Seattle is set to build a nine-lane tunnel on its waterfront, the Urbanist's Ryan Packer is disappointed with its design and the project's stated goals.
Ryan Packer of The Urbanist pleads for action on the issue of the proposed a nine-lane highway on the city's waterfront after examining the Seattle Department of Transit's Final Environmental Impact Statement, which outlines how the tunnel will look. Packer is concerned that this is a project, which aims only to improve the flow of traffic, and he worries: "The principle of induced demand [will] play out on our waterfront."
Packer is concerned that the project will waste one of the city's greatest resources. "It’s time to make what we have work better. But time after time, when the opportunity arises to improve the “level of service” for drivers in automobiles, whatever the price to the environment, public space, and Vision Zero standards, we frequently take it," Packer says.
Packer concludes his piece by asking his readers to contact the project manager for the undertaking, Angela Brady, the Director of the Office of the Waterfront Marshall Foster, and their city council member.
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