Seattle Press on Line - Mayoral candidates on transportation

Mayoral candidates on transportation

Sep 13, 2001 -- Seattle Press: How would you address the transportation issues facing Seattle?

Charlie Chong: Close down Sound Transit; use the money for monorail. Get more frequent bus service. Repair the damaged portion of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, do required maintenance, and keep using it until its capacity is replaced by a new structure above ground.

Max Englerius: People commuting to Seattle from eastside communities might like to be able to park their cars over there, and take a monorail over the briges into the city.
I would also like to see more Jitney buses. Those are privately owned vans that follow up the bus routes. They would improve waiting time between buses; they would be cheaper than city buses, as they are privately owned rather than union-run; and they could provide income to college students and seniors who could use the extra cash.
As far as such things as the "Mercer Mess," I think [fixing] it is a simple matter of building an overhead ramp up Mercer and feeding onto the freeway. Most of the cost of that could be borne by developers such as Paul Allen as a condition to building permits in the area.

Bob Hegamin: Transportation issues have been ignored because the city's engineering department has not been allowed to deal with them. I will see that the job of legitimate engineering be returned to the department, so that complex transportation problems will have engineering solutions, not political ones.

Richard Lee: Relatively new and low-cost technologies like electric eyes, under-roadway sensors, and better traffic light synchronization could improve traffic flow without years of delay and billions in investments. I think it’s obvious that the personal vehicles of the near future will be very different from the monster trucks and SUVs that dominate the streets today, [but] there can be no denying that the automobile is not going away. We need to use Seattle’s influence to gain state action to encourage small-car ownership and to get Metro restored to better levels of service.
As popular a cause as the monorail is, I must confess that I am skeptical. We need to ask the people of West Seattle and Ballard if they want to be the destination of these trains, in the form of neighborhood-specific votes. I find it hard to believe, based on the evidence that I’ve seen, that this [monorail line] will directly result in relief of traffic tie-ups, and I suspect that these plans have more to do with real estate development and construction contracts than better commuting. A more logical choice for a pilot program rail line would be a short track up to Capitol Hill, if the residents there say they want it.

Greg Nickels: I have long advocated that Seattle needs a multi-tiered approach to handling our transportation crisis. That includes building light rail, expanding the monorail, maintaining our surface streets, and ensuring that we have BRT bus rapid transit lanes on Aurora, and expanding programs like the Elliott Bay water taxi.

Paul Schell: Transportation problems threaten our region’s livability. Gridlock—on the roads and in the legislature—robs us of precious time with our families and hurts our businesses. To tackle the challenge, I’ve created a transportation blueprint to fix the streets, synchronize lights, improve bus service, and connect the neighborhoods with monorail, streetcars, or bus rapid transit. This work is already under way. We have also promoted innovations such as Neighborhood Transportation Centers, car-sharing, and education programs to encourage alternatives to the car. These all offer great opportunities that I will continue to pursue aggressively.
Another piece of the transportation puzzle—light rail—has suffered from serious financial mismanagement by Sound Transit. I want to correct those problems and start building a public transportation system to give citizens an alternative to gridlock. I’ve proposed getting started now on light rail service from downtown to the airport while we find a less costly route to Northgate.
I’m also working hard with Transportation Secretary McDonald to solve the Viaduct problem in a manner that improves safety, enhances mobility and reconnects our city to its waterfront.

Mark Sidran: Clearly, the most important challenge facing our region and our long-term prosperity and quality of life is moving people and goods efficiently. My transportation plan can be found at my campaign web site (www.sidranforseattle.org). In a nutshell:
* Scrap Sound Transit’s current light rail plan
* Increase bus, bus rapid transit and commuter rail service
* Reform Sound Transit and make it accountable through direct election of Board Members
* Fulfill the intent of the Monorail Initiative and bring a monorail proposal to the voters by 2002
We also must make major investments in our road infrastructure, from the Alaskan Way Viaduct to I-405 and SR 520 to our bridges and arterials. We must develop new funding sources, from local option gas taxes to tolls, if we are going to get the job done. I have a proven record of getting things done in Olympia and in the region by working across the aisle and across the Lake. I will work hard to forge a coalition that can break the current gridlock on funding transportation improvements.

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