So many interesting and inspiring videos popped up this week – here are a few of the best:

The Seattle Times and Bruce Gray of Sound Transit share an inside look at “Balto” working its way from the U District through to the Capitol Hill station.  That machine does so much more than dig a hole!

StreetFilms shines a light on Medellín, Colombia. With their integrated transportation system of  light rail, gondolas, buses, dedicated bike and walking paths, and electric ladders (aka public escalators), Medellín is an exciting example for all cities looking to transform and grow. And they’ve done it all since about 2005.  Jealous much Seattle?

Did you know that April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month? It’s true. To celebrate, take a moment to enjoy this video from California’s Office of Traffic Safety campaign to educate drivers: “Don’t be a zombie behind the wheel.”

In case you missed it – the future is here – again! A Dutch company debuted their air and street legal flying car this week. The PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle.) is set to go into commercial production soon and if all goes well, you should be able to get yours in 2014. Cue George Jetson and the Spacion Wagon.

Suzanne Tidwell, Artificial Light, a large-scale knitting (acrylic yarn), 2011. Located at Occidental Square as part of ArtSparks 2011. Photo by Suzanne Tidwell.

Whether you’re a seasoned public artist or newbie, and you’re residing in Washington State, now’s your chance to help enliven Seattle’s sidewalks and parks!

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is partnering with Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and Seattle Parks and Recreation on a project called Art Interruptions.  Art Interruptions encourages artists to install artworks on city sidewalks and parks and offer passers-by a brief interruption in their day with a moment of surprise, beauty or humor. Possible locations for artworks include street and park infrastructure and street furniture such as utility poles, railings, stair risers, walls, tree pits, or even on trees, without causing damage. 

For all the details on this exciting project, please visit the following website: http://www.seattle.gov/arts/publicart/calls_for_art.asp

Spring is on the calendar, and in the air as well. More people are using bicycles for transportation than ever before. Expect to see more bicyclists on the road as temperatures moderate and daylight lingers.

Start with the basics of:  proper helmet fit, comfortable but not loose clothing, and a bicycle that is in good working order. Make sure you can perform basic maintenance and fix a flat tire.

Before you start riding in road with traffic, it can be a good idea to practice some basic riding skills in an open area or parking lot. Practical riding skills include: scanning, interpreting and executing evasive maneuvers to avoid obstacles; signaling left and right turns as well as stopping; and effective braking techniques.

Once you start riding and commuting, obey all traffic laws as they pertain to bicyclists. Be aware of your lane positioning and communication with drivers, especially when turning left or right, or stopping. Always honor the right of way and observe intersection etiquette.

The City of Seattle has been busy enhancing and improving bicycle facilities throughout the City. Familiarize yourself with everything the City of Seattle’s bicycle program has to offer and visit our webpage at: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bikeprogram.htm

Whether you are a new commuter or a seasoned expert make sure you have the knowledge to make informed decisions while riding in traffic and the confidence to balance caution, assertiveness and the skills necessary for safe urban riding.

(Monday – Friday SDOT sends out a compilation of local and national transportation news links. If you’d like to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to the list, just send an email to allie.gerlach@seattle.gov and I’ll take care of it for you. )

Here’s a sampling of some of the more interesting transportation news stories out there this week:

Are those trees holding their breath or what?

Did you know that next month 56 trees along the Burke-Gillman Trail and inWestlake Park will be turning bright blue?

It’s all part of a new Arts4Culture temporary art project. Starting April 2, volunteers will paint the trees with a water-based, environmentally safe pigment which will turn them a bright, ultramarine color. The trees willgradually fade back to their natural color.

The project was created and conceived by Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos and is designed to bring awareness and discussion about global deforestation. Trees are Earth’s lungs and yet each year we lose some 32 million acres of old growth forests. In nature, color is used both as a means of protection and as a mechanism to attract. The Blue Trees is an attempt to elicit a similar response from viewers and inspire conversation and action around deforestation issues.

Find out more about the project and how to volunteer here.

View the artist’s website here.

75 years later, the search for Amelia Earhart resumes

The mystery of Amelia Earhart has kept her alive in our collective imagination ever since she and co-pilot Fred Noonan vanished in 1937. Did she crash? Was she a spy? Did she use the disappearance to assume another identity? Was it an accident or something more nefarious? We may never know but then again…

This week, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, joined historians, scientists and salvagers from The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) to reopen the search for Earhart’s Lockheed Electra. Using a newly re-enhanced photo, taken in the months after she disappeared, and advised by Titanic discoverer Dr. Robert Ballard, researchers are planning a 10 day mission, funded by private investors, to see if they can find Earhart’s long-lost plane. And maybe some answers.

“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others. “– Amelia Earhart

Sweet! This U.K. Bus Shelter Dispenses Free Cake!

