Ryan Packer
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including Capitol Hill Seattle, BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
Washington State could be set to pay a significant price for decades of underinvesting in basic maintenance of the state transportation system, outgoing WSDOT head Roger Millar said.
The Pacific Northwest is set to be the first home for one of Amtrak's next-generation trains starting in 2026, Amtrak confirmed at the agency's annual board meeting in Seattle last week.
As Seattle's nine year transportation levy expires and a new one is set to take its place, the city is leaving behind the transformative goals of the Move Seattle era and trading them for something more modest.
Facing a $150 million budget deficit in the next biennium, county leaders asked for state legislative fixes that would give them a path to preserving essential services. Lifting the 1% property tax levy cap is chief among them.
District 2 Councilmember Tammy Morales announced Wednesday morning that she will resign in January, saying she has been undermined and frozen out of legislating by the more conservative-leaning Seattle City Council majority. The resignation sets up another council appointment and a special election next fall.
In making her case to become the next King County Executive, Claudia Balducci is pointing to her extensive track record of delivering on housing and transportation –– and getting the details right.
Sound Transit plans to make a series of spot improvements over the next few years intended to improve safety at its at-grade stations in the Rainier Valley. But multiple board members are pushing the agency to think much bigger.
A new "Target Zero" safety roadmap for reducing serious injuries and fatalities on Washington's roads includes some clear, evidence-based recommendations. But implementation could be challenging given political realities.