A reminder of the need for transport fixes

It took two hours and five minutes to go the 12 miles from Redmond to Seattle on 520 Wednesday evening. Apparently a single stalled car was the culprit, making me 45 minutes late for a 6:30 appointment and providing another reminder why the region needs comprehensive transportation fixes.

I was angry at everyone. At the drivers who weave between lanes trying to save a car length. At the guy in front of me who repeatedly let cars cut. At the cop who stopped a full lane of traffic around the stalled pickup. And at myself for entertaining the thought that maybe running out of gas or having a car that stalls should be punishable with heavy fine or death.

Of course, I'm at fault for putting myself in that position, for choosing to live in Seattle and work in Redmond. You could argue that people like me should live near work. Perhaps this area should devolve into a medieval state where we rarely travel more than a few miles.

Incentives to shape behavior should be part of the answer. Yet our city would fragment if traffic meant people in one corner hardly mixed with those in another, a la Jakarta or Delhi. That's why we need a combination of steps to keep the area moving and make a more sustainable community: zoning for density, congestion pricing to smooth demand, and a series of transit that provides an alternative to gridlock.

Comments

[B.D.]

I've experienced your description from the stalled car end. In college, I had a friend's car blow its engine right in the middle of the 520 bridge. It sucked to have an engine spewing steam out a blown head gasket and drivers coming past honking, providing all sorts of obscene gestures, as though I intentionally blocked their way. Because that's what you really need when your car just decided it was time to die. It made me realize the true nature of many of our Cascadia co-inhabitents is not as nice as you would like to think. And not one single person stopped and offered to help except a DOT crew who pushed the car for me into the gap at the middle of the bridge while I waited for a tow.

[brad]

Thanks for the story! It's good to hear what it's like to be on the other side.