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2007 in review for King County DOT
During the past 12 months, the
King County Department of Transportation
(KCDOT) and its four divisions have focused on a wide variety of
projects and programs to support the transportation network here in King
County and across the region. Here’s a month-to-month look at some of the highlights for KCDOT in 2007: January – A year ago, King County was among the first to envision how Seattle and region could best cope with the reconstruction of the Alaska Way Viaduct. Metro produced a list of 49 transit-related actions that when combined with new investments in transit service and the arrival of Link light rail, could be instrumental in mitigating the traffic impacts of viaduct work. Since that time, KCDOT staff has continued to work with the city, the state, and business and community groups to develop a recommendation for replacing the viaduct along Seattle’s central waterfront.
February – Within three months of voters approving the Transit
Now initiative in November 2006, Metro had rolled out the first new
transit service funded by the sale-tax increase. June – In June, Sims announced a transit service plan to link some of the Eastside's fastest growing neighborhoods and job services. It was designed with the goal of providing service that will increase ridership and better match current travel patterns. Later in the year, the Metropolitan King County Council approved the plan, and much of it will go into effect in February 2008. July – The South Park Bridge underwent more maintenance work last summer, verifying that the veteran span over the Duwamish River needs to be replaced. Studies of the South Park Bridge show the condition of the 76-year-old span is severely deteriorated and was made worse during the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake. In recent years, the aging bridge has been difficult to operate due to long-term movement of the drawbridge piers. July’s work was the sixth alignment repair to the moveable spans since the 2001 earthquake. The piers have continued to move, and repairs are urgently needed before any further misalignment impacts bridge operation. King County is proceeding with design of a new parallel drawbridge, and continuing to look for project funding.
Also in August, came news that King County and other partners involved in the Urban Partnership on Lake Washington – the project involving the State Route 520 Bridge – received a federal award to work on solving congestion in that corridor through an integrated approach of tolling with variable prices based on demand and increased transit service to get more single-occupant vehicles off the road. September – King County was the center of the green transportation world in September, when a broad coalition of 20 cities, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, and the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition committed to work with King County to pioneer a series of green fleet standards. This milestone came during the first-ever “Clean Vehicles NOW!” conference, which was spearheaded by KCDOT’s Fleet Administration Division. Also in September, Metro’s Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel reopened after a two-year retrofit by Sound Transit. By the end of 2009, the tunnel will be accommodating both buses and light rail trains. October – In October, the King County International Airport at Boeing Field launched its noise insulation program. As an effort to be a good neighbor, staff reached out to residents around the airport to offer help to make their homes quieter. It is one of several measures, the airport has worked on over the past decade to reduce noise impacts. November – Although the weather was deceptively mild for a Northwest November, staff from the Roads Services Division and Metro Transit were more than ready for the first high waters and snowflakes. KCDOT spent much of 2007 working on a new coordinated effort to keep people moving during the worst winter storms.
Not only is storm response better synched between the department’s roads
and transit divisions; but also between the county, the state, local
cities, and public utilities. The new plans would come in handy the
following month. |
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