The new Airo trains, which will be running on every trip on Amtrak Cascades by next spring, bring a bevy of new passenger features from upgraded seats to overhauled restrooms. The first trips are scheduled to start rolling out of King Street Station on September 30.
Pierce County transit advocates are confident that this is the year they can overcome the history of voters not getting on board with adding bus service funding in the South Sound. If Prop 1 is successful, Pierce Transit plans to ramp up service by 49% in the coming years.
If approved in early November, Community Transit would take over Everett Transit operations on April 1, 2027, with the existing Everett Transit network as its service baseline. A 50% increase in bus service would follow, to be fully implemented by 2030.
After a new 0.1% sales tax for county roads was approved in June, County Executive Girmay Zahilay has proposed to fold the independent transportation benefit district fully into county government. But questions remain about whether the county council would be trading away oversight.
The housing funds, proposed in King County Executive Girmay Zahilay's budget update, include nearly $15 million for affordable housing projects that were already in development, and another $5 million for a new tiny home village on county-owned land in the Central District.
Developers and tradespeople alike voiced support for a proposed temporary reduction in Mandatory Housing Affordability fees at a committee meeting Friday. The proposal seems to have broad support from Seattle councilmembers.
A contentious change giving SDOT more authority to change streets within Seattle's historic districts was approved Thursday on a 3-2 committee vote. Traffic safety advocates had been pushing for a way to elevate safety-related changes outside the normal approval process.
The four new camera locations, set to be implemented in 2027, will be Seattle's first 24/7 speed cameras after decades of enforcing speeds in school zones. The locations were chosen based on a prevalence of speeding and serious crashes.
While Bellevue leaders are clearly not ready to fully ditch parking mandates, as many Washington cities have done, there is a push to consider going further than a new state-mandated baseline. But ahead of an October 20 vote, that is far from a sure thing.
The package would add authority for SDOT officials to address traffic safety, and ask for recommendations on faster post-crash review and potential safety upgrades for City contractors. But a mad dash to pass the legislation before fall budget season is leading Saka to cut some corners.