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This Week In Transportation:
Jan. 14, 2002
New Challenges: The Year Ahead
for King County Transportation
As director of the King County Department of Transportation, Paul Toliver
oversees the county's airport, bridges, roads and vehicle fleet, as well as Metro Transit.
A message from Paul
Toliver: I have the pleasure of overseeing one of
the largest and most diversified public transportation departments in the nation. Ours is the
largest department of transportation (DOT) in the Pacific Northwest, second
only to the Washington State DOT. We have a
Metro Transit Division with close to 100 million passenger boardings per
year, a Road Services
Division that is building roads and bridges faster than ever before through aggressive
scheduling, an efficient and award-winning
Fleet Administration Division
for county vehicles, and with the transfer of King County International Airport to our department, we now operate one of the busiest general aviation facilities in the country.
Unlike other transportation departments, we work within a
general purpose government, and that means we must
move people and goods within the broader goal of maintaining our overall
quality of life: keeping housing affordable, keeping our economy vital,
protecting clean air and water.
This coming year we will keep our focus on improving the
day-to-day delivery of services to keep you moving, but we've scaled one
mountain only to see a higher peak in front of us. Despite a slowing
economy, our region is still seeing tremendous population growth, bringing with
it ever-increasing levels of new congestion that threaten the economy of
not only King County but the entire state. If King County is the economic
engine of the state, then we must get more creative in finding
solutions not only for ourselves but for our partners at the local, state and
federal levels, to get the job done.
As I write this, the Legislature is about to go into
session, and County Executive Ron Sims is calling upon the state to adopt
transportation solutions. His primary goal is to relieve congestion on
major travel corridors.
As Congress gears up to reauthorize federal funding for all 50 states,
our executive will also be sending the message that metropolitan areas
are the economic engines of this nation but are suffering under congestion and
gridlock. Such congestion threatens to weaken our national economy and
theoretically our national security. If you remember, the federal system
of interstate freeways was
built in the late
1950s [external link] for our national defense. The interstate system, and the
federal-state partnership that built it, changed the face of America.
They were meant for long trips between states, but today these interstates are
choking our ability to move people and equipment in such major metropolitan areas as King
County. King County DOT will make metropolitan congestion relief
a top priority for 2002.
What more can we do locally to be part of the solution? We can evolve to a transportation system for the 21st century by making more use of
emerging technologies. If you are reading this online you have already integrated technology into your
life and are probably among those who have told us you want more:
- With Sound Transit we are testing a new generation of
Smart Bus on-board bus electronics and data systems to better serve our
passengers. Among other
advances, Smart Buses automatically announce the next stop and display the information inside the
bus, speed your trip by holding green lights along major corridors, and
automatically count passengers to provide for more effective bus planning.
- With Sound Transit and other bus systems in Pierce and
Snohomish counties, we are about to procure three
Hybrid Bus
[external link] prototypes that can run on either
electricity and diesel or natural gas. These purchases have the
potential to improve the air we breathe.
- By spring we should have results of our first round of
projects to
synchronize traffic signals along nine regional traffic corridors to
help traffic move faster on a combined 20 miles of roadways. We also
expect to solicit proposals from cities for more such projects.
- We will design a new look and
provide support for two online services we've been refining the past
few years with the University of Washington,
MyBus and Busview, which enable you to find actual departure times for
buses and track their real-time movement on a map.
- Behind the scenes, we are
looking at new technologies for online management of our supply chain for our
buses and road crews, to find ways to use less paper and less process but
still get the job done.
- And we will continue to refine and promote all our
other online technologies, including the
MyCommute Web cameras, King County Metro's new
online Trip Planner, the
RPIN eNews personalized e-mail and pager alert system, and
RideshareOnline.com.
King County DOT will strive to continue to be the best in
the coming year. What worked before may not necessarily help us solve the
level of congestion we see today, congestion that will only build in the future
if we fail to act. But what we can assure you is that we will make
every effort to make sure your dollars are invested wisely to get you where you
want to go faster, cheaper and more efficiently.
For more information
Federal Highway Administration: "Federal-Aid
Highway Act of 1956: Creating the Interstate System," a detailed history of
the origins of the federal interstate system [external
link]
Efficiencies and innovations
- Metro Transit's Vehicle Maintenance Division has found
a way to replace aging trolley buses while saving taxpayers $20
million. The
first
of 100 new trolleys went into service Jan. 11.
Kudos
-
To Road Services crews that
worked overtime on Jan. 4-6 to replace a failed drainage pipe on a portion of
Petrovitsky Road, west of Petrovitsky Park. They were able to get the
work done and reopen the road in two days instead of the expected five days.
Take a look at the trench they dug.
- To Road Services crews hard at work last week when
east King County experienced the first flooding of the new year. Crews were
on patrol in the early morning of Jan. 7 and monitored roads in
low-lying areas near rivers around the clock for the next three days.
Public meetings
- A workshop to discuss
options for replacing and
repairing the South Park Bridge will be held Thursday, Jan. 17, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at Concord Elementary School, 723 S. Concord St., Seattle. Staff
from the King County Road Services Division will explain how they will complete
an Environmental Impact Statement for the 70-year-old bridge that connects 14th and 16th avenues over the Duwamish River.
Closures
- The South Park Bridge will be closed for repairs from
6 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, to 5 a.m. Monday, Jan. 21.
Holiday schedule
- Metro Transit will operate a regular weekday schedule
with a few exceptions on Monday, Jan. 21, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.
Day. See Metro Online for
more details.
Other news this week in transportation
- "Inside Transportation" now has a regularly scheduled time on
CTV, King County Civic Television. Look for our half-hour program
every Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. and Wednesday morning at 5 a.m. A new
show featuring our Transit-Oriented Development Program and a close-up look
at snowplow operations is now in post-production for debut later this month.
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