Proposed study would consider tolling downtown Seattle streets to reduce congestion

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

We get it Seattle. You hate cars.

-Mike

The vast majority of Seattle households own cars. I seriously doubt they hate them, although they might hate other people's cars (although I doubt that is limited to just Seattle). When I used to commute by car, I was often driven to exclaim, "Where did all these &%@#ing idiots come from!" I would then, however, typically reply to myself, "Well, I guess I'm one of them!" Liberals might dislike cars, for the sake of the environment, for one thing, but conservatives tend to hate drivers, and anything else that moves (pedestrians, bicyclists, buses, etc.), that won't get out of their way.

Given the growth we've experienced, I don't think we can dismiss that cars, especially SOVs, have become a problem, not just in Seattle, but throughout the Puget Sound Region. What the right mix of real solutions might be is open to debate, but the paving over of Seattle, the County, or the Region has been shown to be a political impossibility.

"Road warriors" in the region did have a chance in the 2007 Roads & Transit measure to add hundreds of miles of general traffic lanes, and thousands of park-n-ride slots, but chose instead to vote against light rail instead. Everything and more that was in the Transit portion has since been approved in following measures, although progress was certainly delayed. The Roads portion, or any significant portion of it, has not been brought back up to a vote, because it would certainly have gone down in defeat.

I'm a long-term Seattleite and carless transit user. I voted for every ST measure, including the Roads & Transit measure, because I believed increased transit and light rail were sorely needed. I also voted for the Viaduct (Car) Tunnel and was opposed to the "Replacement" (50% larger) and "Surface-Only" (Disappearing Car Magic Act) options. I also voted against McGinn, who I believe lied to Seattle voters to get elected. Although a Ballard resident, I didn't vote for Mike O'Brien due to his pushing the bogus "Surface-Only" option, which I took as a pretense for wreaking traffic havoc in order to justify forcing drivers onto buses, and won't vote for Cary Moon for the same reason. I want leaders who will actually get things done that will make things better, not worse.

[dav51lin]

seattle worst traffic top five in country