Seattle Press on Line - City Fudges Numbers to Fix Montlake Bridge Traffic

City Fudges Numbers to Fix Montlake Bridge Traffic

By Jeff Boone

Dec 01, 1999 -- MONTLAKE - The City of Seattle has devised a solution to Montlake Boulevard traffic: juggle traffic count numbers in just the right way, and all those extra cars disappear. On paper it works. Thus City Council voted 8-1 not to adopt the Montlake Community Club's amendment to the city's comprehensive plan, which would separate traffic counts for the University and Montlake Bridges. City Councilmember Nick Licata cast the sole vote in favor of adopting the amendment.

If traffic on the two bridges is counted separately, the City might have to start denying building permits to projects North of the ship canal as early as 2005. This would be required under the state Growth Management Act (GMA) if traffic on the Montlake bridge exceeds 120 percent of its capacity.
But if, as the city assumes, the University Bridge is a viable alternative to the Montlake bridge, and the two bridges are counted together, then the combined capacity is well short of triggering the GMA.

The city's own traffic counts show that in the a.m. and p.m. peak hour periods, the University bridge is at 70 percent capacity, and the Montlake bridge at 112 percent capacity. Add them together, divvy by two, and, at 91 percent, the traffic is well short of exceeding 120 percent.

Staten and Jim Kearnes say the Montlake Community Club would like the city to consider a broad range of options to ease traffic on Montlake Boulevard, from denying development permits north of the ship canal to increasing non single-occupancy vehicle capacity on the bridge, such as making the SR 520 off ramps and Montlake Boulevard transit/HOV only.
But Staten and Kearnes are pretty certain that without the spectre of a permit ban, the city will sit on its hands, allowing development to happen piecemeal without actually addressing its impact on traffic flow in the Montlake corridor.

Three big construction projects are going to put increased pressure on Monlake traffic in the near future:
-University Community Urban Center Plan, a neighborhoood plan that will increase housing and commercial density in the U-District;
-The University of Washington Master Plan, a ten-year building program intended to accommodate an increase in the UW's student, faculty and staff population of 12,000;
- the Sand Point Naval Base redevelopment.

"All of the proposed projects," Kearnes remarks, "lack a meaningful assessment of transportation impacts."

Councilmember Richard Conlin Chair of the Neighborhoods, Growth Planning and Civic Engagement Committee, says that the proposed by the Montlake Community Club does nothing to solve traffic problems; it simply measures the two bridges separately. Conlin believes that the city's growth planning, which encourages new jobs and housing in the city, is the best approach to containment of Montlake Boulevard traffic. Conlin proposes to fund an area-wide study of traffic affecting Montlake.

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