The future is here folks and it comes bearing dessert. As advertising gets more creative and competitive, and technology gets cheaper and more advanced, and government budgets get tighter and tighter, we might expect more and more things like this innovative advertising installation in the public realm. The nineteen special bus shelters around London are loaded with 500 individually wrapped cakes and dole out the treats when the button is pressed. There’s also a scent spray mechanism in case you just want to smell the cake and not eat it. (No more bus shelter cake for me, mate! I’m bloody stuffed already. But oh, it smells lovely dunnit?)

The ads are designed to encourage busy people to eat cake on the go. Maybe that’s why we don’t have anything like this in America yet. We’re already tops at eating on the run.

Monday through Friday,  SDOT sends out a compilation of local and national transportation related news links. If you’d like to subscribe (or unsubscribe) to the list, just send an email to allie.gerlach@seattle.gov

Here’s a sampling of some of the more interesting transportation news stories out there this week:

10.4 billion trips taken on U.S. public transportation in 2011
That’s the Second Highest Annual Ridership Since 1957!
The  American Public Transportation Association reports that Americans took 10.4 billion trips on public transportation in 2011. Due in part to high gas prices, as well as the improving job market and economy, 2011 marked the sixth year in a row that more than 10 billion trips were taken on public transportation.  It’s a trend that is expected to continue into 2012 and beyond.  More and more people depend on transit to get where they need to go. What about you? Taken any trips on the bus, streetcar, or light rail lately?

~

Seedy Hollywood alleyway becomes a welcoming pedestrian thoroughfare
EaCa Alley (for East Cahuenga) is Hollywood’s first pedestrian thoroughfare and it’s a success! 

Hooray for Hollywood! They’ve cleaned up the passage between Selma and Hollywood Boulevard and created an exciting new urban space. Hopefully,  the first of many such spaces.

Seattle’s most famous alley is probably Post Alley (home of the Bubble Gum Wall as well as lots of cool shops and restaurants). But  Pioneer Square’s Nord Alley is working to give Post Alley a run for its money. With its artwalks and special event parties, Nord Alley, which was just designated a “festival street,” is rapidly becoming one of the hippest places to hang out. Did you know Seattle is home to the Alley Network Project? Their goal is to transform Pioneer Square’s alleys into one of its unrivaled assets. Do you have a favorite Seattle alley or know one that could benefit from a makeover?

~

Q+A with Gil Penalosa on Livable Cities
The father of Ciclovia Open Streets in Bogotá, talks about resistance to change and innovation, budget restrictions, and healthy, dynamic cities.

“The street doesn’t have to have the same use 24-7. It can have different uses according to the time of the day, the day of the week, the season of the year. This is something to make people realize that things can change. We have been building cities for over 5,000 years, but it’s only the last 60 or 70 that we have been thinking more of car mobility than people’s happiness.”  — Gil Penalosa @ Broken Sidewalk.

Did you know Seattle’s Summer Street Program is celebrating its 5^th Anniversary this year? Mark your calendars now and remember to come out and play in the streets!

Ballard—Friday, May 18, 2012 from 4 to 7 p.m.
Alki—Sunday, May 20, 2012 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Greenwood/Phinney —Friday, August 10, 2012 from 6 to 10 p.m.
Rainier Valley—Saturday, August 18, 2012 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 ~

The Go-Nowhere Generation
Teens + the Internet + the Recession = Fewer Newly-Minted Drivers. But are they really going nowhere fast?

This New York Times opinion piece examines the issue of “Generation Why Bother?” and their mobility challenges and wonders: What’s it going to take to get our kids back on the road?

Residents often call the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) when “no parking” signs on easels appear on their street. They want to know why they are there, who placed them there, and the duration of the parking restriction.

There are many purposes for “no parking” signs, such as for construction, parades or special events, film productions, for parking a moving van, or for some other use that requires blocking off the parking lane of the street.

Information should be written on or attached to the sign giving the duration of the restriction, the name of the agency or contractor that placed the sign, and a phone number. If there are several signs, at least two of the easels on the block should have this information. If this information is not on the sign, and the sign has been present on your street for a day or more, you may report this to Parking Enforcement, (206) 386-9012.  (Please note that a contractor may set up “No Parking” signs to remove parking to clear the corners, for sight distance improvement for detours, or to accommodate truck turns. However, any use of a T-39 /”No Parking” sign, whether as part of a permitted job or not, requires entry into the online verification database and posting confirmation sheets on the T-39’s. ) 

For more information, please see: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/tempnoparking.htm

Also  more tips can be found at What Work is Planned for my Street?

Real Time Info for Transit Riders.

Passengers wondering when their Metro bus will pick them up have a new tool at Third Avenue and James Street. Today, SDOT and the King County Courthouse partnered to install a real time bus arrival sign at the northbound stop. The sign faces directly onto the bustling Third Avenue transit corridor and provides up-to-the-minute estimates of incoming bus arrivals for the nearly 900 people who board Metro there every day.

