Transportation

Which Washington cities have the deadliest streets and roads may surprise you. Puyallup, Lynnwood and Olympia are by far the most dangerous cities for people walking and biking based on per capita serious crash rate. Travis Merrigan breaks down the data.

Flanked by a crowd of transit advocates, Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck announced a "Better Bus Lanes" campaign on Wednesday, demanding expanded and improved bus lanes on the city's busiest routes. The press event took place at the site of a recent victory by bus advocates: a new bus lane for Route 2 on Union Street.

Occidental Avenue is the first major "People Streets and Public Spaces" project to move forward under the new transportation levy. Potential improvements have been mostly shaped by conversations with downtown power players behind closed doors.

While Bruce Harrell is touting a drop in the number of pedestrian deaths in Seattle last year, that number has shot up again in 2025. And despite his promotion of safety spending in a newly approved transportation levy, his legacy on the issue of traffic safety likely won't be known for years.

Dave Amos explains how New York City has increasingly moved toward pedestrianizing Broadway and how the effort is transpiring.

King County Metro has slashed the budgets for the K and R Lines by 20% to 25%, which could scale back planned reliability improvements and rider amenities. The move raises serious questions about the future of the overall RapidRide program.

The idea of a fare-free pilot on several Metro routes, to be implemented in 2027, came about as fares have shrunk as a percentage of Metro's overall sources of revenue. But the data suggests that dropping fares wouldn't be as big of a boon as continuing to focus on expanding transit service.

After pivoting away from an aggressive schedule for battery-bus adoption, King County Metro plans to focus attention on the tried-and-true trolley network. But limited staff, delays obtaining materials and permit timelines mean that trolley expansions will be some time coming.