at the location of expansion joints (some are at right of man taking photo) on the I-90 bridge to enable light rail vehicles to cross the floating bridge. Cars can accommodate the moving bridge when they drive over the expansion joints — tracks can not because they can not move out of alignment. The track bridge will allow for movement without changing alignment of the tracks.

Eight track bridges will accommodate lake motion, and the specialized track attachments will allow trains to operate on the floating bridge when the Blue Line opens in 2023, according to a Sound Transit press release. Shot Tuesday, July 23, 2019.

Sound Transit crews are installing fixed rails for Light Rail trains on the I-90 floating bridge This is the first time in the world this has been done.

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Train tracks on the I-90 floating bridge? Sound Transit is building them now. VIEW

A pedestrian crosses the street at the intersection of S. Findlay St. and Rainier Avenue South in Seattle Wednesday, July 17, 2019. There is only one lane for northbound and one for southbound traffic in this area, with a middle lane for left turns only.

The city has made some improvements to Rainier Ave. S. and is planning to make more, but there are still issues and advocates have grown frustrated at what they view as sluggish progress.

A pedestrian was seriously injured at South Findlay Street.

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SDOT data shows nearly 100 serious-injury or fatal collisions on Seattle streets in first half of 2019

About Traffic Lab

Traffic Lab is a Seattle Times project that digs into the region’s thorny transportation issues, spotlights promising approaches to easing gridlock, and helps readers find the best ways to get around.

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Transit

Wed. Feb. 21, 2020. Looking down Columbia Street to the waterfront, new bus lanes have been created by SDOT to shift busses out of clogged 1st Ave. in downtown Seattle. 212978

A better ride for 26,000 Seattle commuters when Metro buses shift to Columbia Street

Roads

Buses make their way north along Sixth Avenue on Monday morning. Commuters seem to be ignoring the “Bus Only” lanes painted on the roadway. This is the first day of commuting where the buses are no longer using the underground Seattle bus tunnel.
Photographed on March 25, 2019. 209702

Car-tab tax cuts, traffic cameras and per-mile fees for electric cars on the table in Olympia as session ticks down

Getting Around

Police attend to a shooting on Third Avenue and Pine Street on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020.

Seattle City Council member questions Uber, Lyft over surge pricing after mass shooting downtown

Technology

FILE – In this March 23, 2018, file photo provided by KTVU, emergency personnel work a the scene where a Tesla electric SUV crashed into a barrier on U.S. Highway 101 in Mountain View, Calif. The Apple engineer who died when his Tesla Model X crashed into the concrete barrier complained before his death that the SUVâ€™s Autopilot system would malfunction in the area where the crash happened. The complaints were detailed in a trove of documents released Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the March, 2018 crash that killed engineer Walter Huang. (KTVU-TV via AP, File) NYBZ242 NYBZ242