The sign uses the popular OneBusAway program which many riders use on home computers and cell phones. It is the second such sign SDOT has installed on Third Avenue, and more are coming. This SDOT initiative relies on partners like King County who recognize the benefits of better bus arrival information for the rising number of transit users in downtown Seattle.

SDOT is taking the month of March to let folks know about our work to make transit a convenient and viable travel choice in Seattle. Good public transit ties our neighborhoods together, helps alleviate congestion, reduces pollution and improves community health. Transit improvements are one of the best, most cost-effective investments to improve Seattle’s streets. This month, SDOT is launching our newly developed Transit Master Plan. The plan contains important information about current and projected transit ridership and defines the priorities that will guide future transit investments.

The much-anticipated First Hill Streetcar Project will move into construction in April with the goal of being in service in Spring 2014.  The public is invited to join the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) for two open houses to learn about the upcoming construction of the First Hill Streetcar project.  The open houses will be an opportunity to find out about construction impacts; how to stay informed of project progress; meet the project team; and learn about the route and stop locations.  Both meetings will follow the open house format and no formal presentation will be given on either date so those interested may wish to attend only one meeting.   Please feel free to drop in at any time.

The first open house will be held Tuesday, February 28, 5 – 8 p.m., at Union Station’s Ruth Fisher Boardroom in the Union Station located at 401 S Jackson Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues. The location is transit accessible, and on- and off-street parking is available nearby.

The second open house will be held Wednesday, March 7, 4 – 7 p.m. in the Broadway Room of the Silver Cloud Hotel located at 1100 Broadway between E Madison Street and E Union Street. This location is also transit-accessible and on- and off-street parking is available nearby, with limited free parking at the Silver Cloud Hotel.

The First Hill Streetcar Line will be an important link to the regional transit system. It will connect the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, First Hill, Yesler Terrace, the Central Area, Chinatown International District, and Pioneer Square and serve major employment centers (Harborview, Swedish, and Virginia Mason medical centers) , institutions of higher education (Seattle Central Community College, Seattle University) and sporting venues (CenturyLink and Safeco fields).

The City of Seattle is developing the First Hill Streetcar through a partnership with Sound Transit, with funding provided through the 2008 voter approved Sound Transit 2 (ST2) transit expansion plan.

For further information, visit the project Website at www.seattlestreetcar.org.

The next step is planning for a connection of the First Hill and South Lake Union lines.  SDOT has received a planning grant from the Federal Transit Administration to study options for this connection.

Crews working on the electrical duct bank on Westlake Avenue N.

The infamous “Mercer Mess” is shrinking and the new Mercer Street is taking shape.  Staying right on schedule, despite the need to keep traffic flowing in the construction zone,  the Mercer Corridor Project will reach a major milestone in January.  If you drive the corridor eastbound to take the Mercer Street ramps to I-5, you have probably noticed on the left, the new, future westbound lanes of Mercer Street forming on the north side of the existing Mercer Street between Fairview Avenue and Terry Avenue,  and at Ninth Avenue.  

The project team is currently working hard to complete the remaining underground utility work along the north side of Mercer Street at Westlake Avenue in order to complete the final paving and sidewalks along the stretch of Mercer between 9th Avenue and Terry Avenue.  Underground utility work in Westlake includes undergrounding of electrical distribution, transmission and communications lines, storm drainage, and water line replacement.  This work has been particularly challenging given that crews are installing some of these underground facilities underneath the Seattle Streetcar tracks.  All of this work is in preparation for the big “Mercer switch”, which is when eastbound Mercer Street traffic will switch to the new lanes on the north and we’ll close down the south side of the street in order to begin utility installation and reconstruction of existing Mercer Street. 

If all goes as planned, the switch is expected to happen on the weekend of January 6 – January 9.  Closure hours will start Friday at 11:00 p.m. and extend through the weekend to Monday at 5:00 a.m.  We will keep you informed as more details become available.

For more information about project – the purpose, benefits, and other information, visit our website at:  www.seattle.gov/Transportation/ppmp_mercer.htm

Photo courtesy of Carfreedays

Excitement is growing in several Seattle communities regarding a safer, more comfortable place to ride a bike or walk. Called “neighborhood greenways,” these are nonarterial streets that are altered to give priority to bicyclists and pedestrians and to accommodate cars at reduced speeds.  Bicyclists and pedestrians who are not comfortable traveling on busy city streets may find greenways are just the thing to enable them to get outside to walk or bike.  For examples, we can look to Portland were many greenways are already in place (see a video).  

The Wallingford Neighborhood is about to get Seattle’s first greenway, on North 43^rd and North 44^th streets. Neighbors organized to develop the concept and propose the route, and they applied to the Neighborhood Street Fund program to fund planning and design. A greenway will also be constructed on Beacon Hill, again an idea generated by the community. In northeast Seattle, Children’s Hospital is planning and funding a greenway to enable more of their employees to bike to work. Other ideas are developing around the city.

Read more »