Cascadia Report

Missing the Olympics 'bounty'

It's refreshing to see a story in the Seattle Times today about how Washington risks losing out on the economic benefits of the 2010 Olympics.

Cascadia Report has mentioned this issue many times, including here and here (and don't forget the Olympics category here).

There are a few problems with the story:

-- Border hassles are a big factor. But what about the falling value of the U.S. dollar?

Both sides are noticing a drop in travel. From January to April of this year, same-day visitors from the U.S. to B.C. dropped by almost 13 percent, Periwal said.

Travel to B.C. is a lot less interesting to Americans when their money buys 20 percent less than it did just months ago. On Sunday night, it took 10-15 minutes to cross the border southbound while northbound waits were over an hour. It was the reverse on Friday evening, at the end of a day of post-Thanksgiving sales.

-- Canada isn't necessarily more feel-good about the border:

G. Kathleen Hill, deputy consul general at the U.S. Consulate in Vancouver, pointed to a fundamental difference between border priorities: While the U.S. priority is security, Canadians value the free flow of goods and people, she said.

Try telling that to each driver with Canadian plates entering B.C. ahead of me on Friday. They had to open each car door so the border agent could search their vehicle. (Of course, U.S. agents are no strangers to over-the-top screening.)

-- Roads aren't the only solution:

Driving is unlikely to get dramatically more pleasant, especially when you factor in worsening congestion along I-5 and throughout Vancouver. That makes boosting train service an obvious opportunity to boost mobility. Amtrak currently offers a single train and four buses each day between Seattle and Vancouver. Why isn't B.C. funding improvements north of the border to accommodate more trains?

Vancouver wants fewer homeless than athletes

Vancouver is considering measures to make sure there are fewer homeless people than athletes in the city during the 2010 Olympics.

Plans call for rent support and new housing, though the idea has been derided as too little too late since market trends could swamp any progress. An analysis can be found at TheTyee.ca.

At first glance the idea sounds similar to Seattle's comprehensive plan, which seeks to curb the causes of homelessness in advance and then integrate the remaining homeless people into permanent housing.

Seattle, Vancouver could co-host World Cup

Seattle and Vancouver may jointly host a major sports event like a World Cup, at least if the cities' tourism boards can help it.

The idea of capitalizing on the 2010 Olympics with a major regional event has been around a while. Now the tourism groups are looking at creating an entirely new marqee soccer, cycling or soccer event.

Of course the groups need to build local support in order to shoulder the financial and political cost of an event. Improving transportation links are essential. One interesting idea: adding seaplane service between downtown Seattle and downtown Vancouver.

Getting business from border hassles

Draconian security measures could prevent visitors to the 2010 Olympics from crossing the international border.

Streamlining security is already a priority for Washington. Meanwhile Idaho figures it can get a boost by attracting Americans who don't want to deal with the hassles.

An 'Olympic push' to ease border strain

The New York Times weighed in today on proposals to ease the security bottleneck at the U.S.-Canada border well in advance of the 2010 Olympics:

Canadian officials say they worry that some United States citizens will decide against visiting Canada out of concern that getting back into their country could be difficult. And officials in Washington State worry that visitors to the Olympics might decide not to extend their visit into Washington.

The article mentions the Washington plan to offer enhanced drivers licenses as a security measure instead of requiring passports. It says that officials in North Dakota, Michigan and New York support the initiative.

What else will it take?

Cascadia closer to licenses for border crossing

Washington is close to approving a test project that would provide security along the international border without stifling trade and tourism. It's a big step toward capitalizing on Cascadia's growth before and after the 2010 Olympics.

Both houses of the legislature have approved legislation that would authorize an enhanced driver's license to serve as proof of citizenship. The state and British Columbia would test screening driver's licenses at the border with scanning technology that is supposedly cheaper and easier than a passport requirement proposed by the U.S. federal government. Here's the House version.

Assuming the legislation passes, Washington and B.C. will simply have to convince the federal governments to lay off with draconian border-tightening measures.

New trains may get a step closer to Whistler

Plans for expanded train service between Seattle and Vancouver might be the first step toward extending the corridor north.

Relocating the current terminus from downtown Vancouver a few miles southeast to Surrey would be a start. The change would eliminate the need to rebuild a bridge, cut the total travel time to Seattle and save more people in the metropolitan area a trip downtown to board, according to a local newspaper report Tuesday. SkyTrain would still provide a link to downtown.

Most importantly, serving more people in the area would build public support for trains. That's critical since funding for improvements would come from Canada. The new station could spur transit-oriented development in the area and eventually boost ridership from the Vancouver-area by 7 percent, assuming five trains a day to Seattle, according to a report by the Washington transportation department (it's in Appendix E).

British Columbia has studied options to implement train service to Whistler that's competitive with driving. Though the cost would be high, it could become realistic as the financial and time cost of driving rises. The Washington study bases projections for future ridership between Seattle and Vancouver on a series of projected fares and similar calculations of return on investment could be made further north.

Deal to boost Seattle-Vancouver rail service

A second daily Amtrak train between Seattle and Vancouver will be added next year, thanks to a breakthrough deal that should build support for more service along the route.

British Columbia will help pay for a passing track in Delta, which should help relieve a major bottleneck. Currently the 30 miles north of the border accounts for nearly half of the four-hour trip between Seattle and Vancouver. Shortening the travel time from downtown to downtown will make the train far more competitive with driving or flying, especially ahead of the 2010 Olympics.

Adding a second train will make it possible to do a round trip from Vancouver in a single day. B.C. said it expects another 50,000 visitors to visit Vancouver in first year of the additional train.

Separately, Amtrak said ridership on the Cascades service between Eugene and Vancouver is up, with revenue rising 18 percent in the last four months. Additional traffic should build public support for further improvements along the corridor.

Countdown to 2010 Olympics begins

A clock is being unveiled in Vancouver today to mark the countdown to the 2010 Olympics in exactly three years.

The Vancouver Sun has an update on the events venues as part of its ongoing, upbeat coverage. The occasion seems mostly ignored by Washington and Oregon media -- even a Bellingham Herald story today on an Olympian athlete missed the connection. It seems that the rest of Cascadia is a slow to capitalize on the games and the publicity around them.

Rockslide shows need for road alternatives

There's no definitive explanation yet for the rock slide that blocked traffic between Vancouver and Whistler for seven hours on Sunday.

Surely the major widening of the Sea-to-Sky highway to handle traffic for the 2010 Olympics played a role, but construction isn't officially getting the blame. It's worth noting that radio Web sites provided information about the road's conditions all day, while as late as 1:00 a.m. on Sunday night the Vancouver Sun's Web site told readers to wait for the Monday morning newspaper.

The unexplained closure ought to renew interest in alternative forms of transportation to the Whistler area. Why not an expansion of the passenger ferry service planned between Vancouver and Squamish during the Olympics? Why not start a fast ferry from Seattle to Squamish? If the C$600 million or so cost of the highway's reconstruction makes economic sense, can't alternatives pencil out too?