Cascadia Report

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  • 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.

  • Oregon lawmakers doing their jobs

    Lawmakers in Oregon appear close to doing their jobs. The people’s representatives hashed out a tax package Wednesday designed to fund long-term investment in the state — and they didn’t simply refer the issue back to voters.

    Even the lobbyist for the Oregon Business Association was impressed:

    “To me it’s a historic moment,” he said. “We finally set partisan politics aside long enough to look at the good of the state.”

    But wait. On Thursday — days before the tax plan is formally approved — Republicans and an outside anti-tax group launched ads attacking Democrats for the proposal.

  • Vote ‘no’ and ‘no’ on the Seattle viaduct

    Seattle residents should vote “no” and “no” on the mail-in ballot about how to replace the waterfront viaduct. Here’s why:

    If money were no object, a tunnel might make sense. But the “surface-tunnel hybrid alternative” falls far short of the ideal. This alternative would require considerable additional funding, yet shortchanges critical street improvements (such as around Aurora Ave. and to the Battery Street tunnel). A vote for this alternative won’t encourage elected officials to pursue a smarter tunnel. It will muddy the debate.

    The “elevated structure alternative” is totally unacceptable if the goal is creating an urban core that will continue to drive the economy of Cascadia, as Vancouver and Portland do. There are ways to move people and freight through downtown without building another viaduct. Preserving views from the freeway is also no reason to build another one. Seattle has prevented massive elevated freeways along Lake Union, along the northern waterfront through Interbay and through the Arboretum because the damage they would have caused far outweighed the benefit.

    A combination of improved surface streets and transit would be a better choice than either on the ballot. Dedicated bus lanes could be set up quickly, dramatically boosting capacity and convenience to West Seattle, Burien, Ballard and North Seattle. Freight and through traffic could be met with improvements to streets and I-5. Simply adding capacity is not enough because the volume will always rise to match it. The region instead needs a full array of alternatives to move people and freight. No one prefers gridlock and, if done correctly, there’s no reason this alternative should have that result.

    This election is offensive becasue it is reportedly costing $1 million yet the result is a pair of poor choices and results that aren’t binding anyway. It’s still critical to vote — to demand a better option.

  • Support building for smarter border security

    Support may be building for a delay in implementing new passport requirements to cross between Canada and the U.S.

    This is a welcome change from rushing to impose draconian rules that would stifle the economy without guaranteeing more security. Cross-border ties are too important to blindly accept new rules, despite the suggestion of the U.S. consul in Vancouver that the region should essentially get used to an inconvenient new era.

    Key legislators, Gov. Gregoire and Premier Campbell have all proposed relying on higher security driver’s licenses rather than requiring passports. They’ve pointed out that having passports didn’t prevent the Sept. 11 attacks and wouldn’t necessarily make a difference now.

  • Land swap would hinder transport corridor

    Seattle-area taxpayers would pay at least $169 million to replace a potential high-capacity transportation corridor through the Eastside with a bike trail, under a deal signed Monday.

    That’s what the Port of Seattle plans to pay King County in a swap involving the rail line and Boeing Field airport. There are parts of the deal that make sense, including the idea that the length of the trail will remain intact. Parts of the deal that would improve freight mobility through the Port are important for the region’s economy.

    But removing the track through the corridor would be a huge mistake. Though all parties say that rail could be added in the future, there’s probably no chance of that happening after neighbors and bike trail users get used to having the area to themselves. Instead the route should be intensively studied as a complement to the region’s planned rail lines and roads.

  • Tuscan resort coming to … Yakima

    Work could begin this summer on a $500 million Tuscan-themed village on a ridge east of Yakima, potentially diversifying the economy of an area that already promotes itself as Washington’s Palm Springs.

    Concentrating growth in towns in order to preserve open space and farmland would be ideal. But planned development is the next best option — the project already is being compared to Suncadia, a resort community near Ellensburg that targets Seattle refugees.

    The Vineyards project would be developed by a group that put together resorts in Crested Butte, Colo. and in Mexico. Eagle Resort Development already mentions the area on its web site.

  • Mud-wrestling over Seattle’s waterfront

    The Economist, the magazine that once said Seattle has North America’s worst transportation planning, observes that the debate over replacing the viaduct with an elevated freeway or tunnel is purely political. “Seattle’s tunnel has become a trip to political hell,” it notes.

    Guess which replacement option a magazine with a global perspective considers a no-brainer? Here’s how it sets the latest scene:

    It should be among the most beautiful cityscapes on the west coast: a mural of distant mountains, piers jutting into sun-flecked Elliott Bay and giant orange cranes plucking containers from freighters. Overlooking Seattle’s waterfront, however, is a noisy 1950s elevated highway in hideous gray concrete.

  • Why Fairmont isn’t quite on top

    Fairmont Hotels & Resorts wants to be seen as an “unrivalled global presence.” Yet a few recent visits suggest why it’s not quite there.

    Friday night I stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront, which is the highest-rated of the company’s properties in downtown Vancouver. Desk service was professional, the room was comfortable and the city-and-harbor view was great — all as expected. But when the elevators went out of service at around 10 p.m. — leaving at least 15 people waiting in the lobby — there was no explanation. The next morning two of the elevators were still offline. There was no apology and management didn’t give the impression that they were especially concerned about the inconvenience.

    Similar service at Fairmont’s hotels at Whistler and in Seattle has also cost the chain. This is part of the reason why so many in Seattle were concerned when Fairmont took over management of the Olympic Hotel (a replacement Four Seasons is under construction). Don’t get me wrong: Fairmont is still a great place to stay, it’s just not quite top-of-the line.

  • Seattle can learn from Portland on viaduct

    Seattle should follow the example Portland set by replacing a riverfront highway and proposed new freeway with transit, writes Floyd McKay, who covered the city in the 1970s:

    The challenge for Seattle is to take a giant leap of faith — as Portland did when it reversed those two huge highway projects — and commit to a future that is not asphalt-driven.

    He correctly notes that spending billions of dollars to boost car capacity along Seattle’s waterfront makes little sense because the true challenge is moving more people and freight. Meanwhile the region’s larger bottleneck is the 520 freeway bridge.

  • Supreme Court rules against timber competition

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Weyerhaeuser in a major antitrust dispute, a verdict that makes it harder for small companies to compete against global powerhouse firms.

    The case turned on the difference between ruthless competiton and unfair business practices in the Northwest lumber market. The court essentially said that a small Washington mill couldn’t prove that Weyerhaeuser put them out of business unfairly by bidding up the price of logs.

    The case took second billing Tuesday to another involving a massive ruling against Big Tobacco. But there’s hardly a bigger issue for Cascadia and the future of the natural resources industry in the Northwest. The case seems similar to the prosecution of Microsoft during the 1990s and the effects may be equally widespread.

    Here’s a critique of the court’s verdict.