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• Reputation: 1962 Q&A: 32 0 1 1965 663 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 2 elenchos

  5 2 No. If you make commuting easier, more people will drive, and they will choose jobs further from home or homes further from their jobs. A century of attempts to expand the road system to meet the demand of cars has shown that you can't win that game. Better to devote your time, energy and money to things that help people avoid the problem of being stuck sitting in their cars in the first place: density, rapid transit, pedestrian rights of way. Is it even possible? And I suppose you can convince the powers that be to do whatever you dare imagine, but it requires lobbying in Washington DC to get the US Coast Guard to make exceptions to their rules. See Bridges and Roadway Structures Bridge Openings. Why waste our congressional delegation's political capital on something like that? Better to have Cantwell, Murray, and the rest of them working to get funding for transit, jobs, and fewer Federal subsidies for exurban sprawl. elenchos answered in Cars, Bikes & Transit about 1 year ago | Report 4 comments by Mahtli69, elenchos, and stinkbug… 0 0 I agree with the sentiment, but pedestrians, bikes, and buses get stuck at bridges just like cars do. And, we're not talking about exurbs here. These are in-city bridges that affect people with relatively short commutes (assuming longer commutes are using I5, I90, or SR99). All to let one guy and his sailboat through. Mahtli69 commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 One thing we've learned from recently closing one lane on the Ballard bridge is that there's a ripple effect that chokes the other bridges if drivers aren't prepared. I'm convinced that the ability of people in Shoreline to get downtown via 15th does indeed facilitate commuters who come in from Edmonds and Mukilteo and points north. And regardless, if you want Patty Murray to spend time twisting the Coast Guard's arm, you've got to put something on the table to cut. Whose arm do you want Patty to stop twisting while she goes after the Coast Guard? There's only 24 hours in a day. elenchos commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I agree with you about not making car commuting easier. But drawbridges don't just affect cars, they also affect buses, bikes, and pedestrians. There are probably some people out there who elect to use a car with the thinking that if they happen to have to wait for the bridge then they can make up the time via their car. stinkbug commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 It's worth considering what would happen if the Coast Guard had a more flexible policy about waterways. If they let cities extend rush hours longer and longer, what incentive do they have to build taller bridges that don't conflict with shipping? What incentive to they have to avoid sprawl and automobile gridlock in the first place? When they built these bridges they knew what they were doing. They decided everything would work out fine stopping traffic every time a ship had to go through the canal. We now have to live with those decisions. Maybe we will make better decisions next time (lol). elenchos commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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