Traffic expert: Seattle’s next mayor needs more courageous leadership

I don’t have to tell you that Seattle has some of the worst traffic congestion in the nation. You probably sat in it this morning, but what can be done to make it better? The candidates for Seattle mayor all say they have a plan. Whose plan is best?

Larry Ehl has worked for the Washington State Department of Transportation and in the private transportation sector. He now writes a national transportation newsletter and blog. He said no politician in Seattle will ever fix the congestion. He said they can’t, because ultimately the region’s geography won’t let them – but they can mitigate it.

But to do it, Ehl said Seattle politicians must build an integrated plan. They need to stop having individual plans for bikes, cars, freight, and pedestrians.

“The degree to which you can bring all those parties together, talk about an integrated transportation plan and the solution and, of course, the million dollar question of funding, you’re going to end up with a better result,” he said.

So whose plan does he like? He likes Ed Murray’s because he’s focusing on integration.

“I like what Bruce Harrell and Kate Martin said about focusing on adding and fixing sidewalks and repairing roads,” he said. “I like what Joey Gray said about getting the city focused on the metrics of moving people and goods.”

Ehl likes Peter Steinbrueck’s plan of focusing on pedestrian safety. He likes what Mayor Mike McGinn is doing with syncing the traffic lights to move cars for efficiently.

“Seattle residents need to give some props to Mayor McGinn and his transportation director for picking that low-hanging fruit.”

He also likes Douglas McQuaid’s idea of creating separate bike lanes and Charlie Staadecker’s plan to create dedicated mass transit lanes.

Ehl believes each candidate has good pieces in their transportation plans, but he wouldn’t name a winner.

The one thing he said the next mayor needs is an ability to finally get something done. “I would like to see some more courageous leadership out of Seattle mayor on some of these issues.”

He said this region doesn’t need any more studies and process. It needs some of these plans to finally be implemented.