I agree with your thoughts about the ferry coming to Kirkland. The issue is where to park all the cars for ferry users. We will need the appropriate infrastructure first for the ferry system to work. Otherwise, it will be a waste of time and money.

On another note, one of the reasons we have so many problems with transportation is we have not established one entity to deal with transportation. There is WADOT, The Port of Seattle, King County, The Puget Sound Regional Council, and the City of Kirkland. There are too many fingers in the pie and, consequently, things do not get resolved.

The PI missed a few key details on that article about the funding deficit. It’s not $800 per person. It’s $800 per person per year. And the PI thinks the ULI was only considering roads mainteance, but the $800/person/year is attempting to estimate total transportation infrastructure needs, including high-capacity mass transit, improvements to the Port of Seattle, and airport expansion.

DCD: I hope you are right about tolls on 520 only being $4. I heard they could be even higher. Your point about the return of ferry service to Kirkland is great. I know King County has spoken about starting up a passenger only ferry to Seattle when Sr-520 construction gets under way but downtown Kirkland parking will be an impedament if we don’t solve that problem. I would love to see a future where a fast and efficient ferry operated from Moss Bay Marina. Could this be the incentive needed for movement on the parking issue? Would a future ferry service to Madison Park or South Lake Union make anyone change their stance on building more parking downtown Kirkland? Would the additional computers be welcome or only make congestion here worse? Food for thought.

The state already forced the public to pick up a chunk of the cost of maintaining Bridal Trails State Park, and the cost of that is nothing compared to the cost of a new 520 bridge.

Infrastructure needs to be paid for - by taxes or by use fees. Since the issue has been ignored for so long, the cost to the current populace is going to be more than if it had been managed properly all along, but that is no reason not to step up to the plate and pay the tab now. Funding stopgap measures will simply exacerbate the problem in the long run. The City Councils in the region need to use their collective brain power and resources to come up with a plan to address the needs of the whole Puget Sound area - not just their little fiefdoms. One way to do this would be to look at obtaining a coordinated payment system for tolls, parking, and transit. These systems currently exist and by creating a centralized payment system for all services it would ease the burden on the user slightly. Although there are privacy issues with having a electronic payment system that would know when you took the bus, paid a toll or parked your car - the benefits of having one card/transponder that would work in Seattle/Redmond/Kirkland/Bellevue for your parking/bus/toll needs would be substantial.

Tolls are a fact of life for bridges and road in most of the country. The Golden Gate and Bay Bridges cost $4 to cross and the George Washington Bridge is now up to $8 to cross. Pricing the 520 Bridge around $4 is not unreasonable. It stands to reason that the I-90 bridge would also have to be tolled or else the increase traffic from people trying to avoid the tolls could be problematic. Effective use of electronic payment systems would mitigate some of the traffic flow problems.

The KCC should also look at alternative forms of public transit. One way to exploit the benefits of Kirkland’s waterfront, expand the consumer base to Downtown Kirkland, and provide alternative transportation options would be to actively work to ensure that the ferry route proposed across Lake Washington between Kirkland and UW actually gets up and running. There are issues (such as the lack of a Downtown parking garage), but these could be addressed and if managed properly could provide a key element to Downtown development.

There are hard choices to be made, but if our leaders take the opportunity to work together to come up with a plan to serve all of the region and do not shy away from implementing the taxes and tolls needed to pay for the services, then there could be smoother sailing ahead for commuters in the area.