Transportation

The Washington House of Representatives has passed legislation setting goals that could more than double service and significantly shrink travel times on Amtrak Cascades. The Washington State Senate still needs to sign off on the legislation.

King County Metro has added ORCA transit card readers at all doors on nearly 75% of its bus fleet and has a goal of finishing work by the end of the year. Until it does, Metro said all-door boarding is officially not permitted outside of RapidRide lines and Third Avenue. However, some riders have started anyway.

The Sound Transit Executive Committee approved a secret "Candidate C" as its CEO pick today. It's unclear if that candidate is King County Executive Dow Constantine or another finalist. The committee will seek to negotiate an employment contract and formally approve the hire at the agency's full board meeting on March 27.

For the last 30 years, Seattle has adopted an urban village approach to growth that has reserved 75% of the city for single-family zoning while concentrating growth into walkable urban centers. This has created de-facto housing segregation, where many people with disabilities can reside only in the minority of neighborhoods classified as urban centers, which are made expensive by their rareness.

House Bill 1923, approved by an 87-8 vote by the Washington House of Representatives, would allow more local governments to set up passenger ferry districts to serve riders. It heads to the state Senate.

Not only are the Netherlands' brick streets more aesthetically pleasing than typical American streets, the modern klinkers (bricks) that make up most Dutch streets are just more practical. Jason Slaughter of Not Just Bikes dives into how brick streets are designed and installed, and what makes them better.

The 1.2-mile bike lane restores a connection along the central waterfront that hasn't existed in years, and is sure to turn into one of the city's most highly-used bike facilities.

In choosing how to fill a $1 billion budget hole over the next two years, Washington State lawmakers are being forced to take a hard look at deferring or even cancelling some long-planned highway capacity projects.