Dr. Bill Eager, Seattle, “End Gridlock Now”

(May 9, 2012)  Dr. Bill Eager is an internationally famous traffic engineer with degrees from UC-Berkeley and the University of Colorado.  Eager is the co-founder and President of TDA Inc., a transportation engineering firm with offices in Seattle, Bellevue, and Denver.

Eager is currently the chairman of the Eastside Transportation Association in Bellevue, Washington. Kemper Freeman hired Dr. Eager to develop “End Gridlock Now” (see below), a plan to decrease Seattle area traffic congestion by 36%, with only a 6%  increase in pavement.

Dr. Eager has prepared three detailed PDF reports on population density, light rail, freeway lanes, and gridlock:

1 – https://smartgrowthusa.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/1st-eager-july-2001-36pp-pdf.pdf

2 – https://smartgrowthusa.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/2nd-eager-may-2003-36pp-pdf.pdf

3 – https://smartgrowthusa.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/3rd-eager-may-2003-39pp-pdf.pdf

Additional information on Dr. Bill Eager’s “End Gridlock Now” can be found at several other pages on this web site, including here –

https://smartgrowthusa.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/seattle-bellevue-density-kemper-freeman-sues-suing-sound-transit-mass-transit-light-rail-transit/

Salt Lake City’s Legacy Parkway: Green Solution for Seattle’s Gridlock

Seattle can learn how to build more freeways in an environmentally sensitive way from Salt Lake City’s new (2008) “Legacy Parkway,” with my photos at this post:  https://smartgrowthusa.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/seattle-gridlock-light-rail-or-salt-lake-city-legacy-parkway/

At this post, I discuss how the green design features in Salt Lake City’s Legacy Parkway (SR-67) could be incorporated into Eager’s proposed new loop freeway for Eastern King County.  This new loop freeway would relieve congestion on the existing parallel route I-405.  This freeway, encompassing SR-18 and the new I-605, is discussed at the aforementioned Legacy Parkway post.

Below, a few photographs highlight traffic problems that would be solved with Bill Eager’s plan “End Gridlock Now.”  A map of Dr. Eager’s plan appears at the end of this post.

I-5 looking north to Seattle. I-5 is plagued with insufficient lanes, numerous exit only lanes, and intermittent HOV lanes. Dr. Eager plans to add two lanes in each direction to I-5, from South 210th (near Sea-Tac airport) northward. Refer to the map at the bottom of this page for details along with links to his reports.

Seattle plans to add 300,000 persons within its City Limits by 2040 (for a total of 900,000 persons). Many of these folks will live in “smart growth towers,” discussed elsewhere on this web site. If this plan becomes reality, more freeway lanes will be required, especially two lanes in each direction on I-5. This photos shows an old two story brick building that will be demolished for smart growth residential facilities.

 

To ease congestion, Bill Eager proposes adding two lanes in each direction to I-405 through Bellevue.

I-90 through Mercer Island and the two adjacent bridges would have more lanes with “End Gridlock Now.” Unfortunately, Sound Transit wants to waste taxpayer money on two of these lanes for a light rail operation that nobody will ride.

For over 20 miles, SR-203 is choked with traffic on only two lanes through numerous communities in the Snoqualmie Valley. The Duvall Towne Center, shown here, is an unpleasant place at commute hours, with congestion and high air pollution. Bill Eager proposes a new four lane freeway through the Snoqualmie valley, parallel to this existing two lane arterial.  Even “smart growth” advocates should advocate a separate freeway, since traffic congestion makes downtown Duvall dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.

There’s plenty of room in the Snoqualmie Valley to widen 203, and/or add a separate 4 lane divided highway. In my archives, I have photos of abandoned barns on SR-203, such as this one. How many of them have turned into “cottage industries” to serve commuters stuck in traffic (i.e. this espresso stand)? This guy could be making tens of thousands of dollars a year from gridlock, thanks to King County’s failure to invest in transportation. Perhaps he could make a million dollars if King County buys his acreage for the new four lane SR-203 !

SR-18 over the Tiger Mountain Summit has never been formally widened to a four lane divided highway meeting “freeway standards,” except between the Issaquah-Hobart Road and I-5 in Federal Way. Some areas are undivided, such as the entrance to the Tiger Mountain State Forest and Mountain Bike Trails (shown here). Other areas are only three lanes, and others are just two lanes with no divider (just south of I-90, across from “Snoqualmie Ridge”). Eager proposes finishing SR-18, and this would provide a better bypass for trucks who must go over the narrow and slippery summit at 1500 feet elevation. I would also suggest, as an augmentation to the “Mountains to Sound Greenway,” adding a mountain bike trail along SR-18, from Issaquah all the way to Tiger Mountain Summit, and then back down to the Issaquah-Hobart Road, and ultimately to the Weyerhauser Headquarters in Federal Way. Then, the Greenway could include a loop around Tiger Mountain!

Again, here are the links for Dr. Bill Eager’s reports:

1 – https://smartgrowthusa.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/1st-eager-july-2001-36pp-pdf.pdf

2 – https://smartgrowthusa.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/2nd-eager-may-2003-36pp-pdf.pdf

3 – https://smartgrowthusa.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/3rd-eager-may-2003-39pp-pdf.pdf

CLICK THIS IMAGE of Eager’s Plan; then ENLARGE within your web browser –

Attention, Seattle residents … Do you REALLY want more of THIS? Do you want more 4 to 20 story “smart growth towers,” and resulting congestion? Do you really want 300,000 new neighbors in 2040? If you do, then it is time to “End Gridlock Now” with Dr. Eager’s plan.

Here are new Seattle smart growth residential towers under construction –

Seattle Smart growth residential towers under construction, May 2012.

Driving on East Madison Street through a “tunnel of Smart Growth Residential Towers on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.