Washington

This report from NPR looks at the growing pains experienced by one Seattle suburb.

Seattle was recently named as one of the most walkable cities in the country, but one local disagrees.

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has vowed to dismantle Seattle's crumbling inner city freeway in 2012, putting extra pressure on transportation planners, local officials and the public to agree a replacement solution.

New types of pavements are being tested in Washington that make highway traffic noticeably quieter.

Seattle's long-planned South Lake Union streetcar officially began operations Wednesday.

The governor of Washington is leaning towards surface street options and public transit as possible solutions to the traffic problem posed by Seattle's crumbling inner city freeway, the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Devastating floods in the southern Washington community of Chehalis have many tracing the roots of the problem back to clear-cut logging and a long pattern of unchecked floodplain development.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels wants city employees to ride the bus to work, and he's proposing giving them free transit passes to make it easier for workers to make the switch.

Planners in Tacoma, Washington have approved a new ordinance that allows small-scale microwineries to be legally operated out of the home.

Seattle pushes forward with an inclusionary housing bill, but housing advocates have pushed back, saying the plan does not go far enough.

Funding for sidewalks has been approved in Seattle, where some neighborhoods have rallied for years to have them built. But now some homeowners are opposed to the plans, as the new sidewalk will cut into their front yards, parking spaces and patios.

Seeking a way to fund the state's many transit and transportation projects, officials in Washington are considering a plan that would put a highway tolling bill in front of the state legislature early next year -- a bill many believe would pass.

Housing affordability is becoming a major issue in Washington, where workers increasingly have to "drive to qualify".

Seattle has approved a new 10-year bicycle master plan that advocates hope will encourage more biking in the city. Seattle's plan stands out from other cities' bicycle plans, as much of its necessary funding has already been approved.

Voters in Seattle recently voted down a proposition to significantly fund roads and transit in the region. Advocates are pushing forward with efforts to keep the transportation funding issues alive and attain the money needed.

Seattle has shown that Kyoto Protocol-level reductions in greenhouse gases are practical and achievable, and won't hurt the economy. But with car use rising, much more needs to be done.

Though the fate of Seattle's light rail plans remain undecided, developers are moving forward with plans for transit node developments.

Permeable surfaces in Seattle offer ideas on how cities can best deal with the environmental problems of urban runoff.

A $47 billion proposal to add new lanes and build 50 miles of light-rail heads to the ballot box, though some wonder if conventional plan is really money well spent.

As Seattle considers a plan to spend more than $17 billion on road and transit projects, the Sightline Institute looks at how the city's greenhouse-gas emissions would increase if a new land of highway is built.