Collapsing traffic, that is. Sightline’s Clark Williams-Derry documents:
Taffic volumes on the Alaskan Way Viaduct have collapsed since the state started its construction project.
Take a look at the trends, courtesy of the Seattle Department of Transportation’s traffic maps:
Where did the traffic go?
- A shift from cars to buses.
- Diversion to surface streets and I-5.
- A long-term decline in car traffic.
- Trips “disappeared” due to traffic delays.
The details are here.
Grist comments, as does the Seattle Transit Blog, here, which notes that “in order to raise the needed tolls to help pay for the tunnel, more trips would need to go through the tunnel than currently travel the viaduct.”
This $3-billion boondoggle, whose tunnel-boring machine has been stuck underground since December, is shaping up to be the Clem 7 of the Pacific Northwest.
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Clark, by the way, is a contributing instructor to our new City Program transportation course: Next-Generation Cities and Transportation. Details here.
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UPDATE (March 26, 2014): Traffic on the Viaduct: Falling, But Maybe Not So Fast.
