Washington

A proposal to expand Seattle's light rail system also includes provisions for extensive road construction, putting transit advocates in the awkward position of voting for both transit and roads.

This commentary from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer looks at the idea that buildings can make us happy, and asks why we put up with buildings that make us unhappy.

Before its planners had realized what they'd done, a proposed name for a planned streetcar system in Seattle -- the South Lake Union Trolley, or SLUT -- had already slipped out into the public.

With constant complaints from the public and consistent reports of drug dealing and prostitution, Seattle's automated public toilets may be on their way out.

Microsoft has announced the launch of a private 14-bus transit system to serve its employees in the Seattle area. Transit advocates say the plan underscores the transit deficiencies faced by the region.

This audio report discusses the creeks of Seattle and how years of neglect, abuse, and pollution have endangered fish species, destroyed wetlands, and caused big problems for the area's storm drainage.

This editorial calls on the governments of Portland, Oregon, and its intimately-connected neighbor, Vancouver, Washington, to expand the reach of the metropolitan planning agency whose jurisdiction ends at the border between the two cities.

Seattle's free-flowing experience with more than two weeks of freeway lane closures -- predicted to be traffic Armageddon -- shows that the conventional wisdom about traffic isn't always right.

PBS's NewsHour covers the debate over the future of downtown Seattle's raised highway -- an issue that has a renewed sense of importance after the Minnesota bridge collapse.

More than 650 miles of Seattle streets have no sidewalks, and residents are demanding them. But with limited transportation funding, the city is struggling to find ways to pay for sidewalk construction.

In a fact-finding mission to see if the technology is right for their city, officials from Vancouver, Washington, will hop over the state line to Portland to try out the city's streetcar system.

Seattle finds out that closing their major highway doesn't result in traffic chaos. Maybe closing another one - the Alaskan Way Viaduct - permanently, as some citizens would like to see, is more feasible that some would have us believe.

Citizens and homeowners in Washington have teamed up against a number of proposed housing developments that would replace more than 100 acres of open space and wetlands.

The wave of condo conversions in the Seattle area is hitting seniors especially hard.

With major roadwork underway on a stretch of heavily-used Interstate 5 in Seattle, many commuters chose public transit to avoid the resulting congestion. But many are wondering whether commuters will keep using transit after the work is done.

Three mixed-use, walkable urban villages near Seattle have become very popular with residents since their creation in the '80s and '90s. But while small businesses prosper and home vacancies remain low, few jobs are available.

Urban geographer Richard Morrill discusses the history of growth in Seattle, the influences that cause it, and which of the influences can be controlled.

Hoping to boost capacity without using additional road space, Seattle will become only the second city in the nation to put the London style buses into service.

Hundreds of new townhomes are being built in neighborhoods across Seattle. Neighbors want input into the new housing, but a loophole allows development to move forward under the radar.

With a wave of new development underway downtown, the City of Seattle has nominated 37 structures as historic landmarks, and has plans for even more preservation efforts.