Connelly weighs in on 'The Urbanist': Don't rebuild the West Seattle Bridge
The best solution to a cracked West Seattle Bridge would be never to rebuild it, relying instead on increased transit and water taxi service to replace a bridge traveled by more than 100,000 vehicles a day (pre-COVID-19 pandemic), argues an article just published in "The Urbanist."
Having no bridge is "the most responsible move for the climate and being prudent with our resources," argues author Hyra Zhang. Identified by "The Urbanist" as "a high schooler and enjoys reading about urban planning and transportation."
"From an urbanist's perspective, the beefed-up mode share for transit is great," argues the article. "The West Seattle Bridge closure could give tens of thousands of commuters that extra 'push' to ditch their cars or decide not to buy them."
A note to the 79,000-plus residents of West Seattle. Don't laugh. The anti-automobile lobby is influential in this town. And you are being peered at from across Elliott Bay by those who would take advantage of a cracked bridge to create a far different future for your neighborhood.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/connelly-weighs-in-on-the-urbanist-don-t-rebuild-the-west-seattle-bridge/ar-BB13kLFK?ocid=hplocalnews
The deal of it is light rail isn't scheduled to reach West Seattle till 2030. That has the potential to be delayed if the economy takes a big hit from COVID-19 or if Tim Eyman's latest misadventure is allowed to stand.
In the interim any busses would have to use the lower level bridge.
More so a lot of of people are in jobs where they cannot use transit. There are deliveries, both freight and merchandize, that can only be done by truck or van. Utility service vehicles and those doing construction are other examples.