Seattle to kill two busy lanes, claims traffic won’t suffer
Even though the First Hill streetcar is embarrassingly over-schedule and over-budget, the Seattle Department of Transportation is pushing for another streetcar. (SDOT)
Seattle is a city badly deficient in boulevards .. broad streets with central medians and ample sidewalks that make other cities friendly to cars and people. So, what to do? Naturally we make what little we have worse .. adding bike lanes (largely unused) that take up an entire traffic lane and then trolly tracks that offer no advnatage over bus routes but take more lanes including staions to load and unload trolly riders n the middle of the street
In my neighborhood, Capital Hill, Broadway has been reduced from four 
traffic lanes to as little as 1 in some places. The enlightened planners echo Marie Antoinette .. telling me shoppers will walk …. “Let then eat cupcakes but then walk” seems to be the idea.
This do gooder idea is spreading to downtown (from Mynorthwest.com) screwing up traffic on Stewart, Westlake and First Avenue . “Even though the First Hill streetcar is embarrassingly over-schedule and over-budget, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is pushing for another streetcar. They plan to kill two general purpose traffic lanes for this project, in the heart of downtown Seattle, but – get this – they claim it will have only minimal traffic implications.”
Seattle is doing a wonderful job of driving shoppers to suburban malls. Kemper Freeman Jr. thanks you, Seattle!