Traffic Lab

Engineer Steven Brown looks out from an Amtrak train at Tacoma Dome Station just before operating the first passenger trip on new tracks through Lakewood and DuPont on Dec. 18, 2017. About 20 minutes after this photo was taken, the train flew off the tracks at a sharp curve and crashed onto Interstate 5. (Courtesy of Steve Carter)

Fired Amtrak engineer opens up about 2017 DuPont crash, why he wants back in a locomotive

In his first news interview since the fatal derailment in 2017, Steven Brown, the Amtrak engineer who missed a dangerous curve on a new route south of Tacoma, is still traumatized but striving to return to work someday. VIEW

Don't Miss

Paul Tabayoyon, a board member of the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of Yakima County, walks up hill with his walking stick to a nearby bus stop Wednesday, April 21, 2021, on Burning Tree Drive in Yakima, Wash.

Advocates push Washington state lawmakers to spend more on transit, pedestrian projects

A cyclist is seen on the Burke-Gilman Trail, about to pass under the Fremont Bridge, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021 in Seattle. Some want to repeal the King County helmet law, which also applies to Seattle, because of its inequitable enforcement. 216416

Racial disparities prompt calls to repeal King County’s bicycle helmet law

A single scull heads west as they passes underneath the University Bridge in Seattle Monday, March 15, 2021.
Drawspan equipment, such as lift motors, needs replacing at University, Fremont, Ballard and lower West Seattle bridges, for about $8 million. 216607

How Seattle might turn a $20 car-tab fee into $100 million, largely to fix bridges

The West Seattle Bridge, far left, connecting West Seattle to Seattle, was closed in March 2020 after cracks were discovered underneath and along the sides of the high-rise making travel across the structure unsafe. The bridge is 36-years-old. The low bridge at right is reserved for transit, freight, emergency response, Harbor Island access and bicycles.

Photographed on April 29, 2020. 213802

Camera enforcement starts Jan. 11 on lower West Seattle Bridge

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.

Meet our staff