CHOKEPOINTS

Are your neighborhood streets being used as a park and ride?

Feb 9, 2016, 11:27 PM | Updated: May 6, 2016, 11:29 pm

Do you feel like your neighborhood is being used like a Park and Ride? You are not alone.

As housing prices continue to creep up throughout Seattle, traffic congestion is getting worse and a new toll road seems to pop up every year. Pacific Northwest residents, in turn, play with the idea of rearranging their life to utilize public transportation. It’s great, if you can make it work.

This is where your plan comes in, between Netflix binge-watching House of Cards, you’ll try to break it all down. What is the most convenient Park and Ride? Can I even get there before it fills up with the Boeing crowd?

The folks at KIRO 7 found residents that live in Central Seattle who aren’t thrilled because they feel commuters from other places use their streets as if they are a park and ride.

The City is currently considering adding more restricted parking to include everything south of 19th Avenue near Pine Street to help residents.

The Washington State Department of Transportation says they are building partnerships to add new park and rides. From asking churches and community centers to share lot space to working with developers and property owners to include park and rides under new residential buildings.

You’ll likely see “This Is Not Park In Ride” complaints in the U District and Roosevelt neighborhoods when Sound Transit adds stops for the new ULink light rail line this spring. These two new light rail stops will take you to downtown and the airport but they will not have dedicated parking. Parking meters in those areas have already had the payment time increased to pay until 8 p.m. in preparation of new commuters using street parking and then hopping on the train.

To address the concerns in the Central District, The Seattle Department of Transportation is holding a meeting on the proposal to expand the restricted parking zone at the Bullitt Center, 1501 East Madison Street, Discovery Commons, on Tuesday, Feb. 9 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

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Are your neighborhood streets being used as a park and ride?