Seattle’s transportation director denounces ‘war on cars’

Three little words can often define the transportation discussion in Seattle: war on cars. You either believe it exists or it doesn’t. There isn’t much room for middle ground.

Only on the job for three months, Scott Kubly, Director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, says he was aware of the rallying cry of many who don’t like or understand protected bike lanes, or road diets, or streetcars.

Kubly said there is no such thing as a war on cars, but he admits it’s a catchy way to try to describe what happens in his office.

“This notion of a war on cars is, I think, an overly simplistic way to talk about how transportation works in this city,” he said.

Kubly said it’s easy to blame other modes of transportation for the troubles Seattle is having with congestion, but what others see as a war, he sees as the only way to balance the needs of everyone.

“Two-thirds of people get to downtown by some way other than a car,” Kubly said. “We need to balance everybody’s needs and that really is what the job is here.”

He said the city tries to improve more than one mode of traffic when it decides on projects and cites the recent fix on Dexter, north of Mercer. It was designed to help bus traffic, but the project improved bike lanes and shortened the intersections for pedestrians. The city also re-paved the street for drivers.

“It’s an impossibility to please everybody,” Kubly said. “Cities are dynamic places and they’re constantly changing.”

Kubly said it’s in no one’s interest to ignore cars or drivers when planning for another 100,000 people moving to the region, which is expected over the next 20 years.

“It’s too complicated of a system to boil it down to a single phrase,” he said. “We truly are spending all of our energy on balancing the competing needs and, at the same time, planning for the future.”