City of Lake Forest Park awaits response from Sound Transit about alternatives to plans to widen Bothell Way
Sunday, March 10, 2024
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| LFP Community Meeting with Sound Transit CEO (2023) Photo by Mke Remarcke |
Last year, 500 members of our community met with Sound Transit (ST) leadership and requested changes in its current plans for massive road widening on Bothell Way for a new northbound bus lane.
The City Council followed up with a formal request in late October.
We support efficient, cost-effective transit improvements, but the current design through LFP will cost hundreds of millions of dollars for two minutes of travel time savings, and only at rush hour.
In contrast, impacts would be huge:
Our city and community are trying to help ST – by requesting less damaging and less costly alternatives that can provide similar benefits for bus riders.
- property takings from 110 homes or small businesses,
- removal of over 400 trees along the roadway,
- 1.3 acres of new impervious surfaces affecting streams, and
- removal of 95,000 tons of debris – all increasing noise and heat island effects.
Our city and community are trying to help ST – by requesting less damaging and less costly alternatives that can provide similar benefits for bus riders.
Our letter urged ST to collaborate with us and explore queue jumps and signalized traffic lights, rather than a mile long bus lane.
We requested a side-by- side cost-benefit and impact analysis comparing the full bus lane with the queue jump approach. We will post ST’s response on the City website as soon as we receive it.
– Deputy Mayor Lorri Bodi, Council Corner - Update on Sound Transit Plans in LFP
– Deputy Mayor Lorri Bodi, Council Corner - Update on Sound Transit Plans in LFP
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4 comments:
Judging by the many half empty busses I see and the stats on bus ridership in our area this plan isn't a very good trade off.
$580 million for some bus stops and potential riders to save a few minutes in 10 years is an obscene expenditure with very little ROI.
To Anonymous at 9:06 AM:
The "half empty" bus line that runs past my home carries 15% of the people on the road despite only accounting for 2% of vehicle traffic. This is an infrequent local bus; more frequent service like the Stride S3 Line would attract even more riders.
That being said, I do wish they would reallocate space from the existing road rather than widening it. SR 522 is already wide enough. We can have bus-only lanes without widening it any more.
Good luck getting a "public" to change course based on public input. Especially since all those contractors out there want/need jobs -
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