Stephen Fesler
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.
The city-to-trails service Trailhead Direct is returning this month. Starting on Saturday, May 13th, King County Metro will offer weekend and holiday service to Mount Si, Mount Teneriffe, and Little Si. The Trailhead Direct season will extend through Monday September 4th (Labor Day).
In an announcement on Thursday, King County...
Sound Transit has an opportunity to leverage Washington's new Clean Fuel Standard for revenue. The agency believes that participation in the market-based program to reduce greenhouse gases from transportation could deliver a revenue-positive outcome. Passed in 2021, the Clean Fuel Standard went into effect this year and applies to...
A street-level construction mishap above Westlake Station has unexpectedly disrupted the entire Link 1 Line light rail system, leading to chaos for riders. Allegedly, a construction crew doing work on a Ben Bridge post clock caused substantial damage to the station tunnel roof, forcing Sound Transit to significantly curtail...
Sound Transit faces a serious predicament in how to provide service to Lynnwood. Compounding factors are piling up that spell trouble for the initial Lynnwood Link Extension opening, slated for summer or fall 2024. Those same issues are raising questions about what systemwide service and infrastructure needs might look...
Sound Transit is partnering with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for a grade-separation project in Pierce County. The project is being led by the state transportation department as part of freeway expansion efforts near Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) and will benefit a railway that Sound Transit owns....
Sound Transit is slated to increase funding for escalator and elevator maintenance later this month at the agency's full board meeting. That should help the agency continue to respond to vertical conveyance outages swiftly, which is good news for riders. However, it does does come at great expense to...
Numbers climb back to 2016 levels as new construction moves to different areas of the facility.
Passenger numbers ticked up in a big way at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) last year. Total passenger counts jumped 27% year-over-year and topped 45,964,321 in 2022, which is comparable numbers last seen in 2016....
It ain't much, but that's all the Board's going on too.
This week, the Sound Transit Board of Directors will be deciding on preferred Ballard Link alignments and station locations. Some are still up-in-air, with the most critical ones in the Midtown-to-I-90 segment. Impacts to the Chinatown International District (CID)...